Thursday seven weeks ago we went to Balgo in the morning. We were a bit early according to the local time, but which is in fact 90 minutes behind NT time. But anyway, the general store was still closed. Nevertheless, the fuel was available for 24 h. The only problem was you’ve to choose which pump either 1 or 2, and there was no sign which number pump has the diesel pump. In the end we got some help from a local who told us that diesel is number 1. Hence, we could fuel up, even before the general store was open. Then we went to the Balgo art center, which was supposed to open even an hour later. But somehow the managers just approached when we went there, and even let us have a look “early” this morning. I had a look at some draings, which were indeed quite nice. There was even a meeting ongoing from all art centres across North Australia. Megan needed to buy additional drawings, while I took care of our water supplies (thankfully we could fill up our water jerry cans there) – sure, everyone has its own priorities in the desert, as well as using the flushing toilet. That’s definitely luxury, when you know the next one might be days away ;). Once we passed the Coyote gold mine, we quickly reached the border to the NT, and were finally back. Shortly after the border there was a rest area near the Tanami gold mine. This rest area even provided water. Not for drinking, but good enough for washing away all the dust and sweat from skin and hair. Both gold mines were put into mothballs some years ago, and only their spoils tips are reminders of their former operation. Surprisingly the Tanami road was lined with a lot of plants, not only spinefex grass, but also bushes and even trees. I didn’t expect such an amount of dark green leafs in the desert. In essence it’s very good, as it stabilises the soil and prevents a bit the erosion effects caused by heavy winds. Otherwise you would always end up in a sand storm, once there’s a bit of a wind. All the plants are perfectly optimised for little rainfall during the year. They can even survive several years in a row without rainfall. If it rains in the desert, then the rain will be heavy. In a short amount of time the plants will grow, spread their seeds, and even new plants will emerge from that rainfall, before everything is going to be dry again. In the late afternoon we made a short detour to the closed Rabbit Flat Roadhouse. The diesel fuel pump still exists, as well as the toilets. You can still see that the roadhouse was in operation just a few years ago. Nevertheless, the surrounding of the roadhouse looks devastating. We explored a bit the vicinity, and could even detect the water bore, as well as the sheds of the old diesel engines. Both were demolished and sold elsewhere. Just during sunset we drove up a cairn near the Granite Gold Mine and had a lovely sunset view to the surrounding flat plans. As the gold mine is still in operation, even as it is operated on Aboriginal land, I had high-speed internet connection in the middle of the desert.









