There's plenty of adventure to be had in Tennant Creek, from fossicking for gold and bushwalking, to four-wheel driving and cattle station stays.
On the range
The region is a veritable playground for four-wheel drivers. One of the Davenport Range National Park’s most popular tracks, the Frew River Four Wheel Drive Loop Track is a fun route into the park’s best-known attraction, the Old Police Station. Traverse 17 kilometres of rocky, moderately challenging road and take in spectacular views of the national park along the way.
As well as being a great spot for off-road adventures, the Davenport National Park is home to plentiful fauna – water birds in particular – thanks to its extensive network of waterholes. The Ranges make for a relaxing and picturesque place for camping, and sites are available at the Old Police Station Waterhole or Whistleduck Creek.
Gold fever
Fossick for your fortune at numerous sites around Tennant Creek. There’s apparently still plenty of gold and gemstones to be ‘found in them thar hills’. Visitors can look for gold at a spot 15 kilometres outside the small mining town of Warrego. So, pick up your free fossicker’s permit, then grab all the necessary equipment (or just rummage through the soil by hand) and join a tag-a-long fossicking tour.
Homestead
Tennant Creek services some of the largest cattle grazing areas in the country. Experience life on a working cattle station, staying on a site such as Banka Banka, a massive 11,600 square-km working cattle station where you can set up camp and enjoy a cold beer on the verandah of the historic mud brick homestead before swapping yarns around the campfire.