The long and unwinding road
Trip Start
Oct 17, 2007
1
34
44
Trip End
Oct 16, 2008
Darwin,
Northern Territory,
Australia
Monday, June 23, 2008
As the town of Alice Springs became a hazy smudge on the horizon in the rear view mirror we cranked up the stereo and settled back into life on the road. For once Julie didn`t have to worry about her somewhat squiffy map reading skills as there is only one tarmac road and even she would struggle to get lost.
Now to say that the 1500kms of highway from Alice to Darwin is straight and boring doesn`t really do it justice
Road Train
. To get an idea, imagine driving the Acle Straight 115 times (without the bend) but with nothing but red dust and a few withered bushes on either side of you. It`s so uneventful Paul even set the cruise control, got in the back for a snooze and let Scruffy steer for an hour! All we really had to look out for were the huge 3 or 4 trailer road trains and the odd kangaroo with no road sense.First stop, just as the sun began to set, was the Devil`s Marbles campground where we kept the other campers amused for quite some time while we wrestled with our precarious looking roof-top tent. Satisfied that it wouldn`t (probably) fall down in the night we set about exploring the random rocks and boulders that make up the Devil`s Marbles. These intriguing clusters of various shapes and sizes cover a large area both sides of the highway and we spent a while at sunset and sunrise scrabbling about between them. A few of the marbles seem to defy gravity as they sit on top of one another with no obvious means of support - quite fascinating.
Back on the open road passing mile upon mile of patchy scrub and watching hawks and wedge tailed eagles flying lazy circles in the sky, the kilometres slipped by surprisingly quickly and we set up camp in the grounds of the Pink Panther pub in Larrimah
Nice twisty road!
. Seasoned roof-top campers now the tent was up in no time and we settled in for our second remarkably comfortable night in our lofty dwelling.Off to Katherine next morning for a bit of a detour to the beautiful Katherine Gorge. One large body of water in the wet season (Nov-April) the 13 gorges that make up what is known as Ktherine Gorge become separated by rocky bars as the water level drops dramatically during the dry. Our lovely boat cruise through the first 2 sections, linked by a short walk over rocks worn smooth by year after year of wet season flooding, offered great views of the canyon walls and some unexpected wildlife. We saw a snake slither its way along one of the sandy banks and a freshwater crocodile sunning himself on the shore as well as several water birds and small fish.
Halfway along the second gorge is a very deep pool where the local Jawoyn people believe the Rainbow Serpent (Creation Being) lives. This makes the second gorge a very sacred place and the Jawoyn will not drink from, swim in or touch the water in any way so as not to disturb this powerful spirit.
Our cruise complete we made our way a little further up the road and stopped off at the township of Adelaide River for our final night in our mobile bungalow. Next morning we covered the final stretch of road to Darwin, where we discovered the existence of strange things called junctions, traffic lights and hostels - weird!
Comments
Where's Scruffy?
Wot? No piccy of Scruffy driving? Good job you packed his driving licence though. Your amazing adventures just keep on coming - great stuff!