Troy's Birthday, New Haircuts and Alice Springs

During out stay in Alice Springs for Amelia's op, we celebrated Troy's 31st birthday and the girls got haircuts. The girls bought Troy a cake and helped him blow out his candles. We couldnt put all 31 on there because the fire department would have been called!!! The girls loved their haircuts, although Sharlette's doesnt look any different. All Hannah kept doing was looking in every shop window and car door and saying how beautiful she looked. I know... I dont know where she gets that from!!! So here are some pics of our time in Alice.

Things of Interest in the NT - The Devil's Marbles

On our way home from Alice Springs we stopped at The Devil's Marbles Conservation Park, which is about 1 hour south of Tennant Creek. These are truly amazing structures. Big boulders balancing I dont know how on top of one another. They are huge. Here are some pictures (they do not do it any justice) and some pictures of the information boards telling people how they were formed.

Amelia's New Nose

Amelia had her opeation on Thurday to remove the lump from her nose. It went better than anyone could have expected. She was in surgery for only an hour and a half and only spent an hour and a half in recovery. It did not bother her at all. She never went off her food and her nose didnt hurt. So now Amelia has a new nose!!!

Enjoying a coldy and touring with Dad

We watched the State of Origin Series up at Threeways Roadhouse. They were having a special XXXX promotion which entitle you to hats everytime you bought a round. We ended up with three hats for the girls and they though they were great. These are some photos of them with their new hats. Amelia enjoys a coldy every now and then, but dont worry. The can is not open and she only sucks on the outside as she is teething and it must feel pretty good.




Last week Troy took us all out for a full day of bore running. The girls thought it was pretty cool. We have now seen the whole property. We went over the Ghan Railway line as it goes through the station, but we did not see it. We also saw the old school at Warrego that was in operation when the mine was open. Amelia enjoyed her luch time sleep on the floor of the ute, not something you do everyday, but she didnt mind bouncing around the paddock.

The Old Mines of Phillip Creek

On Phillip Creek Station there are a number of old gold and copper mines. The bigest of these been the Warrego Gold Mine, which was operated by Normandy Gold. This mine pulled out an amazing 1.2 million ounces of gold during its operation. Wouldn't that be nice!! This mine is an underground mine and Orlando Mine is a big open cut. Troy and I reckon it would have to be at least 1 km long and 500 - 600m deep. This too was also a gold and copper mine. Some of the other mines on the property are North Star, Gecko and White Devil. All of which were gold and/or copper mines.

There is an old mine known as "Mick's Mine". This was one mans own mining title and it is now a designated fossicking area, where tourist can obtain permits and try their luck. All it is, is an old hut made of corrugated iron, with a rusty old 44 on the roof which was his shower. Story has it that one day Mick was there and the next he wasnt. He just disappeared.

The story of Tennant Creek itself has a mining story to it. The telegraph station is located 10km north of Tennant Creek township on Tennant Creek itself. This was where local miners etc were stationed. Local legend says that a beer truck travelling from the south broke down 10km south of the Telegraph Station. Because of this, the miners shifted camp and travelled to where the beer was, now the site of the Tennant Creek Hotel. This is why Tennant Creek is so far from the Creek with the same name.