Road to Uluru......

Leaving Alice mid morning our first stop was just out of town to see the old Ghan Train. We would have liked to see the new Ghan, but it hadn't arrived when we left so maybe another time.

A further 90 kms was the Cannonball Memorial. I never knew that Australia has such a race. The race was held from May 22 to May 27, 1994 along the Stuart Hwy from Darwin to Alice Springs, a distance of approximately 3200km. The monument commemorates the two officials and two Japanese drivers who were killed during the Cannonball Run. On May 24 a Ferrari F40, part of the Japanese team, crashed into a ckeck point killing both drivers and two officials. An inquest found that excessive speed and driver error were the cause of the accident. The race continued, but no further races were held.

Another 48km and about 11kms off the highway onto a gravel road was the Henbury Meteorite Conservation Camp. A meteor crashed into earth 4,700 years ago and left 12 craters in Central Australia. The Henbury meteor weighed several tonnes and is believed to have been travelling at least 40,000km per hour. The craters are named after nearby Henbury Station, and were discovered in 1899 by the station manager. There are a total of 12 craters. We walked out and around the main two craters and with the help of great information boards were able to see some of the other craters. Some are quite small.

The Aboriginal people, in their oral history, talk about the fire devil and an object he sent to earth as punishment for breaking sacred law. The Luritja people were forbidden from collecting water that pooled in the craters as they feared the fire devil would poison them. Collected fragments of the meteorite consisted mainly of iron (90%) and nickel (8%). The camp ground has covered picnic tables and toilets, but no drinkable water. We had planned to stay here the night, but felt a bit isolated so had lunch and continued on.

OH, and there were lots of flies!!

Back on the main Stuart Hwy we drove another 84km to the Lasseter Hwy, and the Erldunda Roadhouse and Caravan Park. We topped up with fuel $2.04 a litre, and had a look at the Emu Farm next door.

We were now travelling on the Lasseter Hwy.

There are many free camps along the Lasseter Hwy, so we were not to worried. We ended up travelling a further 101km to Kernot Range Rest Area. This was a great overnight camp, plenty of space, quiet. If we hadn't already booked an Ayers Rock tour we may have stayed a few days.

The next morning, just down the road about 12km, 0n the road to Uluru we passed the massive Mount Conner, Aboriginal name Attilla, meaning the home of iceman who create cold weather. Part of Curtain Springs Station, established in the 1940's, and on private property, it is often mistaken by overseas tourists for Uluru. The main difference is Mount conner has a flat top and Uluru has not. Tours can be arranged through Curtain Springs Station Roadhouse, $99 per person. Mount Conner was named by a government surveyor, William Gosse in 1873, after a South Australian politician M. L. Conner.

We ended up at Red Dune Rest Area, 56km from Curtain Springs and about 25km from Ayers Rock Resort. Over the dune at the back of the rest stop is a large area for vans and trailers. There is a little dip just over the dune so one needs to be careful with caravans, and it is sandy so two-wheel cars may get bogged. We found a good level site, secured the van and headed 25km to Ayers Rock Resort to see what was there.