THE DEVILS MARBLES

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When we woke up at 8 it was already over 30°. Today we would leave the Stuart Highway behind. We would drive to Tenant Creek then just a few miles past that was our turning and we would be heading towards Queensland. On route we made a stop at The Devils Marbles. These are huge granite boulders which are balanced on top of each other. They are the remnants from a solid mass of granite which has broken down over the years. Some of them are almost perfectly round. If we had something like this back home it would be a constant hive of tourists, but today we were the only people there.

Another 100km down the road and we reached Tenant Creek. A local tale says that the town was founded on beer and that it was first settled when the drivers of a broken down beer wagon decided to drink all their cargo - this sounded like an interesting place! In reality it turned out to be a very uninspiring town which was in need of some renovation. We also learned that some of its residents could do with learning a few manners. When we stopped for fuel, Andy found the pump let out a dribble of petrol then stopped. He went inside to enquire why. The woman behind the counter was most put out as she was having a rather important conversation with her friend about her baby. He explained to her that the pump had stopped and that ultra fuel was a bit overkill in Hilda but the cheap stuff didn’t agree with her. Looking very annoyed she snapped back “none of its rubbish” Not getting the answer he was looking for he then said “should I go to another pump or are they all not working” “you should have come earlier” she barked back. Apparently the premium pumps don’t work too well in the heat of mid day. Well we got there as soon as we could, but we were not aware that we should have booked an appointment! Not being one to accept rudeness Andy paid the 8c for the dribble of petrol and told her where she could put her fuel! Needless to say we were not sad to see the back of Tenant Creek.

It was a momentous moment when we turned off the Stuart Highway onto the Barkley Highway - not that it looked much different. The only trouble was that we were now in a prescribed area, which meant that it was an offence to consume alcohol. We drove on till we found a suitable rest spot outside the area just in case we fancied a glass of wine. For dinner we cooked mushroom, pesto and feta omelette - we miss you Melbourne breakfast. After the sun set we stood outside for hours looking at millions of stars and watching the most amazing storm in the distance with lightning so bright that it seemed to light up the whole sky. The storm was in the direction that we were heading in so it looked like we would be seeing rain soon!

During the night we were most annoyed to be woken up by some rather noisy late arrivals. When we were woken by them again at 6am I was not happy. Andy soon cheered me up when he told me that he had got them back for being so inconsiderate. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as he told me that during the night he had woken himself up from a nightmare shouting “HELP ME, HELP ME, PLEASE HELP ME!” The neighbours obviously heard as he could hear them talking. What must they have thought was going on? They didn’t rush to help though. When we looked out the window we saw that they were doing yoga -badly I have to add. Now I don’t mind a bit of yoga myself, but yoga in a lay-by next to a busy highway is not my idea of inner peace and tranquillity.

Getting an unexpected early start meant that we were soon crossing the Queensland border. Along with the usual sign welcoming us to the state there was also a vehicle inspection lane. It looked like it hadn’t inspected a vehicle in years. It was deserted with grass growing through the tarmac and no office area, unless the funny little police box was the office?

The first stop in Queensland was Cammooweal. We only stopped for fuel and the most expensive bottle of water in the world at $5.40 for 1.25lt. We could feel the humidity rising as we drove further into Queensland, but we were surprised to find that the scenery was changing from the lush green of the red centre to brown parched farmland. There were allot of cattle, but they looked like they had given up looking for grass a long time ago. The land stayed pretty much the same until we reached Mt Isa, which as the name suggests is surrounded by mountain land. It was the biggest place we had visited in a while, and offered us a chance to stock up on some essentials with a normal price tag. We didn’t have any interest in visiting the fossil museum and also didn’t want to get caught in the usual trap of traipsing around town, so we drove 60km out of town to a free camping area. While we cooked dinner we listened to one of our neighbours play guitar (quite well) and sing (not so well). Even when it was completely dark he still managed to play most of the right notes. When we went to bed the humidity was at an almost unbearable level so we lay in bed with the door wide open and watched another storm brewing in the distance.

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