CAMPSITE # 89 - Welcome to NT

One more stopover along the Stuart Highway until we would (finally) reach Alice Springs. After analysing the spendings the week beforehand, we realised that we were heavily over budget in the Campsite fee section, having paid for a 6 out of 7 nights in one week. It was time to stay at a free camp and have a full day of zero spendings.


Rest Areas generally aren't that flash, just a piece of concrete alongside the highway. So, to have found one with a toilet (even if it was a drop dunny), amongst shady trees next to the river - we thought we were pretty lucky.

Site : Fincke River Rest Area
Rating : 6/20
Facilities : Right next to the highway so prepare yourself for a noisy nights sleep. 


Once we had setup camp, we had a number of 'visitors' pull up at the Rest Area to check out the Fincke River - it very rarely has water in it. One of the guys that appeared sparked up a brief chat with Tom, Doug was an aboriginal tour leader in the area and he'd been conducting tours for as long as he could remember. According to Doug, he hasn't seen the Fincke so full in over 40 years!! We wouldn't have known any different... what a treat to see it like this!

It's always a nice addition to any campsite when you park up next to a group of other campers who are very friendly and keen for a chat. Tom spent the afternoon in search of firewood and just as the sun went down, the flames went up. Twelve of us gathered around the fire, under the stars, for most of the night.

For anyone travelling from Eastern and Southern Australia, as all twelve of us were, coming to the Northern Territory can be quite an eye opener into how some of the aboriginal communities live in the larger towns. I cringed when someone brought up an experience they had with an indigenous Australian, it was as if it was opens-lather from there on in.

When somebody begins a sentence with "I'm not racist BUT..." usually what they say proceeding will most certainly be a racist comment. But they think they've excused themselves just by saying it in advance. Tom and I sat there silently and in shock from what was coming out of their mouths as they relayed to each other the stories of their indigenous encounters. We didn't oppose or walk away, we just sat there as they laughed at whoever had the better story to tell.

Where we just as bad as them for doing nothing and tolerating it all? As I lay awake in bed that night, I kept thinking about the conversations that went on around the fireplace. Was the UN  right when they called Australia a racist country? Could we really be a racist nation?

 We're still looking for a wild camel but none to date :(

If only...