DAY 16 - DEVIL'S MARBLES TO ALICE SPRINGS

We were up at sunrise this morning… We wanted to be away by 8am as we had a long drive to Alice Springs today and we had a few stops planned along the way.  Some of the tourists we talked to at Devil’s Marbles told us not to fill up at Wauchop as the fuel at Wycliffe Well was at least 8c a litre cheaper so we pushed on to Wycliffe’s Well.  It was one of the places that I wanted to stop at anyway as it is known at the UFO Capital of Australia, and I was keen to get some photos of the space and alien set up that is the symbol of the town. 

Barb at Wycliffe Well 

Getting friendly with the little green man...

Barb and I

Kathy and I

Ian and Steve

Ian and Kathy

Paying for Fuel at Wycliffe Well - cheapest fuel in NT so far....

When we arrived, Barb beat me out of the car and headed straight over to get photos of the little green alien.  While the guys were happy that the fuel was cheap, us girls were happy to have some photographic opportunities with the aliens.

The fuel here was 127.9cpl which was way cheaper that the 178.9cpl we were paying at Barkley Homestead.  Pity we didn’t know this earlier, when we filled up at the 3 ways, as it was still 171.9cpl there also.  

It wasn’t long before we were off on the road again.  Our next stop was to be Ti Tree which was about 180kms away, a good 2 hour drive for us.  We planned to stop and have smoko here.  By the time we got there we were well and truly ready for a toilet break.  The scenery between The Devil Marbles and Ti Tree was ever changing and at one stage we even crossed over the Ghan Railway line heading down the centre of Australia.

Long straight stretches of road

Red dirt everywhere and a few puddles here and there...

A common sight along this stretch of the highway

 The only thing we came across at Ti Tree was a rather large roadhouse with a truckie stop across the road.  There was one picnic table there and it was occupied by a single man who didn’t seem to have a car or anything, so we just had to improvise and Barb got out her little fold away table, and her stools, Kathy got out a stool and Steve got ours out.  I sat of the steps of the van and we had morning tea under the shade of a tree we had parked next to.  We were all in rather high spirits excited about moving on and got talking about old swaggies under the shade of a coolabah tree, so next minute everyone burst into song and we were all singing Waltzing Matilda with gusto. 

Morning tea stop at Ti Tree

 We probably sat under that tree for a good half hour before we took off again, this time heading to Aerilon where we were keen to see the 14m high statue of the Aboriginal Man.  Aerilon is about 80kms further south from Ti Tree so it was our next stop.  Not only is there a 14m tall Aboriginal Man with his spear on the hill behind the road house, there is a little Aboriginal Art Gallery next to the roadhouse now and in the grounds there, they have erected a 14m statue of an Aboriginal woman and child with a goanna.   

Aboriginal Woman with Child and Goanna

Hi Five Goanna

 All quite impressive and we were able to get some good photos.  Steve was feeling pretty energetic and actually climbed up to the top of the hill to get some decent photos whilst the rest of us sat in a picnic area of the caravan park at the back of the roadhouse…

Aboriginal Man - 14 metres tall

 Whilst Steve was up the hill taking photos and admiring the scenery,  I was enjoying the wildlife and wildflowers down below near the caravan park.  

Port Lincoln Parrot

We had thought about having lunch there but decided to push on to Alice Springs as we only about an hour away and we were keen to get into the caravan park.  All I could think about was having a decent shower and washing my hair.

We arrived at the Wintersun Caravan Park around 4pm, and it was really lovely,  the caretakers were really helpful and helped guide us into our van spots in the park.   We felt pretty safe in the park, it was kind of like being in a compound really as we were locked in and there was barbed wire around the top of the fences with a razor like disc through that.  
 

Security around the park.

 We were all hanging out for a cuppa so the first thing we did after we set up was put the kettle on.  Just where we were camping, someone must feed the galah’s because there were a great number on them down on the ground near where we were camping.  I thought they were wonderful, very pretty grey and pink colours, but I am sure they would also be a pest where seeds and crops are concerned.  Steve thought they were a pest because they crapped all over our car and van and solar panel from their perches in the tree above our van.  

After we had our cuppa, us girls headed for the shower.  There was nothing nicer after two days of sponge baths it was nice to be able to stand under hot running water and actually feel very clean. 

We still had a little of our Spaghetti bol mince left over from dinner a couple of nights earlier so we decided just to have toasted sandwiches for dinner and use up the mince.  Ian and Barb went for a walk down to the IGA which was only a couple of blocks away to get some bread for dinner and they also picked up a few bananas.  Meanwhile Kathy and I spent some time in Reception looking at the different brochures to things to do and see around Alice Springs.  The park caretakers were very helpful also, and gave us a list of places to visit when we visited the West MacDonald Ranges on Tuesday.

We came back to our vans and I made the toasted sandwiches for dinner and Kathy prepared the most delicious pumpkin soup for us also.  It was amazing and helped to warm us up as the evening had turned quite cold.  Barb supplied a Snack block of chocolate which we devoured for desert along with our cuppas…

We sat outside chatting until about 9pm when it was really too cold to sit outside any longer.  Once inside, Steve did some banking and I tackled the pile of photos and started updating the blog.  We had a pretty cruisey night as we didn’t have to get up early the following morning…