Aliens, Devils and Ghosts.

---

Today was another travel day, but it also gave us our first glimpse of the outback characters one often hears about.
Departing Alice Springs, our first stop was at Ti Tree, lured by the signs advertising mangoes and wine tastings. Mangoes are not in season at present, so that was disappointing. The Asian man operating the shop offered us a tasting of mango wines. Such a wine tasting we have never had. It was like speed tasting. I think we had sampled four different styles in two minutes. Armed with a delicious bottle of fortified mango wine and a mango ice-cream each, we continued our journey.
Next stop was Barrow Creek, a seemingly run down roadhouse amply surrounded by rubbish. Sitting near the door was an older aboriginal woman armed with a rolled up canvas, which she showed to everybody who passed in a bid to gain a sale. The picture was in the European style rather than the dot painting we associate with indigenous art. Walking into the roadhouse, you are immediately confronted by walls covered in graffiti in the form of messages and money. The man serving behind the counter, whose name we didn’t catch, told us about various bank notes he had in his possession or on the wall. These included a twenty-five billion dollar note from Zimbabwe. Their currency is of little value. Much of the wall was papered in Australian notes, most signed by the donor and ranging from five to one hundred dollar notes. It is odd to think that somebody would hand over a one hundred dollar not to stick on a wall, but people do. The barman went on to tell us how he was passing through there on his way to Darwin six years ago, and stayed. He has been featured on television shows and magazine articles in Australia, and internationally.
Travelling toward Kurla Kurla, The Devil’s Marbles, we next stopped at Wycliffe Well, which claims to have the most UFO sightings in Australia. The whole roadhouse and associated caravan park has a UFO or alien theme. The walls in the restaurant are covered in articles relating to UFOs. They even held a three-day UFO convention in March of this year. We decided to stop here and set up camp. Despite aliens everywhere, it has a lovely caravan park, possibly the nicest one we have stayed at so far.
We drove out to take some photos of The Devil’s Marbles late in the day. They are huge reddish boulders stacked on each other. Amongst the marbles are beautiful ghost gums, which look spectacular with their white trunks against the red rocks and a vivid blue-sky background.
Another surprise at Wycliffe Well was the restaurant menu. They offer a chinese menu, but then they do have a chinese cook. Frank had the night of from cooking and we had chinese in the middle of the outback. It really is quite bizarre.

Outback travel tip #1. Don’t bother taking your expensive soap free shampoo with you. The water is so hard, it is impossible to get a lather. It is probably best to find something that works in hard water. Somebody else has to clean the soap scum from the shower.

---

Photos

Desert Art - Aileron
Quirky art near the roadhouse at Aileron

Desert Sculpture - Aileron
This sculpture on an indiginous woman and child is very detailed, and huge.

Barrow Creek Roadhouse
An interior view of the roadhouse. Every inch of the walls is covered on money, graffiti or artifacts of some sort.

Barrow Creek Telegraph Station
On of the buildings at the historic Barrow Creek Telegraph Station. Located next to ther roadhouse.

Wycliffe Well alien
One of the aliens around the quirky Wycliffe Well roadhouse.

Grey nomadic alien
Another of the weird creatures found at Wycliffe Well.

Devil's Marbles #1
Some of the formations at Devil's Marbles.