The road tracklog 
from Borroloola to Top Springs
from 19 to 28/10/2009 

On 27/10, it was a divine day. On the way to Daly Waters on Stuart Hwy I stopped in early morning at Caranbirini Conservation Reserve. Once again I was alone, to enter the park it was necessary to open a gate and to shut it behind oneself. I visited a Lookout to see shredded sandstone cliffs, a Waterhole with an observatory to watch birds, then I traversed Barawulla Walk peppered with informative panels, it was a geology true lesson in situ. While strolling I saw some inhabitants in the spot. Back on the road I saw, throughout my trip, bush fires and cattle looking for food. I establish the bivouac on a Rest Area at approximately 90 kilometres away from Daly Waters.

 
Caranbirini CR 
27/10/2009 

Informatif panel 
Caranbirini 
27/10/2009 

Landscape 
Caranbirini 
27/10/2009 

Wallaby 
CaranbiriniP 
27/10/2009 

Informatif panel 
Caranbirini 
27/10/2009 

Sandstone pillars 
Caranbirini CR 
27/10/2009 

Bush fire 
en route 
27/10/2009 

Cattle 
en route 
27/10/2009 

On 28/10, it was a long day on sealed road up to Dunmarra then a “gravel road” up to Top Springs. The Buchanan Hwy from Stuart Hwy to Top Springs is on the "Alt Savannah Way". The best attraction of this way was the visit of Daly Waters at the crossroads of Carpentaria Hwy and Stuart Hwy. Actually it is a “backwater”, which had its heyday in the Thirties with the first international airport because the small quantity of fuel load at that time. The pub, it is said, is the oldest in Australia and owes its reputation with an especially distilled water!!! At the time of WWII there was also a “airstrip” for the United States Air Force during the Pacific War. I establish the bivouac at Top Springs

Old post office 
Daly Waters 
28/10/2009 

Original Pub 
Daly Waters 
28/10/2009 

Current Pub 
Daly Waters 
28/10/2009 

The bar 
Daly Waters 
28/10/2009 

The road tracklog 
from Top Springs to Caroline Pool
from 29 to 01/11/2009 

The 29/10 day target was to approach the junction with Tanami Hwy. The first 170 kilometers of Buntime Hwy were sealed up to Kalkaringi where I went shopping at the Service station/Supermarket. Then Lajamanu Road was a gravel road with corrugated sections. After the aboriginal village of Lajamanu, the road became a track. I stopped to bivouac around 05:00pm at the edge of the track. From the last village I did not met a living soul, I was alone for several hours. It was not seldom to see carcasses of burnt car in the neighbourhood fields.

Service station/supermarket 
Kalkaringi 
29/10/2009 

Wreck! 
En route 
29/10/2009 

At daybreak I met on the roadside some multicoloured birds which I could not photograph while driving without taking ill-considered risks. I regretted it bitterly so much they were beautiful, some had orange breast, some others had a brush on the head, without speaking about the raptors on the carcasses of the road traffic victims, wallaby or cattle. While driving I was intrigued by posts with recent look in the fields along the fence of Buntime Hwy. They indicate the presence of an optical fibre of which I do not know the use, certainly an information system.

Optical fibre 
En route 
29/10/2009 

Optical fibre 
en route 
29/10/2009 

On October 30, it was still a day on track to head to Tanami Hwy. After a detour of 90 kilometres return I visited the mythical Road house "Rabbit Flat" which closes definitively one 31/12/2010 its owner being very old. I took a photo with a hidden camera.

Road houset 
Rabbit Flat 
30/10/2009 

Le propriétaire 
Rabbit Flat 
30/10/2009 

Back on Tanami HWY I bivouacked at the border between the Northern Territory and the Western Australia with a heat of +40°C and a percentage of moisture of approximately 8%!!! The panel announcing the entry with the WA has a lot of graffiti, rare in this country. The following panel gives the amount of maximum penalty for any contravener to AQIS' rules. For example the icon in the left is a honey pot, importation of hive products is prohibited in the WA!!!

Graffiti 
State border 
30/10/2009 

AQIS, quarantine 
State border 
30/10/2009 

After the sunrise at the NT/WA border the Tanami Hwy track was profiled at the horizon during 230 kilometres up to the day sight "Wolfe Creek". A meteorite would have impacted the ground of the earth 300,000 years ago. The crater, the second largest in the world, would have had a 120 meters depth, the wind brought sediments which filled it partially. A picture is in the Gallery. I bivouacked on the spot.

Sunrise 
State border 
31/10/2009 

Gravel Road 
Tanami Hwy 
31/10/2009 

Formation 
Wolfe Creek 
31/10/2009 

Todayi 
Wolfe Creek 
31/10/2009 

In this day of All Saints' Day I headed to Halls Creek where at the end of the morning I visited a Visitor Centre to collect booklets. The person met gave me useful information for my trip in Kimberley. Then on the move to my bivouac spot at Caroline Pool I stopped in China Wall which is a geological sight. Erosion carved hardcore sandstone rock of a wall from where the name of China Wall. Whereas I worked at my website, two young Frenchwomen arrived in Rover Land. We exchanged much information.

 
China Wall 
01/11/2009 

 
China Wall 
01/11/2009 

 
China Wall 
01/11/2009 

Wallaby 
Caroline Pool 
01/11/2009 

Patricia & Sophie 
Caroline Pool 
01/11/2009