Moonshine, UFO's and Marbles.

Tuesday 20th May.

Continuing north on the Stuart Highway our mid morning stop today was at a Mango Farm. Yes, mango's and grapes growing out here in the arid stretches of Central Australia. Not only do

they make their own mango ice cream, which we simply had to try but also a large range of mango based products. Mango chutney, jam, syrups, sauces, spreads, wine, fortified wines and the real temptation; Mango Moonshine which we also bought to drink or pour on vanilla ice cream as a dessert.

Dragging ourselves away from this desert oasis we continued on to Barrow Creek which to be quite frank is a dump. Asside from the historical Telegraph Station which was very interesting the rest of Barrow Creek only served to remind us of "Wolf Creek". Gail took a turn at driving from here to our next stop 100km on, gave me a nice break.

Moving on to Wycliffe Wells our next break from driving. Famous as the so called capital of UFO's this roadhouse boasts the most UFO memorabilia for sale of any other outlet in Australia. Well I guess when you live and work in the middle of absolutely nowhere you need to have a gimmick of some sort to extract a living from the passing tourists.

However, having said this, they did it remarkably well and provided a welcome stop from this endlessly straight and flat road.

Next stop after lunch was the Devils Marbles (or Karlu Karlu as it is now known), located about 100 kms south of Tennant Creek and 390 km north of Alice Springs

Although we have been here previously the marvel of these gigantic rounded granite boulders, many of which are precariously balanced on top of one another, never ceases to amaze.

Scattered heaps of these "marbles" occurs across the wide, shallow valley that makes up the Devils Marbles Reserve.

Geologically, the marbles were formed from an upsurge of molten rock that cooled and became solid beneath a layer of sandstone. The solidifying granite caused vertical and horizontal fractures creating rectangular blocks. Over time water infiltrated the cracks breaking down the sandstone, and then the granite. As a result, rounded granite boulders perched on top of each other have been revealed.

Moving along once again after the compulsory photo session we paused in Tennant Creek where we found we once again had phone coverage. This gave us the opportunity to catch up on phone calls and emails etc. Refuelled with diesel @ 173.9 cents/litre (which is quite reasonable considering the remote location), topped up an LPG cylinder then pressed on to a location known as "The Pebbles" about 16km further north, then 6km off to the west on a dirt road.

A lovely location for our overnight stop, amongst The Pebbles which turned out to be a mini Devils Marbles. Surprisingly we still had mobile phone coverage in this location which gave me the chance to catch up and publish more of this blog. Traveled 360 km today.