Outback Tours Tennant Creek

Tennant Creek is an outback town located in the Northern Territory approximately 500 kilometres north of Alice Springs and 1000 kilometres south of Darwin, at the junction of the Stuart Highway and the Barkly Highway. Like most outback towns, Tennant Creek is steeped in colourful history and culture.

The Tennant Creek region is traditional Warumungu country, though many Aboriginal language groups make it their home today. The Nyinkka Nyunyu indigenous art and cultural centre in Tennant Creek offers visitors an opportunity to learn about Aboriginal life and history in the region.

The country around Tennant Creek is not arid desert as in Alice Springs and Central Australia to the south. Vegetation is open shrubland and the average rainfall is 422mm. Tennant Creek has a warm climate with distinct wet and dry seasons, as found in most of northern Australia. Most rain falls in the summer months when temperatures are at their highest. Temperatures fall during the dry months with sunny days and mild nights. Average day temperatures range from 24 degrees to 38 degrees, with an average of only 22 days per year exceeding 40 degrees. Day time minimum temperatures range from 25 degrees in the hotter months to 12 degrees in the middle of the year. Residents of Tennant Creek enjoy from 9.1 to 10.4 hours of sunshine per day with an average of 155 clear days per year. Prevailing winds are from the east to south-east.

Tennant Creek is named after a normally dry creek located l2kms north of the town where an Overland Telegraph Station was built in 1872. The historic stone buildings are still standing today. Tennant Creek has developed into a thriving regional centre with a population of 4,000, and is the service centre for the Barkly Tablelands pastoral industry. Travellers can find a range of hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, camping sites, pubs, well stocked supermarkets and restaurants, a major regional hospital, schools, banking and vehicle servicing facilities and, air and coach line services linking Alice Springs and Darwin.