There and back again...Alice to Devils Marbles

Feeling that we had given Alice short shrift on the first pass through, we decided we should spend an extra day.  Besides, we could hardly ignore the mountain range that ran right through town, tilted at crazy angles and hinting at some colossal upheaval in times past.  Who knows when we'll be back, so the spreadsheet got chucked out the window and we set off to explore the West MacDonnell Ranges. We first came to Simpsons Gap which was a lovely, rocky gorge with a mostly dry river bed and a small (very cold) pool at the end. 

There were many Black-footed Rock Wallabies bouncing around.  You had to look hard to spot them when they moved - so cute. We spent a bit of time here spying on the wallabies and the kids climbing the rocks and boulders.  Kel was mighty disappointed that she left her zoom lens and spare battery in the car :(

Next stop was Standley Chasm for a short walk into a narrow pass.  The kids tested the acoustics with loose rocks and voices and found them to be sound.  They busied themselves building rock towers and unwittingly featuring in everyone's photographs.

Then on to Serpentine Gorge, which was a 1.5km walk through the incredible midday heat and swarms of flies to reach the fairly uninspiring gorge.  Trying to motivate a stubborn 6 year old to continue on yet another ‘hot walk’ provided Rich and Kel with some challenges. We decided not to head up the side track to the lookout some 500 metres yonder on the way back.

We then continued up the road some 30km to the Ochre pits. Rich had the great idea to put some ochre in a bottle for face-painting back at the campsite until the signage told him that if he was caught taking ochre away, he would be fined $10,000.  Dobbing in was strongly encouraged!  Fair call, National Park, cultural resource etc... The cliffs at the ochre pits were quite beautiful, with rich yellows, red and white stripes.  Apparently the Aboriginal tribes used to trade ochre and this was some good gear. 

After a bit of a wander, and much batting of flies, we retreated back to the car, and then back to Alice. It must be said that the drive was quite lovely, with many strange angular rocks and escarpments along the road.  In the end the heat, the flies and the tired, hungry kids got the better of us on this one.  Maybe there will have to be a next time after all!

We awoke the next morning and the kids ate as many free pancakes as they could while Rich and Kel packed up the van. We said goodbye to Alice Springs and took off back up the Stuart Highway.  Made a quick stop at the Aileron Roadhouse for a toilet break in the ‘shithouse’ (their words, not ours) and some pics of this commanding looking fellow on a hillside, the big ummmm...

warrior?  Kel had an unexpected refresher in midwifery when she discovered that his big partner was also anatomically correct.

We then continued the drive to our destination - the Devils Marbles (again).  A hypnotic 2 hour drive past flat, unbroken nothingness was punctuated with a little excitement when a cow was beamed from outerspace onto the road edge immediately in front of us.  Kel woke to a shudder of the brakes and some colourful language.

Rich was a bit worried that the Devils Marbles camp would be quite busy due to the fact that when we were here last time it was almost bumper to bumper (or annexe to annexe).  Kel was feeling superstitious because on the info boards there was a story recounted by an Aboriginal woman about being entrapped by spirits who wanted to play with her and not let her go, followed by a cousin going missing in the same place. 

Fortuntately it was not really busy at all and on the surface all looked calm!  We had a lot of choice, so set up camp near the far dunny (go figure!) which turned out to be convenient but with an occasional waft of eau de toilet.

Room with a view? loo?

The kids did a bit of schoolwork, and then it was off to the van’s backyard to climb the marbles and watch the sunset. 

After dinner, a campfire and some star spotting the kids went to bed. Rich had a few Bundys by the fire while Kel read her book in the cool comfort of the van. Rich decided to go for a wander up into the marbles again to take in the night time ambience but ended up hurrying back after an encounter with a howling wolf/dingo, and then spent the rest of the evening freaked out by the fire and intermittently scanning the area for wolves/dingoes with his torch.  Apparently it was huge and white ???? - too many Bundys? It was certainly loud and very close.  Went to bed listening to the neighbouring camper laughing uncontrollably to himself, and the scamper of little footsteps.  Needless to say - Rich didn’t get much sleep.  Kel slept fine.