13-May-2004 -- These photographs of the 20°S 129°E confluence were taken on the 13th May 2004. This confluence is located in the western part of the Tanami Desert approximately 12km south of the Tanami Highway. The Tanami Highway is a gravel road that runs between Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, across the border to Halls Creek in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. The 129° Easting is the border (I think) between Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Consequently the photograph looking west shows a part of Western Australia and the photograph of the view to the east shows parts of the Northern Territory. The only geographical features that has been honoured with a name that is visible from the confluence are the Killi-Killi Hills, just visible on the horizon to the north.

Access to the confluence in my case was from the west where I work at a gold exploration camp known as the Balwina Camp. A significant gold resource, the Coyote Deposit, yet to be mined at time of writing, is located 20km west-north-west of the confluence. The journey took approximately one hour along recent exploration tracks. Thirty kilometres of tracks brought me to within 2km of the confluence. However, the state of the tracks deteriorates over the last 10km where two metre high shrubs and termite mounds increasingly encroach on the track, covering the vehicle in a yellow blossom and putting the bullbar to good use respectively. Despite this the surface was firm and nowhere was it necessary to engage four wheel drive. I drove the last two kilometres through the bush and paid for my laziness on the way back with a flat tyre, but that didn't matter, the confluence was in the bag (or at least on the memory stick) by then!

Luc English
Exploration Geologist

The demarcation line with the Northern Territory is passing about 130 m east of the Confluence.