In these crazy covid times, we’re heading to NT to hike the Larapinta Trail. Greater Sydney was declared a hotspot, so we headed to Queensland to spend a couple of weeks before heading into NT from there.From Sydney to Port Macquarie to Brisbane to Noosa to Hervey Bay to Fraser Island to Torquay to Rockhampton to Longreach to Mount Isa to stop. At the NT border we were stopped. Brisbane was declared a hotspot on 1st August and even though we’d left there well before that date, we had only been out of Brisbane 13 days and had to wait until the next day at midday to get through the border. So we headed back to Camooweal to pass 24 hours. The motel was full, apparently of V8 super car support crew who also had to wait until the next day to cross the border, so we camped in the caravan park.
We went and checked out the caves and water hole at Camooweal Caves National Park. The water hole was a really lovely place for lunch on a hot day at a picnic table under some shady trees. There were so many birds around – zebra finches, peewees, corellas, kites, pigeons, ducks.
From Camooweal to Tennant Creek. What an eye opener for someone who’s never been to this part of the world! Tennant Creek has some of the tightest restrictions on alcohol in the NT and one of them is that you can only buy takeaway alcohol Monday to Saturday from 4-7pm. We arrived in town just after 4pm and the streets were absolutely swarming with people. It felt particularly busy because the motel we stayed at is a bottle shop too, so there was a long line of people as well as a long queue of cars. We had to wait in that queue just to get into the carpark!We decided to restock our beer supply (boy it’s great having a car fridge!), so stood in line with the locals for about an hour. There were people coming and going, everyone chatting with each other. Later we came out for dinner at around 6pm and the street was deserted!
A good friend reminded me that this is close to the location of Wolf Creek. Nice to think about when you’re in a place with a murder rate per 100,000 people higher than the US!From Tennant Creek to Alice Springs.
We were going to head off to Redbank Gorge and climb Mt Sonder for sunset, but thunderstorms were predicted so we stayed put in Alice Springs for the night. We’ll officially start the Larapinta tomorrow.
Kerry's Hikes 
Hey Kerry,
So you managed to get through all the border restrictions then and into NT. Well done,
Be very interested to hear your impressions of the Larapinta. We were all set to do this in June but had to pull the pin at the last minute. So very jealous that you are there and about to do it.
Are you doing the whole track or just a segment?
All the best -Craig
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Thanks Craig. Yes, we were super lucky with timing and making it through the borders. I’m doing the whole trail starting at Mt Sonder this afternoon. Will post again when I’m back in coverage. I hope all is well with you
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