The Devil’s Playground

As we crossed the border into Northern Territory we were overcome by how huge this country is! We drove for days along the same road and saw nothing for hours at a time. The landscape subtly changed into the dry dessert of Central Australia.

 

 

Changing our clocks back, we arrived at Barkley Homestead, exhausted and hungry. A quick dip in the pool was very refreshing and a trip to the pub filled our bellies. A load of laundry the next morning (which dried in about 30 minutes!) and we were ready to hit the road again.

 

 

The road from Barkley Homestead to Three Ways, was the longest and straightest we had ever driven on. We were surprised by the lack of wildlife (both living and dead) and figured it was too dry and hot out here for even them.

 

Along the way we saw giant plumes of smoke on the horizon. As we got closer, we realised that the locals were undertaking controlled burning of the undergrowth. Driving past, we could feel the heat of the fires through our car windows, and chills went up my spine at the thought of being trapped out here in a bushfire.

 

 

 

We stopped at Tennant Creek to fill up with fuel and beer and headed to the Devils Marbles Nature Reserve. The site is known as Karlu Karlu to the land's Aboriginal traditional owners. The ‘Devils Marbles’ or ‘Karlu Karlu’ with its gigantic, rounded granite boulders, some spectacularly poised, is a remarkable landscape. Scattered clusters of these ‘marbles’, including many balancing rocks, are spread across a wide, shallow valley. 

The Devils Marbles are made of granite, which surfaces like a little geological island in the desert, surrounded by large amounts of sandstone. The granite was formed millions of years ago as a result of the hardening of magma within the Earth's crust. Thick layers of sandstone on top of it put a lot of pressure on this granite. After the folding of the Earth's crust, which lead to the lifting of the granite and the erosion of the sandstone, the granite came to the surface. The pressure was gone, letting the granite expand; cracks formed, and it fell apart in big, square blocks.

The second phase of the formation of the Marbles started when the blocks were exposed to water. The surface of the blocks began to decay under the influence of the water, and a layer of loose material surrounded the individual blocks. When they came to the surface completely, this layer was flushed away by water and blown away by wind.

The rounding of the granite blocks is a result of both chemical and mechanical weathering. Firstly, exfoliation plays a part. Chemical processes cause the surface of the blocks to expand and/or shrink. Thin layers of rock come off the boulder. This rounds the granite block, because the chemical processes have more effect on areas with edges. These processes cause the rock to look like it is made of layers like an onion. In effect, only the outer few centimetres are affected by chemical weathering. This process is called spheroidal weathering. Secondly, the boulders are suffering from solarisation. Because the temperature differences between day and night are so great, the rocks expand and shrink a little bit every 24 hours. This causes some rocks to crack, sometimes even splitting them in half.

 

 

 

Another long drive today and we will arrive in Alice Springs where we will spend the next few months. I don't know what to expect from Alice Springs as I have heard many different stories from lots of people. We have got an interview with the Steiner School to see if they will accept the boys for next term, which will give me a well-deserved break from playing teacher-mum, and give me some time to play one-on-one with Zaccy.

 

 

The Dinosaur Trail

 

We stayed at a caravan park in Hughenden and began our three-part adventure through the Dinosaur Trail. First, we went to the Flinders Discovery Centre. This Centre houses a full skeletal replica of a Muttaburrasaurus as well as the Porcupine Gorge Light and Sound Show, Shearing the Stragglers display and other fossil and gem collections with some historical memorabilia and much more.

 

Richmond is situated on the Overlander's Way halfway between Townsville and Mt Isa the town is located on the banks of  Queensland's longest river, the Flinders, and is known for its marine fossils, recreational Lake Fred Tritton and bougainvillea lined streets, parks and gardens. Here, we visited the second part to Australia’s Dinosaur Trail, Kronosaurus Korner.

 

 

 

The friendly, picturesque town of Winton, has strong links to Waltzing Matilda, Qantas, and dinosaurs. It is probably best known as the place where ‘Banjo’ Paterson wrote Australia’s unofficial national anthem “Waltzing Matilda” in 1895. Just as significantly, the first board meeting of Qantas was held at the Winton Club in 1921, marking Winton as the Birthplace of Qantas. However, long before indigenous Australians and the white settlers walked in Winton, the dinosaurs called this land home.

 

 

 

 

The final part of the Dinosaur trail is a visit to Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways. This site is the world's only recorded evidence of a dinosaur stampede. The Trackways are the inspiration behind stampede scene in Steven Spielberg's movie "Jurassic Park". Unfortunately we didn't have time to drive the 220km return trip to the site. We only stayed in Winton overnight and to be honest, we were a bit dinosuared out! We decided that a visit to the Waltzing Matilda Centre would be more enjoyable.

Just before we left, we went to the famous Winton Musical Fence. It is a wire fence that can be played as a musical instrument and it is the first permanent musical fence installation in the world. There we all pretended we were rock stars in our own Junk Yard Band!

We camped behind the beautiful North Gregory Hotel where Waltzing Matilda was first performed in 1895. Behind the hotel was an amazing sculpture called Arno's Wall. Arno's wall is a strange mixture of art and architecture, which is made up of a mixture of junk cemented into the brick wall. Some of the many junk items were rusted lawnmower parts, boat propellers, vintage typewriters and sewing machines and even a couple of complete motorbikes!

 

 

  

The morning of Dan's birthday, we drove to Walkabout Creek in the hope of having lunch at the Walkabout Creek Pub from the movie Crocodile Dundee. Unfortunately the pub was closed!! So we got take away from the roadhouse and ate it on the front veranda of the pub!

 

 

We stopped at a road side rest area that night and celebrated Dan's birthday with a cake, candles and some help from fellow travellers to sing Happy Birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We called in to Mt Isa to stock up the caravan. We were really surprised at the size of the township. It is like a small city which has almost every shop and business you can imagine. As we got out of the car we realised that the town smells industrial. The mines are very close to the town centre and you can hear, feel and smell them.

 

We continued through to a little town called Camooweal. Here we met up with our good friends, Julie and Rasmus and their three kids. We camped next to a billabong and spent nearly two weeks doing absolutely nothing!

 

Julie and Rasmus are on a 12 month trip around Australia and they began their journey with us in Victoria in February.

It was really hot while we were there and we were camped without power or water so the kids spent time playing in the billabong and Dan strung up my hammock between two trees and I spent hours reading my book, while Dan worked. Then as the caravan heated up to over 45 degrees, it was Dan's turn to relax in the hammocks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie and Rasmus are now heading in the opposite direction towards the east coast. The next time we see them, they will have finished their journey and will be back home.