Alice Springs and the Devils Marbles

Heading north from Kings Canyon we had a choice of route – take the Mereenie loop which is a gravel track and is only 332 kilometers or take the black top which is 473 kilometers. I was excited about taking a proper 4WD track, but chatting to a fellow traveler, who had significant red dust on his caravan, he told me he had taken the Mereenie loop and it had taken him 5 hours and broken his caravan in a number of places due to the 30 cm deep corrugations. We decided to take the longer route on the black top and arrived in Alice Springs early afternoon.

Alice Springs is an interesting town, being the site chosen by Sir Charles Todd as a Telegraph repeater station in his plan to link Adelaide, Darwin and Great Britain with a superior communications infrastructure – a sort of early NBN. The site for the repeater station was chosen close to a billabong that was named Alice Springs after Alice Todd, Sir Charles Todd’s wife. The town subsequently grew up around this repeater station and is now bustling hub and attracts a variety of people.

We stayed at the G’Day Mate Caravan Park which had electronic gates which were locked at 7:30pm sharp. Once we were set up we drove into the centre of town to replenish our stocks of wine. I was flattered to be asked for my ID by a policeman stationed outside the shop, thinking I must have been looking much younger away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It turns out he had a ruggedised tablet which he used to check mine and the credentials of each and every customer. Apparently here in NT there is a Barred Drinkers Registry (BDR) that needs to be checked if you intend to purchase alcohol. Any one who is convicted of drunken driving, alcohol related domestic abuse or any other alcohol related crime is recorded on the BDR and can be barred from purchasing alcohol. Sounds like a great idea to me!

Leaving Alice, heading north we arrived at the Devils Marbles. The Devils Marbles are a spectacular collection of boulders piled one upon the other in a seemingly impossible arrangement that defies logic, situated in the middle of nowhere, on a completely flat landscape,with no apparent rationale as to their formation.

• 

• 

• 

• 

There are two explanations for their existence. The first one, which I am sure the expert geologists amongst you, (and I know of at least one following this blog, you know who you are!), will concur, is that they are the result of a millenia of erosion of a once solid rocky outcrop as described below. The other explanation, which I prefer and is much more credible, is that they are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent.

• 

• 

Leaving Alice we entered termite country. Thousands of termite mounds as far as the eye could see, Bizzarely some of these termite mounds had been dressed in T shirts and other clothing. Who did it and to what end, we had no idea, but it was slightly disturbing!

• 

• 

• 

Now driving to Tenant Creek and turning right and eastwards towards the pacific ocean.