Devil’s Marbles, UFOs and lots of driving

15th & 16th July

Stephen here.
It's been a while since our last update, internet access out this way has been hard to come by and that's really not such a bad thing. Jo has still managed to find time (amidst our very busy schedule) to sit and write a few words most days about our adventure. I personally have been a little lost for words since our Wycliffe UFO Centre of Australia experience, that and at the end of the day I am quite content just to sit and enjoy a cold beer under the stars (and there are oh so many stars)

Jo Here
The temperature is a lot colder than we anticipated given where we are. In Alice Springs last night it dropped down to -2 degrees. Pleased we were staying in a hotel room rather than the tent. Stayed at the Chifley Resort on the Todd River (yes dry!) and would recommend it. Nice rooms, pleasant environment, just a short walk to town and most importantly, a very good laundry.

It has been windy every day which keeps the day time temperature down too – I’ve only ventured into shorts a few times. At least we are warmer than we would be in Sydney – we hear there has been a real cold snap back home.

I had a good run before we left this morning. There is a walking/running/cycling track all along both sides of the Todd – very pleasant with beautiful gum trees lining the banks. Running is always a great way to see parts of a town I might not normally get to.

Our original plan from Alice Springs was to get onto the Tanami Road which goes diagonally north-west from Alice to Halls Creek and once in Halls Creek to head to Kununurra in order to access the Kimberley where we plan to spend quite a bit of time. Did some reading however and the Tanami Road sounds horrific – over a thousand kilometres of poorly maintained dirt road with lots of corrugations and camping only in dust bowls on the side of the road. Not that appealing and given that we have done this drive before in the opposite direction we decided on an alternative route.
So a long day of driving – Alice Springs to Tennant Creek which is approximately 550km. Not so bad though – all on really good tar roads with an open speed limit and we are listening to our first audio book along the way to pass the time – The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowlings. Her first book for ‘grown ups’ after the Harry Potter series – we are hooked and enjoying it very much so far. Highly recommended.

Today wasn’t all driving though. We got to stop at Wycliffe Well - the UFO capital of Australia!! Didn’t see any aliens unfortunately. We also stopped at Barrow Creek which many of you will remember from the disappearance of Peter Falconio in 2001. The road house there has some information about the disappearance and the ensuring investigation and court case which saw Bradley John Murphy convicted of the assault and kidnapping of Joanne Lees and the murder of Peter Falconio. Who knows what really happened but certainly if there is a body out there it will never be found – so much emptiness here.

Most interesting was our stop at the Devil’s Marbles. The wonder of nature never ceases to amaze me. Just off the side of the road in the middle of vast, flat nothingness is a series of boulders of differing shapes and sizes rising up out of the dirt. Some are balanced seemingly precariously on top of one another looking like they could topple at any moment. This outcrop is a reminder of just how ancient a county Australia is as the formation of the Devil’s Marbles would have taken millions of years.

From the Marbles it was not too far to Tennant Creek which is quite a busy town on the route from Darwin to Alice. We got accommodation in a ‘deluxe room’ (this term is very relative) in the Bluestone Motor Inn and had dinner at Tex’s Schnitzel House with 29 different types of schnitzel to choose from (who’d have thought!). Don’t think I’ve seen so much melted cheese and chips for quite some time!!!

Our second day of driving out of AIice saw us leave Tennant Creek (unfortunately the café which claimed the best coffee in the Northern Territory was closed on our departure so this will remain undisputed until we return one day) and continue north. Not much to see on the way today so the audio book got a workout.  Just over 300km north of Tennant Creek we turned left at Dunmarra, onto the Buchanan Highway (highway in name only as this is a gravel road for its entirety) in order to bypass Katherine and get onto the Victorian Highway (tar) to make our way to Kununurra. The Buchanan Highway is named after legendary stockman Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Buchanan who was one of the first to travel in these areas  in the 1870’s, found droving to be practicable in the region and held a number of pastoral leases. Quite a reasonable road for gravel so we made good time and pulled in at the Top Springs Roadhouse with time to set up our chairs in the sun, have a G & T and read for a while before dinner (steak for Stephen as we are in cattle country and more chips) and a chat with the locals in the pub (quite an eclectic crowd of road train drivers, cattle drovers and aboriginals from the outlying communities) before bed.

UFO centre of Australia, whatever!

Devils Marbles

Traffic has been really bad at times