On Thursday,
we just hung around the park in the morning.
Ian put the car in this morning
to have the air conditioning fixed, and we spent the morning washing, cleaning
the van and pretty much finishing off the crocheting for our Termite
mound. It is still very cold in Alice
Springs. The wind is roaring again
today, so it isn’t too nice being outdoors…
It was a good chance for me also to get some editing done on Brendan and
Rachel’s wedding photos and post them home to Tom and Ann, so that was my
mission for today, and then I would be completely up to date with
everything. Steve spent some time
checking emails, and doing a little proof reading for the girls…
After lunch,
Ian & Kathy and Steve & I all went grocery shopping. It would be a good week before we got to
Katherine which is where we would have the next opportunity to visit a
supermarket, so we wanted to stock up on some meat and fresh fruit and
vegetables. Kathy and I also decided
that we could do with a haircut. Kathy
wanted all of her hair cut, I really
only wanted my fringe done and for it to be thinned out a little. We found a hairdresser in the Woolies centre
and walked in and asked about a haircut.
They wanted to charge us both $42 each and we both decided then and
there that our haircuts could wait….
After
getting our shopping done, we headed back to KC Auto to check on Ian’s car as
it was going on for 5pm and we still hadn’t heard from them. By the time we got there they were just
finishing fixing it, so obviously they didn’t start this morning like we had
hoped. Good thing we decided to spend an extra day in Alice
rather than try and leave as soon as Ian and Kathy’s car was fixed. When they
rang Ian on the Tuesday, they quoted him $345 dollars to fix it ( well so he
thought) but apparently that was the cost for the part only, so it was quite a
shock when we went to pay and found out that the price they quoted was for the
part only and the labour was almost double that on top of the part….. Something they were not expecting, but then
you can’t really head to Darwin without air con….
John and
Bard decided to cook dinner for us tonight and John made an amazing stew, which
helped to warm us to the bone. It really
did go down well on such a cold nigh It was another very cold night again
tonight. This is something we will not
miss when we head north. Ian made us
his poor man’s cheesecake for desert which we added ice cream too. In hindsight we should have had desert first
and then our hot stew. None of us sat
outside for long tonight… We had lots of packing to do as we wanted to get away
early in the morning as we were heading back to the Devil’s Marbles for the
night. Experience has taught us, that
you need to get to these places by lunch time or a little after, as from about
2pm in the afternoon, the caravans just start pouring in, and by sunset you may
be camping with 50+ other van owners….
We spent
most of the day on the road on Friday.
We got away just before 8.30am, and didn’t have as many stopped this
time, as we had traveled this part of the highway before so had already
stopped to take the photos we wanted to take.
We did stop at Ti Tree as John and Barb needed to fill up with
fuel. This is about 200kms north of
Alice Springs and probably around the half way mark of our travels today. Our Navman tells us every two hours that we
have been on the road for two hours now, time to stop and take a break… therefore we decided to have morning tea
here. There was a covered picnic table
across from the road house, so out came the table cloth, and we probably spent
about half an hour having a cuppa and a good laugh. No singing this time though.
The next
cheapest fuel was at Wycliffe Well, which was probably about 180 kms further
down the road, so we decided then and there to refill there before heading
north. Fuel at Wycliffe Well was 127.5c
per litre as against 171c per litre at the Three Ways, so we wanted most of the
fuel in our tank to be cheaper. We knew
we would still have to top up at the Three Ways, just didn’t want empty tanks when we got
there..
We did want
to stop for some firewood as we were keen to have a fire at our campsite
tonight, so we had 20kms between Whycliffe Well and the turn off to the Devil’s
Marbles to locate some. Well we found
some, but most of the time we were unable to stop there as we couldn’t get off
the road. In places where we could get
off the road, there wasn’t much available (probably because everyone else had
the same idea also)
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| Some of the pretty wild flowers where we stopped to find some wood for our fire. |
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| more wildflowers growing by the side of the road.. |
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| Chopping us some firewood for a camp fire tonight. |
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| Thank goodness for that reciprocating saw |
We managed
to find some about 3 kms before the turn off to Devil’s Marbles, so here we all
are out on the side of the road collecting it.
Steve got our his reciprocating
saw and sawed off a couple of good size logs off a dead tree. Obviously someone else had been there before
us. Another caravan pulled off the road
behind us and we noticed they were in the bush collecting fire wood also.
Pretty much
a photo free day… Just enjoyed the
scenery as we traveled and I had the nanna naps…. We arrived at the Devil’s Marbles around
2.30pm, and were fortunate to get a couple of good spots where we did not have
to unhitch the van. This has been one of
my most favourite places to camp, there
is something about being here, it is so
serene and peaceful, and we easily could have just spent a few days here if we
were not so time poor. We have already
lost over a week of our travel time, with our delay in Emerald with the fridge
and then Ian and Kathy’s delay in Alice Springs with the air conditioning. None
of us are complaining though, as we have enjoyed the down time…. Just means we might have to miss a few
things.
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| We thought this one was pretty cool |
On the road
to The Devil’s Marbles today, we did notice a few dresses termite mounds but one in particular had a cap with
hair on it, so Barb and I almost simultaneously called each other on the UHF,
to let each other know that we think our termite mound might need some hair
also. Once we got to the Devil’s Marbles and set up camp, whilst the rest of us
had some shut eye time ( we were all feeling pretty tired from the long haul
this morning) Barb, who is the youngest of us, got out the yellow wool and
crochet hook, and added some nice golden hair to our Myrtle…
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| Barb modelling the finished outift... |
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| How scary is this face. |
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| Hair now added. |
Then when we
had all awoken from our sleep, she decided to parade it for us so that we could
get the full effect of what Myrtle would look like. Poor termite mound, I am afraid that our face is rather scary,
so hope that it doesn’t scarce too many children as they drive past.
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| Ian and Kathy up on the Devil's Marbles at sunset |
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| staning in front of the Boot... |
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| Looking back over our vans -sunset at the Devil's Marbles |
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| Sunset at the Marbles |
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| Beautiful sunsets |
Just before
sunset we climbed up the Marbles for one last time to watch the sun set, a rather magical experience, this time there were no rock pools, the water
had all dried up. I am pleased that we
got to see it with the water our first trip around… Steve climbed to the very
highest rock… Almost like he is reliving his childhood again….
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| Wild flowers around the Devil's Marble |
We did notice that there were a lot more wild
flowers out this visit, and I tried to take some photos of them. The little yellow star flowers didn’t
photograph too well on Steve’s phone, so we decided to take the good camera
back out early in the morning and get a few shots before we left…
I think we
all had a hand in cooking dinner tonight….
We cooked chicken kebabs, and I made a salad with lots of salad and
fruit in it, Kathy roasted some sweet
potatoes, and John cooked up some Turmeric rice and heated the left over stew
from the night before.. Another
magnificent feast… It wasn’t as cold tonight, so we sat outside a lot
longer, in fact we sat around the fire
where we toasted marshmallows for our desert.
It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it…
It was a
pretty early night for all of us, as we had another drive again in the
morning…
I was feeling a little sad as we left the Devil's Marbles this morning. This has been perhaps one of my most favourite spots to camp... so we did an extra slow drive out this morning, just so that we could savour each moment and all the scenery around us. I would love to come back here....
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| These rocks just looked like an old boot. We hadn't noticed it the first visit here... |
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| They just balance here... Not sure how... |
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| Almost like someone got a knife and cut it straight through. |
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| Look at this for a straight break through |
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| Hate one of these to fall on me as I was walking past.. |
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| Another one just balancing there.. |
Not as long a drive this time, only about 200kms to Banka Banka Station… We felt that 530 kms to Daly Waters would be
a little too long, and we would not be able to arrive in time to get a good
site, so Banka Banka Station it was.
Great place to stay I might add…
We refueled
at the Three Ways, there were some
pretty long road trains there, so I photographed one. It is not a very comfortable feeling when one
of these things towing 4 large trailers passes you…
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| A very long road train... |
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| Awesome painting on the wall of the roadhouse |
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| The Three Ways Roadhouse NT. |
From here we
only had another 76 kms to go before we got to Banka Banka…
Barb thought
that this stretch of the highway as as good as anywhere to find a termite mound
to dress, so we were all on the lookout for a suitable termite mound that would
allow us to dress it, have photos taken with it, and be in full view of the
highway. Ian and Kathy were leading
today, so about 24kms north of the Three Ways Roadhouse, they came across a
termite mound that met all our criteria, and so we all stopped. Kathy and I cleared away some of the dead
trees and branches that were laying near our termite and we set about dressing
Ms Myrtle Mound in all her colour and finery.
We were a tad pleased with the end result, but I really think that Myrtle Mound really
needs a lost all of her own…
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| Termite mound discovered - Ms Myrtle Mound in the making |
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| Dressing the termite |
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| Capturing the moment.. |
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| Da Da.... Ms Myrtle is dressed |
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| Even the guys got involved... |
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| Introducing Ms Myrtle Mound |
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| Doing a last bit of mending... |
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| Even John put his skills to use.. |
We arrived
at Banka Banka Station around lunch time.
I think there were about 5-6 vans there before us, so we got great sites
around the edge of the camping ground.
It seemed to be that we were no sooner in there, than the vans started
arrived and it was a constant flow until dark.
This is a great place to stay,
$10 per person per night. No
electricity, but plenty of water, hot showers and toilets, and you could even
wash your car and van for a small fee…
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| Our destination for the night.. |
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| This guy was part of our welcoming committee |
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| Our vans set up at Banka Banka |
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| John and Barb, us in the middle and then Ian and Kathy |
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| Entrance to the toilets |
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| The old mud hut |
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| We were parked under the bottle tree. |
There was not phone or internet reception there which was great because
as the place started to fill up, everyone was walking around chatting to each
other. We met some lovely folk, and
exchanged some stories about good places to visit, cheap fuel, and new places
for us to explore…
Steve, Ian
and Kathy went for a walk to the Banka Banka waterhole. They thought it was a 2 km return walk, but
it ended up being over 5kms there and back.
So glad that they took off before I realized it and that I didn’t end up
going with them. Apparently it was beautiful,
and definitely worth the walk as far as they were concerned, and the photos
they took would also suggest that…
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| On the walk to Banka Banka Waterhold |
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| Great reflections |
I am so pleased that Steve took some photos of the wild flowers along the way too.
It is
getting much warmer, and it was nice to sit outside and chat whilst having
dinner tonight… Cool, but not cold, so none of us were in a rush to go
indoors. Had a BBQ, with roast potatoes
and sweet potatoes, and John made an amazing cauliflower and capsicum stir-fry
to go with it. All quite delicious… We are living well in the bush.
It was about
9.30pm before we all called it a night…. Another early start in the morning, as
we head off to Daly Water’s Historical Pub for the night…
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