Outback Adventure - Day 6

Ormiston Gorge - Tyler's Pass - Hermannsburg - Alice Sprigs - Barrow Creek - Devil's Marbles

Today's route.

Today is a big travel day, but we oversleep! We only wake at 8! Breakfast and breakup in a flash. We decided last night to press on and get to the Top End as soon as possible, rather than taking a leisurely road trip up the Stuart Highway.

We arrive at Glen Helen at 9 am to purchase our Mereenie permits. Then it's off to Tyler's Pass. On the way, we drive past another flock of budgeriars and see some wallabies on three different occasions. Grey, with darker legs and tail.

We stop at Tyler's Pass to look at the Tnorala meteorite crater. This vast impact crater was made 132 million years ago. Today the walls of the crater still rise up like a vast mountain range. The locals believe that some ancestors were dancing in the Milky Way, when one of them dropped their baby. The baby fell all the way to Earth and impacted here.


Up on the ridge, it is so cold that Eli gets a jumper out. It's quite hazy and overcast, so I doubt the photos will look like much.

That's the crater wall in the distance.

Onwards. The road turns back west and we are on the dirt track to Hermannsburg, where we don't stop. We plan a shopping list for Alice, since we need to buy food for at least 2 days, fill up with diesel and eat lunch. This needs to be done in record time - we need to drive another 400km before dark. In the outback, you generally don't drive after dark. 80% of the animals are nocturnal and have no fear of humans. A Red Kangaroo going through a windscreen at night usually means death for all involved.

Nice of them to name it after me!

All done within an hour and we head north at 1pm. 1450km to Darwin. The plan is to get to Tennant Creek, about 500km away, tonight. Tomorrow will be another big drive to get us about 800km further north into the Top End, around Katherine.

A few km' s out of Alice.

The road generally stretches from horizon to horizon. If it ever happens to bend, they announce it with a sign! It is an easy, relaxing road. The Land Cruiser doesn't do much over 110km/h and at that speed it gets about 4km/litre! I shit you not. Much more economical to keep it going at 100km/h in 5th gear.

That's where we came from.

That's where we're going.

The landscape is desert, but beautiful: Red sand with spinifex grass and clumps of Desert Oak, giving way to clumps of Blue Malee, Wichety, Mulga, Ghost Gum and open field. Flatlands give way to outcrops, ridges and flatland again. Open field will suddenly change to gum forest the almost completely overgrows the highway. On the way we see masses of Whistling Kites, Black Kites and the occasional Wedge Tailed Eagle.

We stop at Barrow Creek for a beer. This is possibly the most dilapidated hotel I have ever drank a beer at. No matter. The fridges seems to be working, since the XXXX Gold is cold.

Barrow Creek Hotel. Ahh, yes.

A shaded verandah. Not to be sniffed at.

The pool room. With emergency power supply, christmas lights and sound system.

You had better not get in trouble with the man.

The campsite and motel. Call me a perfectionist, but it just didn't do it for me.

The bar / reception / restaurant.

A 62-wheeler road train filling up. They brake for nobody.

Back on the road to Wycliffe Wells, the self proclaimed UFO headquarters of Australia. We stop only long enough to photograph the locals next to green alien dolls.

It's weird, Jim, but not as we know it.

17km Further is Wauchope Hotel. Not quite as dilapidated as Barrow Creek, but a close second. We did consider this as a overnight spot, but decided to press on.

11km North is Devil's Marbles, our major goal for the day. It is a vast expanse of rounded granite boulders, weirdly stacked and lying about. They range in size from pebble-size to house-size. We have an hour to spare before sunset, but we can only visit and marvel at a fraction of rocks. We find a good spot on top of a large rock from where we can watch the sunset. It's a good one. It has been cloudy all day.

Some of the Devil's Marbles.

Oops! Sorry.

Rocks everywhere.

A good sunset, at last.

Last light.

There is a basic campsite here, filled with campers and grey nomads. We set up camp. The wind is quite strong, but we decide to barbecue anyway. An hour later I realise that the charcoal I bought in Alice is complete and utter shit. It gives a nice red glow to the barbie, but most certainly no heat. Back to the camp stove, then.

In the distance, we hear the cry of a dingo.

The pan-fry effort is not too bad: Medium rare t-bone steak, mushroom and garlic cream sauce, yellow string beans and roasted sweet potato with butter.

As we are sitting down for dinner we spot a dingo about 5m from us. After a brief 'Oh Shit' moment, I try to chase it off. It's either too tame or too hungry and never goes further than about 10m away. Eventually we both don our headlamps. We watch the dingo as he moves about, while trying to enjoy the food. This is not the most relaxing meal! After dinner I get a few photos and then finally manage to chase him away.

Too close for me.

At 9:30 we are in bed on top of the roof. The wind is blowing, but not too bad. At about midnight I am woken up by one of the flaps of the tent flapping incessantly. I can't sleep and lie awake for what seems hours. Eventually, I get to sleep, only to wake up with a howling wind at 2:30. Eli is oblivious, since she is wearing earplugs. I wake her up and tell her that there is a storm coming. We need to get the tent stowed away and beds made in the car.

Eli is dressed in some PJ's, but I'm in the buff. I therefore split my attention between stowing the tent and defending myself against a dingo that might want to grab my bits. Luckily, we saw no sign of the dingo.

We are barely in the car, or the rain starts pattering. How charming. The wind starts to howl and rocks the car. The rain becomes louder and louder until it is an deluge rattling the car's roof windscreen and engine flap. It seems to vary in intensity, but it never stops. Lightning is hitting the earth a few times a minute, sometimes deafeningly close. This racket, combined with the fact that Land Cruisers were not built to allow 2 adults to sleep in comfort, makes for a night of tossing, turning, swearing and very little sleep.

We are dry and safe, which is something, but that's about it.

More on Day 7...