Thursday 3rd March 2022
We had a rough night with Charlotte last night. Eva’s sleep deprived the most. We were up and moving again at 7am. Packed and ready to move at 830am.
We drove 91km south to a small town called Barrow Creek. Here we fed Charlotte and took some photos at the Historic Telegraph station.
Barrow Creek
John McDouall Stuart passed through the area in 1860. He named a creek near the current town after John Henry Barrow, a preacher, journalist and politician who was born in England in 1817 and migrated to South Australia in 1853. At the time of first European habitation of the site, he was the Treasurer of South Australia.
Barrow Creek was chosen as a site for an Overland Telegraph morse repeater station by John Ross in September 1871.
There was also a post office and telephone exchange servicing local cattle stations.
In 1873, 5,000 sheep were overlanded from Adelaide by Alfred Giles for distribution to Telegraph Stations along the line.
During the Second World War Barrow Creek was used by the Australian Army as a staging camp for convoys of troops and supplies, which was known as No. 5 Australian Personnel Staging Camp.
We left Barrow Creek around 1030am and headed further south to Ti Tree, where we planned to stay at the roadhouse.
It was a uncomfortable 42 degrees at Ti Tree. No breeze. We had limited shade in bushcamp like campground. the aircon struggled to get the van to 34 degrees inside.
We spent the afternoon indoors. We were originally going to go yo the pool, but it looked green and stagnant, so we had to entertain ourselves inside.
Charlotte was very fussy all afternoon. We had to keep sponging her down to keep her cool. All she anted was to be held and cradled but we were all sweating like mad. By 6pm she was at the beyond tired stage and was fighting sleep tooth and nail. We were pacing the caravan trying to get her to sleep. She went into her cot at 720pm. The temp was finally 33 inside the van.
This trip is teaching us to be good communicators, minimalists and resilient. We each live out of a cupboard about 40cm wide, 1.2m high and about 80cm deep. We have 3 pairs of shoes each. We live off a small budget. When we change our plans from free camp to caravan park, due to keeping our dear daughters comfortable, we have to take that $35-40 per night off our food budget. When fuel goes from 175 cents to 210 cents a litre, we factor that in and have to not do any tours that week.
Madeline seems to find minimalism difficult as she is use to being spoilt by her doting family. She wants toys and treats whenever we shop. She doesn’t understand that we can’t afford it and she can’t get something every weekly shopping trip. She’s slowly learning to handle the “No.”
Ti Tree
Ti-Tree is a town located on the Stuart Highway about 1,109 kilometres south of Darwin and about 193 km north of Alice Springs.
One of the first features in the area to be named was Ti Tree Well No. 3 which was developed during the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line.
In 1888 an area of about 64 km incorporating the well was formally set aside as the Tea Tree Telegraph Reserve and in 1919 W. J. ‘Bill’ Heffernan was granted a lease to a parcel of land which he called Tea Tree Station. The current station covers an area of 3584 km².
In 1975, Ian Dahlenburg took up 2.6 square kilometres (640 acres) of the station and established Dahlenburg Horticultural Enterprise which now grows grapes and watermelons on Ti Tree Farm.
In 1976, Ti Tree Station was sold to the Aboriginal Land Fund Commission and became a subject of a land claim on behalf of the local Aboriginal people. Much of the area surrounding Ti Tree township is now within the bounds of the Ahakeye Land Trust, an Aboriginal Freehold Lease.
Current day Ti-Tree is the centre for vegetables producing fresh vegetables and fruit for Territory markets, with an annual table-grape harvest alone reaping $10 million.
I have to give a special mention to Eva’s mum Wanda. She has helped source and order a new washing machine door for the van. She also has helped organise a paediatrician review for Charlotte on the few days we will be in Port Augusta.
Charlotte appears to have Cows Milk Protein Intolerance and is currently on a rice milk formula. A review by a paed Was suggested at her 6 week check for both the CMPI and because her head is measuring small. Instead of waiting until July, we can start our reviews in April.
Tomorrow
We head to Alice Springs. Arriving 1 day earlier than expected.
morrisblog.travel.blog 