Tennant Creek

 
 
 

DAY 1:
We left early to start our journey to Tennant Creek but unfortunately we broke down and NRMA had to come and help us get our car better. He towed us to a Toyota dealer where we got an ice cream while Dad and Brian the tow truck man talked to the Toyota dealer to see what was wrong with the car. They thought it would take a week to fix it, so we would be missing out on Pradopoint. It turns out that it was only a petrol problem and after we filled up we were on our way. I was a bit scared being stuck out in the middle of the outback, but we played eye spy and I felt better.

We arrived at our caravan park and ordered pizza which was delivered to the caravan park! At night, because it was the 1st July, Tennant Creek have their Fire Cracker night. We sat outside and watched the beautiful fireworks - I especially liked the green, purple and red ones. These were the biggest fireworks I have seen except for on TV.

DAY2:
This morning we went and bought a new Gerri can to help us store fuel in case we run out again. There are a lot of Aboriginal people here – they didn’t have many clothes and most did not wear shoes. We saw young children pushing babies in prams and lots of dogs with them.

After our quick trip to get the Gerri can, we went to the Battery Hill Mine where we met our guide – Ray. We got to touch every mining vehicle. It was so cool. We got to wear ear muffs and a hard hat so that if a wall fell in we would be O.K. We were able to carry torches too. The best thing I liked in the mine was touching all the machinery – especially when Ray turned it on.

When we left the mine, we panned for gold but didn’t get anything. Ray told us where to find the gold and we started noodling and found heaps! (Not the noodle that you eat!) We were given specimen bottles to store them in.

After coming home and grabbing a quick lunch we swam in the pool – extremely cold. We had fun and at least we can say we went swimming in a pool in July!