Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Van Trip 2007
Alice Springs to Wycliffe Well
Day 39
Kilometres travelled today....... 378
After farewelling David and Cindy, we left the Van Park in Alice at 9:15am for our drive to Wycliffe Well.
After travelling for 130 kilometres along the Stuart Highway, we arrived at a roadhouse at Aileron, which is a rest stop offering a convenience store, meals, and visitor information. There is a collection of original Albert Namatjira watercolour paintings in the dining room. The accommodation ranges from powered and unpowered campsites, backpacker dormitory and self-contained motel rooms.
A giant sculpture of an Aboriginal warrior (Anmatyerre Man) guards over the roadhouse.
The next stop on our journey was at Ti Tree, a small town about 60 kilometres north of Aileron. It is the closest town to Alice Springs. The area around Ti Tree has a population of 995 people of whom 191 are non-Aboriginal. The population is distributed between 11 cattle stations ,and 6 Aboriginal outstations including Utopia. The area is an emerging centre for grapes and melons due to its year-round sunshine and abundant underground water supply.
A famous landmark just to the north of Ti Tree is Central Mount Stuart. which is a mountain peak and prominent landmark easily seen from the Stuart Highway,
Much of the land surrounding Ti Tree is Aboriginal land, owned by the Anmatyerre people. Their art can be viewed within the town and there are several interesting sites in the area surrounding the township. The town serves as a service town to surrounding Aboriginal Communities.
Ti Tree Roadhouse includes a pub, bird and animal orphanage and a popular beer garden. Also in Ti Tree is the Aaki Art Gallery, as well as the Red Sands art gallery
The Anmatyerre name for the area close to Ti Tree township is Aleyaw but no one seems to know how or where the name Ti Tree or Tea Tree came from. One of the first features in the area to be named was Ti Tree Well No. 3 (still to be seen on the western side of the highway just south of the township) which was developed during the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line.
We spent quite some time in Ti Tree, exploring the area and taking photos, before proceeding a further 90 kilometres to our next stop at Barrow Creek, which is a very small town with a population of 11. The main feature of the town was the roadhouse/hotel. The town was originally a telegraph station and cattle droving rest stop, 285 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
Barrow Creek had become famous for being the closest town to the location of where Peter Falconio was murdered by Bradley John Murdoch, and Joanne Lees was abducted. The actual location of the crime was 13 kilometres to the North of Barrow Creek.
We spent some time in the old pub, and Jude had a conversation with the owner, who was there when the Falconio incident took place.
Our next and final stop for the day was Wycliffe Well, located 380 kilometres north of Alice Springs and 130 kilometres south of Tennant Creek. The town is famous for visitors of the
extraterrestrial kind. UFO sightings have been part of Wycliffe Well's folklore since World War II, and the town's reputation for the unexplained attracts all types: even the Royal Australian Air Force has stopped in to investigate.
Two model aliens sit out the front of the Wycliffe Well Holiday Park to welcome travellers, and the Park's owner tells that many claim to have seen UFOs zipping around the night sky. He also boasts that the Park's bar has the biggest range of beer available in Australia, and notes that this is perhaps a contributing factor to the presence of UFOs.
After introducing ourselves to the aliens we checked into the Big 4 Van Park on site 20 at $22.50 per night. After a leisurely stroll around the area we adjourned to the Roadhouse for dinner, where we enjoyed a delicious main course of Barramundi. We both gave the park and facilities a score of 10.
As with most stops along the Stuart Highway, Wycliffe Well began as a watering point along the stock route for the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1860s. World War II saw Wycliffe Well become a market garden centre to service troops, and at the end of the war, two soldiers stayed on to continue selling vegetables and garden products to Alice Springs.
In 1960, a petrol pump was installed in Wycliffe Well, and the town has since been reinvented as a favourite stop-over for travellers. Today Wycliffe Well is essentially made up of Wycliffe Well Holiday Park. The Park covers 60 acres and includes a large lake for fishing and recreation. The Davenport Ranges and the Devils Marbles are located within easy reach of the
town.
Wycliffe Well has hot summer temperatures. The summer high temperature for Wycliffe Well is approximately 35 °c. The summer low temperature
is approximately 21 °c.
Day 39
Kilometres travelled today....... 378
After farewelling David and Cindy, we left the Van Park in Alice at 9:15am for our drive to Wycliffe Well.
After travelling for 130 kilometres along the Stuart Highway, we arrived at a roadhouse at Aileron, which is a rest stop offering a convenience store, meals, and visitor information. There is a collection of original Albert Namatjira watercolour paintings in the dining room. The accommodation ranges from powered and unpowered campsites, backpacker dormitory and self-contained motel rooms.
A giant sculpture of an Aboriginal warrior (Anmatyerre Man) guards over the roadhouse.
The next stop on our journey was at Ti Tree, a small town about 60 kilometres north of Aileron. It is the closest town to Alice Springs. The area around Ti Tree has a population of 995 people of whom 191 are non-Aboriginal. The population is distributed between 11 cattle stations ,and 6 Aboriginal outstations including Utopia. The area is an emerging centre for grapes and melons due to its year-round sunshine and abundant underground water supply.
A famous landmark just to the north of Ti Tree is Central Mount Stuart. which is a mountain peak and prominent landmark easily seen from the Stuart Highway,
Much of the land surrounding Ti Tree is Aboriginal land, owned by the Anmatyerre people. Their art can be viewed within the town and there are several interesting sites in the area surrounding the township. The town serves as a service town to surrounding Aboriginal Communities.
Ti Tree Roadhouse includes a pub, bird and animal orphanage and a popular beer garden. Also in Ti Tree is the Aaki Art Gallery, as well as the Red Sands art gallery
The Anmatyerre name for the area close to Ti Tree township is Aleyaw but no one seems to know how or where the name Ti Tree or Tea Tree came from. One of the first features in the area to be named was Ti Tree Well No. 3 (still to be seen on the western side of the highway just south of the township) which was developed during the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line.
We spent quite some time in Ti Tree, exploring the area and taking photos, before proceeding a further 90 kilometres to our next stop at Barrow Creek, which is a very small town with a population of 11. The main feature of the town was the roadhouse/hotel. The town was originally a telegraph station and cattle droving rest stop, 285 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
Barrow Creek had become famous for being the closest town to the location of where Peter Falconio was murdered by Bradley John Murdoch, and Joanne Lees was abducted. The actual location of the crime was 13 kilometres to the North of Barrow Creek.
We spent some time in the old pub, and Jude had a conversation with the owner, who was there when the Falconio incident took place.
Our next and final stop for the day was Wycliffe Well, located 380 kilometres north of Alice Springs and 130 kilometres south of Tennant Creek. The town is famous for visitors of the
extraterrestrial kind. UFO sightings have been part of Wycliffe Well's folklore since World War II, and the town's reputation for the unexplained attracts all types: even the Royal Australian Air Force has stopped in to investigate.
Two model aliens sit out the front of the Wycliffe Well Holiday Park to welcome travellers, and the Park's owner tells that many claim to have seen UFOs zipping around the night sky. He also boasts that the Park's bar has the biggest range of beer available in Australia, and notes that this is perhaps a contributing factor to the presence of UFOs.
After introducing ourselves to the aliens we checked into the Big 4 Van Park on site 20 at $22.50 per night. After a leisurely stroll around the area we adjourned to the Roadhouse for dinner, where we enjoyed a delicious main course of Barramundi. We both gave the park and facilities a score of 10.
As with most stops along the Stuart Highway, Wycliffe Well began as a watering point along the stock route for the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1860s. World War II saw Wycliffe Well become a market garden centre to service troops, and at the end of the war, two soldiers stayed on to continue selling vegetables and garden products to Alice Springs.
In 1960, a petrol pump was installed in Wycliffe Well, and the town has since been reinvented as a favourite stop-over for travellers. Today Wycliffe Well is essentially made up of Wycliffe Well Holiday Park. The Park covers 60 acres and includes a large lake for fishing and recreation. The Davenport Ranges and the Devils Marbles are located within easy reach of the
town.
Wycliffe Well has hot summer temperatures. The summer high temperature for Wycliffe Well is approximately 35 °c. The summer low temperature
is approximately 21 °c.
- comments