28 September

We had thought that there would be a few interesting things to see along the Stuart Highway between Renner Springs  and Alice Springs.  However, most of the things along the road side are monuments of one kind or the other.  Mostly in memory of the early explores that found these places, after the Aboriginals had obviously lost them!  Also, there numerous ruins from the Second World War, mostly abandoned air strips and ruins of army camps. 

From Renner Springs we drove to Tenant Creek and managed to find a place to get a decent breakfast.   After parking the car and walking to the Café, a man came up to me and said “It would be a good idea to use the indicator when you pull into the car park mate!”.  I just said “Yep” and the man walked ahead of us into the Café.  I then realized that it was an NT police officer.  He had been following us as we located the Cafe and parked the car!  At least this proves that we were in the Café the locals frequent!  

From there we drove another 110km to see just about the only nature attraction along this section of the Stuart Highway, the Devils Marbles.  They are a wonder of nature.  The Aboriginals claim that they are the eggs of the rainbow serpent that created the land, whereas geologists have a slightly different explanation!   

In the distant past a volcanic eruption created this massive granite block that was then pushed close to the surface.  The water seeped in and began to erode the top layer away.  Add to that surface erosion that stripped the top layer of earth from the top of eroded granite block and you have what we see today.  As always, you only need a few hundred million years of time to add to the equation!  We wandered around the granite boulders to see the different variations.  

Then we headed for Alice Springs.  We stopped at the Ti Tree roadhouse for some cold water.  Sibba asked me if we needed more diesel as our auxiliary tank was empty and the main one was getting low.  I checked the distance to Alice and figured we would have plenty.  I didn't want to buy the more expensive Diesel there as it would be a lot cheaper in Alice.  We then continued to Alice.  I then got worried about the fuel as the needle on the main tank fell rapidly.  I then realized that we had a heavy wind going against us, so the car was consuming more than normal.  I slowed down to about 80km and turned off any unnecessary gadget to reduce the fuel consumption as much as possible.  When we were about 50km out from Alice, the “I’m Hungry” fuel light came on.  You could say we were pretty tense about making it all the way!  However, we did make it to the first Shell station in Town!.  The main tank takes 95 liters and I only managed to cram 84 liters into it when filling up, so we did have some left!!

We then found a motel and checked in for a couple of nights so we could relax and avoid the rain and cold.  Yes it’s been raining here in Alice and it’s pretty cold!  Not really camping weather, more like a perfect summers day in Iceland!!

The Devils Marbles.

Sibba and Kylie trying to split one of the Marbles!!

Some are big as houses!

Can you spot Kylie in the photo?

This one is ready to roll off!

This is called a cheese stack by the geologists.

Fantastic rock formations of all kind.

Interesting fracture being held together by the rock on top.

Honest, we didn't brake it!!

The two amigos, fat and skinny!!

You can easily hide the car inside these rocks!