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On location, hunting for dinosaurs! While waiting for a massive Sauropod to wander across the barren...
Destinations > Loop the Loop
Loop the Loop
plain covered with gibbers and low shrubs. It is in this barren landscape that you will come across Bloods Creek. It may be in ruins now, but again try to imagine Bloods Creek in its heyday. Located on the Overland Telegraph Line, the grog shop and store here must have boomed at times with all sorts of colourful characters moving along the only track to the Centre.
Their legacy is strewn everywhere with bits of packhorse gear resting beside old automotive parts, broken crockery, tins and bottles.
Horseshoes and bullocky cues tell of the early travellers to the Centre while a lonely grave with an iron frame, and a small yet dignified memorial to Indulkatu, an Aboriginal woman whose remains lie in the area, tell of the hardships.
In 1913 Captain Samuel White of the Central Australian Scientific Expedition visited here and thought that the couple of galvanized-iron sheds that comprised Bloods Creek were "a perfect nightmare... in a sunbaked, dry-sucked wilderness".
If he had seen the bottle dump he would have realised it wasn't so dry out here! Nevertheless, based on Captain White's description, it's not surprising that Bloods Creek was eventually abandoned.
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It would take a man of courage and strength to take over the lease and such a man was Ted Colson. He and aboriginal Peter Ains put the settlement back on the map in 1936 when they set out on camels from Bloods Creek and were the first men to cross the Simpson Desert to Birdsville. They then repeated their feat by returning across the desert.
But progress waits for no man regardless of his capabilities and the extension of the Ghan to Alice Springs meant the end for Bloods Creek. It is thought that Ted Colson was the last person to live at Bloods Creek before it was again left to the elements.
Back on the Loop, after passing the large windmill located on the creek from which Bloods Creek got its name, you come to an intersection. If time is a bit tight then swing left towards Eringa on a maintained track but if time is on your side, an alternative is to turn right towards Mount Dare. Then a few hundred metres along, turn left onto a narrow track where a scratchy sign feebly declares "Abminga 31". Although this track is not maintained, it is not difficult. It can be slow in places, especially where there have been washouts or around the small rocky ledges which will reduce the speed of your 4WD to walking pace. For such a harsh environment, however, there are a surprising number of fences and yes, you guessed it, just as many gates. The first gate that taunts the navigator marks the end of the Witjira National Park but there are a couple more ahead to ensure that the navigator is kept fit.
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Their legacy is strewn everywhere with bits of packhorse gear resting beside old automotive parts, broken crockery, tins and bottles.
Horseshoes and bullocky cues tell of the early travellers to the Centre while a lonely grave with an iron frame, and a small yet dignified memorial to Indulkatu, an Aboriginal woman whose remains lie in the area, tell of the hardships.
In 1913 Captain Samuel White of the Central Australian Scientific Expedition visited here and thought that the couple of galvanized-iron sheds that comprised Bloods Creek were "a perfect nightmare... in a sunbaked, dry-sucked wilderness".
If he had seen the bottle dump he would have realised it wasn't so dry out here! Nevertheless, based on Captain White's description, it's not surprising that Bloods Creek was eventually abandoned.
read on below advertisement
It would take a man of courage and strength to take over the lease and such a man was Ted Colson. He and aboriginal Peter Ains put the settlement back on the map in 1936 when they set out on camels from Bloods Creek and were the first men to cross the Simpson Desert to Birdsville. They then repeated their feat by returning across the desert.
But progress waits for no man regardless of his capabilities and the extension of the Ghan to Alice Springs meant the end for Bloods Creek. It is thought that Ted Colson was the last person to live at Bloods Creek before it was again left to the elements.
Back on the Loop, after passing the large windmill located on the creek from which Bloods Creek got its name, you come to an intersection. If time is a bit tight then swing left towards Eringa on a maintained track but if time is on your side, an alternative is to turn right towards Mount Dare. Then a few hundred metres along, turn left onto a narrow track where a scratchy sign feebly declares "Abminga 31". Although this track is not maintained, it is not difficult. It can be slow in places, especially where there have been washouts or around the small rocky ledges which will reduce the speed of your 4WD to walking pace. For such a harsh environment, however, there are a surprising number of fences and yes, you guessed it, just as many gates. The first gate that taunts the navigator marks the end of the Witjira National Park but there are a couple more ahead to ensure that the navigator is kept fit.
next page »
