Curtain Springs, Northern Territory.

The outback of Australia.

Curtain Springs Station is an interesting place.  The area is: 416,400 hectares.  Acres: 1,028,948 acres. That is a huge area.  Curtain Springs Station came into being in 1956 with owners Peter Severin and his wife Dawn (dec) along with their toddler son Ashley and 1,5000 head of cattle settled there.  There are 4 generations now living at Curtain Springs Station.

You can read the history [ here ] and the site also shows videos.  If you have time and interested it's certainly worth visiting their site to read the history and what they do now.

We stayed for a couple of nights in the camping area as it is on the way to Ayres Rock (Uluru) a 1 hour and 16 minute drive away. There is no water but of course there is water underground, if there wasn't you certainly couldn't live in Central Australia.

Mt. Connor is larger the Ayers Rock (Uluru) Northern Territory and is seen on the way to Uluru.  Mt. Connor is 859 m high (2,818 ft) and lies within Curtain Springs Cattle Station. There are many camels in the area too.

These photos are far from Curtain Springs Station.

As you can see by the map, it's in Central Australia, far from towns.

The below photos of Curtain Springs were taken from Google Maps and it gives you some idea what it's like to live in the middle of nowhere with hardly any grass.

Port Germein.

Port Germein is 70 km south of Port August South Australia overlooking Germein Bay, the community of around 400 or so boasts great fishing and crabbing, wonderful walks, good markets with lovely beaches, mountains, national parks, wineries and a cute village.  We travelled there in 2004 and again in latter years, so the first visit is a long time ago and photos I took are from that year.

Port Germein was put on the map back in 1881 when its jetty was built to allow sailing ships to be loaded with grain. Because of its shallow beach, the jetty was extended a couple of years later which made it 1,680 meters.  Since that time it has been shortened a little by storm damage and various repairs, it is still the longest jetty in South Australia.  When the railway arrived some years late the larger ships could no longer moor, Port Germein went into something of a decline and things closed.

The AI below is of The Blue Swimmer Crab as I didn't have a photo of one, nor could I find a decent one and of course they are not as blue as the AI made it.  However, it gives us an idea of what they are like.  

The Blue Swimmer Crab is an edible, wild caught crustacean found in Australia and Indo-Pacific coastal water. They are also called the 'blue manna' or 'sandy', it is a popular food with a mild, sweet, nutty flavour, typically caught in bays and estuaries and used in dishes like boiling, salads, and pasta.

The Hotel above years ago and the photo below I took when we passed through which has now been renovated.  I noticed the balcony is the same as in the railing but very different now apparently.  

Mud flat which are not that attractive. If you click on the photos you can see the wooden bridge.

The Big Thong near or a bit inland in Port Germein.

Crystal Brook is a sweet town and we always had lunch at the Bakery there when passing through.   Crystal Brook is before Germein and is 197 km from the Capital of South Australia, Adelaide. 

'During WW11, Crystal Brook was the location of RAAF No. 32 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot, built in 1942 and closed on June 14, 1944.  Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supple of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of 900,000 pounds ($1,800,000).'  Wikipedia

Crystal Brook (or creek) supplied water to the town until 1890 when the Beetaloo Reservoir was completed, which at the time was the largest concrete dam in the southern hemisphere.