Crossing the Barkly Tableland we made our first stop at Barkly Homestead for lunch. This isolated place is like an oasis with a roadhouse, bar and caravan park. It also lies at the junction of the Barkly and Tablelands Highways, with the later being an alternate rout to Darwin vie Cape Crawford and Borroloola on the gulf. We continued west on the Barkly camping overnight beside a disused Telstra microwave tower. This put us quite a distance from the highway, unlike the regular roadside rest areas which suffer from the highway noise, the only downside being copious quantities of flies. However the flies disappeared after sunset but were replaced by hordes of tiny insects that managed to climb through the screens to reach the lights inside the van. Never mind it was a small price to pay for the solitude.
Reaching the intersection of the Stuart Highway at the iconic Three Ways Roadhouse it was time for us to head south through Tennant Creek and on to the Devils Marbles for our first visit to this well-known landmark. At first Sue was hesitant for us to travel the 124 Km from Three Ways, because like me, she had the impression that it was a collection of about a dozen or so round boulders. My only reservation was the fact that for the entire distance we were driving straight into an extremely strong headwind and you could literally see the fuel gauge going down. Well, let me tell you how wrong our expectations were, the Devils Marbles is comprised of many hundreds, if not a thousand or so, exposed and weathered rocks of all shapes and sizes. They range in size from very large to some that would be not much bigger than a beach ball. Some are solitary and then there are those in small groups, just like a handful of marbles, others are split as though cut with giant knife and there are many in large stacks which look like they have been squashed with the stack resembling a pile of pancakes. We spent hours wandering through this unusual landscape and because they are at their most impressive at sunset and sunrise we stayed the night in the well-maintained N.P. campground. ($3.30 p.p.p.n.) The only facilities here are long-drop toilets but they are clean and don’t smell. Thank heavens for digital cameras because I took almost a hundred shots, and even though any photo could not give you the real feeling for the place I have included a collection in the gallery to give you just a little idea, so please have a look.
Reaching the intersection of the Stuart Highway at the iconic Three Ways Roadhouse it was time for us to head south through Tennant Creek and on to the Devils Marbles for our first visit to this well-known landmark. At first Sue was hesitant for us to travel the 124 Km from Three Ways, because like me, she had the impression that it was a collection of about a dozen or so round boulders. My only reservation was the fact that for the entire distance we were driving straight into an extremely strong headwind and you could literally see the fuel gauge going down. Well, let me tell you how wrong our expectations were, the Devils Marbles is comprised of many hundreds, if not a thousand or so, exposed and weathered rocks of all shapes and sizes. They range in size from very large to some that would be not much bigger than a beach ball. Some are solitary and then there are those in small groups, just like a handful of marbles, others are split as though cut with giant knife and there are many in large stacks which look like they have been squashed with the stack resembling a pile of pancakes. We spent hours wandering through this unusual landscape and because they are at their most impressive at sunset and sunrise we stayed the night in the well-maintained N.P. campground. ($3.30 p.p.p.n.) The only facilities here are long-drop toilets but they are clean and don’t smell. Thank heavens for digital cameras because I took almost a hundred shots, and even though any photo could not give you the real feeling for the place I have included a collection in the gallery to give you just a little idea, so please have a look.
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