23-Sep-2006 --

The most direct access to this confluence is through Amburla Station, so a few days before we planned to visit the confluence we contacted Robyn, the station manager. She was incredibly enthusiastic about the project and arranged for the access gate to be unlocked for us and ensured that our route was well away from the camel muster, which was underway.

Leaving home in Alice Springs at 8:30 am, we travelled north up the Stuart Highway then north west along the Tanami Road to Mount Chapple Bore where we turned north onto the Amburla Station track. The country is beautiful at this time of year with flowers carpeting the ground. The northern part of the track, which is seldom used, was thick with shrubs and termite mounds.

We startled a group of camels, were paced by kangaroos and a flock of budgerigars swooped past. Seeing these birds flyling free, and so very fast, in their natural habitat, it 's a wonder they survive being caged.

Where the track crossed 133E we parked the vehicle and left a note on the windscreen to say who we were and where we were going, as it is easy to get into difficulties in this country particularly with summer approaching. After climbing through the fence we walked 2.2 km north to the confluence, picking our way through spiky spinifex clumps. The route took us through marvellous red sand country covered predominantly with spinifex and mulga and the occasional gum and mallee. The temperature was over 35° C with a strong breeze which reduced the humidity to single figures, so we drank almost 4 litres of water between us on the walk out and back.

After lunch in the shade of a mulga thicket, we returned by the same route and got back to Alice Springs about 3:30pm.