After breakfast we jumped into the Cruiser and headed out to check out Wolfe Creek Crater. We’d read conflicting accounts on the condition of the Tanami Road, but Greg spoke to a couple of bikers this morning in the van park and they said the graders were out there doing up the road. So off we went. And whilst it was quite corrugated in some parts, in the main, the road out was much better than the road back; same road, different sides. 300 km round trip with 260 of that on dirt. When we eventually got to the crater, we walked up the 400m track to the top of the crater and nearly got blown off our feet and over the edge. We had taken the drone in the hope of flying it, but didn’t even bother unpacking it. Would have taken some pretty good photos. Oh well, at least we can say that we have been there. It was an amazing sight, a perfect impact crater, free of large trees so you could see it very clearly.
The crater was formed about 300 00 years ago when a 15 m diameter meteorite weighing about 17 000 tonnes crashed here. It is 850 m in diameter, 60 m from the rim to present crater floor, (originally 120m) and is the second largest in the world from which meteorite fragments have been recovered.
On the return trip, we saw at least a dozen Wedgetail Eagles feasting on roadkill. They really are a spectacular bird. Never seen so many in the one place before.
Back at the van it was time for lunch and an LLD for Wendy who did all the driving again, whilst Greg de-dusted the vehicle, again. After an afternoon cuppa, we went for a ride to see the China Wall. The wall is a natural vein of sub-vertical white quartz rising up to 6 metres above the surrounding country in places. This striking formation transects the country for many kilometres, rising high out of the ground and then disappearing back into the earth again. Sections of quartz wall can be spotted all the way to Kununurra (although we didn't see any at Kununurra, but then again were not looking). Scientists believe the wall was formed when the rock surrounding the much harder and resistant quartz was weathered and eroded away. We also called into the Helicopter Pilots Memorial which was well done.
Halls Creel loves its car bonnet art. They are everywhere and cover a wide array of topics. Of course they have an endless supply of car bonnets as the locals have a habit of wrecking cars like there is no tomorrow.
Some of the car bonnet street art in Halls Creek
Sunset last night with the moon coming up
Spot the moon
Different colours of the road today
Dust!!
The scenery changed regularly
Road works on the Tanami
Wedgie
Tree full of corellas
Helicopter pilots memorial - for all those pilots killed whilst working in the pastoral industry across Northern Australia
China Wall
China Wall with Wendy in foreground
Another bit of the China Wall
A weird coloured sunset today
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