Katherine, Devils Marbles and a long road to Alice

23/09/2011 - 25/09/2011

Up very very VERY early this morning, but at least it was a final goodbye to Darwin.
The minibus driver had a brilliant sense of humour, even at this ungodly hour and his first point was to highlight that between here and Alice was nothingness, except one straight road and to make it a lot more fun we could make it into one long pub crawl.

He had a point.

Our first stop was quite a way in, at Nitmiluk National Park at the Edith Falls, a serene area used for respite during WW2 for injured soliders.  There was definitely no danger of crocs, but there was a fear of being crapped on by bats.  It was a lovely area to swim in, before we headed off to the Katherine Gorge.

Katherine was enormous, and we had the opportunity to Kayak - a lot harder than you'd have thought.  I've rowed before, but Kayaking is much harder, especially when you're bricking it about the crocs in the water.  The scenary was stunning, and we were able to walk around the park afterwards making friends with the wallabies :)

We made our way onwards to Daly Waters, the oldest pub in the territory where we stopped over for the night at a local camping spot (fortunately in huts this time!)...although our guide kept giving us horror stories of treachorous spiders.  Sleep well.

24/09/2011

I was really looking forward to today - exploring the Devils Marbles.
First stop was at the Tennant Creek telegraph station to take in what was once all the range in technology.  How things progress.

We then made our way to the Karlu Karlu or Devils Marbles - marble shaped boulders, one of the oldest religious sites in the world, as well as a natural landmark.
The Devils Marbles are large granite boulders that form the exposed top layer of an extensive and mostly underground granite formation. The natural processes of weathering and erosion have created the various shapes of the boulders.

The site is epic - it's amazing just what the weather can do in literally the middle of no-where.

We passed the Tropic of Capricorn, getting the optional selfie before making our way to Alice Springs.  Cool guide got us all to take a group photo in front of the Alice Springs sign, and then a rude version.

25/09/2011

We had a free day in Alice to explore, which was all a bit unnecessary as there really isn't that much to see, but it was nice to have a bit of time to re-cooperate.

So can't wait for the rock!