Day 184. Tennant Creek to Ti-Tree Roadhouse

Where on earth is Ti-Tree?

After yesterdays big drive, we've decided to take it easy with our leaving time today. We enjoyed a yummy big cooked brekkie of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and beans, all on thick toast; then we tackled that long, long, long stretch of Stuart Hwy again. I fell asleep in the first 10min and before I knew it, Shane was waking me for our first stop 100km's down the road, at the 'Devils Marbles'.

There was some burning off smoke in the back ground which gave them an impressive colour

The aboriginal creation story here is the Rainbow Serpent fashioned the earth and then returned to a spot east of the Kimberley at a place where the rainbow meets the earth. The Rainbow Serpent's eggs fossilised and became what non-Aborigines now call the Devils Marbles. The Aborigines know them as Karlu karlu. They are a collection of huge, round, red-colored boulders of granite rocks of volcanic origin, eroded over time into the form and formation they are today. Some of the individual boulders have diameters of up to 7 metres, and some have split down the centre with amazing precision. We walked around the park for quite some time, enjoying climbing over them and taking photo's of these beautiful rock formations.

Another few km's down the road was the Wycliffe Well Roadhouse; stop number two, and also known as the UFO capital of Australia. This place is world re-known for its regular UFO activities, where sightings are so common that they say if you stayed up all night looking you would be considered unlucky not to see anything; rather than lucky to see something. There are newspaper clippings and images covering the walls of the roadhouse and restaurant full of accounts of sightings; apparently ranking this location 5th for top reported UFO activity in the world.

UFO sightings have been common here from as far back as the days in World War II when servicemen who stayed at Wycliffe Well (which was formally an Army Market Garden in those days growing vegetables and servicing the stock route). They kept records in a book about some of the weird un-identified flying objects that they would encounter during the night; and some records show they also saw things during the day! Unfortunately over the years, the records of the WWII encounters, which were kept in a old bindered-book was stolen, as it once laid on the front counter for all to see. Scarlett had a good time though, and bought a t-shirt to prove it.

We have stopped tonight at the Ti-Tree Roadhouse; which is about 200km north of Alice Springs, but before now I can honestly say that I had never even heard of before; till Shane showed me on a map. The free camps are few and far between on this road, and the ones that are here are right on the highway and way too noisy. I also needed to tackle another load of the endless washing again anyway. There is nothing here but a roadhouse, a million wild dogs, and locals drinking under all the trees. Scarlett has found two lovely little girls to play with, and they have been busy all afternoon. They found some rather large eggs, that have been there for quite some time, as they seem dried out and empty. We assume the local peacock's may have been responsible. Out here in the middle of know where though, who knows???

Ti-Tree Roadhouse (and caravan park)