When we came to Alice Springs it only took us 3 days to get there from Townsville. So leaving Alice we had decided that there were things that we missed seeing on our first Aussie Trip, (there are many more to come) and take between 5-10 days coming back across. Here is a summary of Alice to Goldie.
Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu):
To be honest when we got the job guiding, I had not heard of Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) as mentioned in the previous post.
Devils Marbles on the other hand I had heard of and seen pictures.
It is located 393Km North of Alice Springs,105Km South of Tennant Creek and quite visible from the Stuart Highway.
Early explorers define the red centre as Devils country because only the toughest of the tough survive out there in those times when water was not as accessible as it is today. The big, red boulders look as if they have just been tossed and scattered there like a bunch of marbles, hence the name. Some are stacked, and some are split. There is a camping ground, and some short walks in the area. The Alyawarre people call it Karlu Karlu and it has high spiritual meaning for them and other groups of Aboriginal people.
Attack Creek:
There is not much here but it is a free camping ground 50Km North of Three ways (a three way intersection North to Darwin, South to Alice Springs/ Adelaide or East to the QLD boarder.) We could have stopped at the free campsite at the Pebbles which is closer to Tennant Creek but we had reason to travel further North to come back down South again.
As a guide we would always tell a story as we travelled along the Stuart Highway about the explorer it was named after: John McDouall Stuart.
On his first exhibition North, he was washing his horses down with water as you do on a hot day. However, to the people who needed water to survive, seeing this white man wasting their water on washing was very offensive knowing that it could mean they may no longer be able to drink the water. They needed to protect themselves and water so they attacked, and this is why the creek is called so. When I found out Attack creek was only 50Km North of where we were going anyway, we decided to go free camp there, and get a photo. There was definitely not much water there when we were there so it is very easy to see why it needed protecting.
Camooweal Caves National Park:
Camooweal is the first town once you get back into QLD. There is free camping in the Camooweal Caves National Park 14Km South of Camooweal. Normally free camp sites are all full but we had the place to ourselves! We think going on dirt road deters people but Rocky can easily handle that! It does not feel like you are in a NP though as it boarders on a cattle property. The caves are vertical caves and you definitely need abseiling gear and caving experience to visit them properly which I didn't have on me this trip around, so we just wondered about the edge, but still interesting.
- Jeni
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