9th June 2012
Finke Desert Race
This, believe it or not, is the Finke River, a little south of Stuart’s Well, and this was the actual weekend of the Finke Desert Race, where hundreds of cars, bikes and buggies race from Alice Springs to Finke and back.
I heard on the news when I returned to Alice Springs that the weekend had been a great success: the spectators had been reasonably well behaved (this was remarkable enough to make the news), only three drivers had to be disqualified for being under the influence and there were no fatalities.
After driving along the Stuart Highway for over a further hundred kilometres through country that looked much like this for most of the way, we arrived at Erldunda.
Along the way we saw a few wedge-tailed eagles, the fauna emblem of the Northern Territory. The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey, with an average wing span of 2.5 metres. Not a bird to mess with.
Jason showed us a wedge-tailed eagle talon – fearsome!
Erldunda was very exciting for us - after driving virtually in a straight line from Alice Springs, we now got to make a right turn onto the Lasseter Highway.
Here we are!
Depending on whether you work it out by:
Some time after leaving Erldunda, Jason asked us to look out for a “big rock” on our left. The excitement was palpable in the bus, as we all sat scanning the far horizon.
Not a lot happening so far.
Here it is!
Funny, that looks flatter on top than I had imagined Uluru to be, and also more purple…….
It turns out not to be Uluru after all, but a feature I had never heard of, called Mt Conner.
Tour guides like to have a little joke with their groups, getting them all excited – their name for Mt Conner is “Foolaroo”.
I think I have inadvertantly photographed a wedge-tailed eagle flying between me and Foolaroo.
Curtin Springs is a cattle station, roadhouse and tourist accommodation centre on the Lasseter Highway, 85 kilometres east of Yulara. Mt Conner is on the western fringe of Curtin Springs station, and clearly visible from the roadhouse.
A tame emu wanders nonchalantly around the roadhouse, where we made a stop.
Finke Desert Race
This, believe it or not, is the Finke River, a little south of Stuart’s Well, and this was the actual weekend of the Finke Desert Race, where hundreds of cars, bikes and buggies race from Alice Springs to Finke and back.
I heard on the news when I returned to Alice Springs that the weekend had been a great success: the spectators had been reasonably well behaved (this was remarkable enough to make the news), only three drivers had to be disqualified for being under the influence and there were no fatalities.
After driving along the Stuart Highway for over a further hundred kilometres through country that looked much like this for most of the way, we arrived at Erldunda.
Along the way we saw a few wedge-tailed eagles, the fauna emblem of the Northern Territory. The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey, with an average wing span of 2.5 metres. Not a bird to mess with.
Jason showed us a wedge-tailed eagle talon – fearsome!
Erldunda was very exciting for us - after driving virtually in a straight line from Alice Springs, we now got to make a right turn onto the Lasseter Highway.
Here we are!
Depending on whether you work it out by:
- Furthest point from the sea
- Centre of gravity method
- Median point
- Lambert gravitational centre
- Johnston geodetic station
Some time after leaving Erldunda, Jason asked us to look out for a “big rock” on our left. The excitement was palpable in the bus, as we all sat scanning the far horizon.
Not a lot happening so far.
Here it is!
Funny, that looks flatter on top than I had imagined Uluru to be, and also more purple…….
It turns out not to be Uluru after all, but a feature I had never heard of, called Mt Conner.
Tour guides like to have a little joke with their groups, getting them all excited – their name for Mt Conner is “Foolaroo”.
I think I have inadvertantly photographed a wedge-tailed eagle flying between me and Foolaroo.
Curtin Springs is a cattle station, roadhouse and tourist accommodation centre on the Lasseter Highway, 85 kilometres east of Yulara. Mt Conner is on the western fringe of Curtin Springs station, and clearly visible from the roadhouse.
A tame emu wanders nonchalantly around the roadhouse, where we made a stop.
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