Longreach Waterhole

View from our kitchen window

We first heard about Longreach Waterhole from a Waitress at Todd Mall in Alice Springs and then again from a guy I met in the Peter Kittle waiting room (you will recall from my previous post that this was a favourite coffee stop for me while I was stuck in Alice Springs).

Our house at dawn - no sign of Linda?

Longreach Waterhole is surprisingly nowhere near Longreach but is 11 kilometres outside of Elliott -  a very small township about 100 km north of Tenant Creek as you head towards Katherine.

After taking a wrong turn (the Camps 8 book was wrong) we found the right track which is a sandy, sometimes quiet corrugated, and narrow dirt track – all good if you take your time and let your tires down to 25 PSI (not essential but easier on passengers and caravan).

5 km from our camp - much quieter here

Didn’t see anyone on the way in and Linda asked “wonder if there is going to be anyone else out there”. Well as we turned the final bend our only wonder was “where are we going to find a spot”.  There would have been 20-30 Vans in the 4-5 km of waterfront sites we could see.  After a bit of scouting around and trying a few spots we final settled on a nice spot with the back of the van facing the 20-30 knot easterly winds that were prevalent during the mornings.

Pelicans on the prowl

We spent 4 nights and 5 days chilling out and counting the birds. And lots of birds there were- brolgas, whistling kites, pelicans, cormorants, stilts, herons, ibis, ducks, divers, swamp-hens, snipes, rainbow bee-eaters, butcher birds, peewees, terns, eagles, and others we couldn’t identify.

Linda chilling out

The constant cry of the whistling kites and the battles by the pelicans, cormorants and whistling kites to steal a fish off any other bird that was successful in its hunt - is something we will always remember.  

My damper is the one on the right - more practise required!

Great spot – highly recommended – just make sure that it hasn’t been raining lots before you go in – the road would get interesting if it were wet.

Link to a short Youtube video is https://youtu.be/7TuNTRFJjHI