500 km north of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway. According to local legend, Tennant Creek started life in 1932 when a lorry broke down at this unpromising spot on the highway. Its cargo was beer and construction materials, both of which were quickly put to use whilst the driver and his mate waited for help.

A year later, gold was discovered here – resulting in the last big Australian gold rush. The two most succesful prospectors were a rough-and-ready pair who had only one eye (between them). To you, this may speak volumes for the state of the other gold rushers who made it here. But it’s unwise to mention this in any of the 10 licensed premises that serve the approx. 3,000 population. If you want to see how the gold was processed in the old days, visit the Tennant Creek Battery (www.barklytourism.com.au/attractions/battery-hill-mining-centre.html) at Peko Road, where they have guided tours of the old crushing plant.

Some 90 km south of town, to the east of the highway, you can see the Devil’s Marbles, hundreds of granite boulders, some huge, scattered over the wilderness. Aborigines identify them as eggs of the legendary Rainbow Serpent Wanambi. Geologists implausibly claim they’re all that’s left over from some Jurassic mountains.