Frogdancer's Crazy Road Trip - Day 9: The Devil's Marbles.

Our Crazy Road Trip has come to an end!

I was supposed to go with the Ligas when they went to see Uluru at sunrise, but I couldn’t get properly to sleep. My brain was obviously concerned that I had a 9-hour drive the next day, and getting up at 4:30 to see something I’ve already seen 2 months ago was probably pretty silly.

When the alarm went off, I told them where the car keys were and I wished them good luck. “I hope the Rock glows orange for you!” I said from under the covers as they snuck out the door.

It was the right decision. My Apple watch showed that as soon as they left, I fell into a deep sleep for 2 hours. No wonder I felt as fresh as a daisy for the whole day!

Liga sent me these shots of what they saw, so I’d say they had a worthwhile experience! Then it was time to say goodbye.

Liga hugged me and said, “We’re friends for life!”

It’s true. The three of us have travelled for over a week in my little trusty Golf and we’re still friends. The Golf even made it into the photo!

Then I headed off on my own.

I can’t lie. I call myself an “extroverted introvert” and the introvert inside me LOVES solo road trips.

I wasn’t hungry when I left Yulara, so I drove happily for a couple of hundred kilometres before I stopped for Frogdancer’s sad breaky.

I was all alone here. There was a fairly strong wind that made the trees make strange noises. It was a little bit creepy at first, but then I leaned into it and it was fine.

The (sad) breakfast of champions!

Then, around 30 minutes of driving later, I had a decision to make.

Do I turn right to go straight back home the way we came… or do I turn left?

Well, we all know the answer to that! I haven’t renamed this part of the trip as “Frogdancer’s Crazy Road Trip” for nothing. Yes, I turned left and headed towards Alice Springs. I thought I’d probably get there at lunchtime, and there was a fabric shop I particularly wanted to visit.

The colours of this place are beautiful.

I want to make sure that I capture them all in my Central Australia quilt I’ll make (one day.) I remembered seeing an Indigenous quilt shop in the heart of Alice Springs, so once I got there, I filled up the tank and then cruised around until I found it.

I think I bought far more than I need… especially considering that I bought fabric when I was here in September. Oh well! It’ll all get used eventually.

I had a lovely lunch of rice paper rolls, then called Mum and Dad when I was walking back to the car. I headed off again, but I have a new rule this time.

If there’s a turn-off or a historical marker that looks interesting, GO AND LOOK AT IT.

So that’s how I learned I was on the Tropic of Capricorn.

The colours and the sheer expanse of the land are immense, but the sky adds so much. As I drive, the clouds hang, seemingly so low above me, adding sculptural shape to the vista I’m seeing. It changes all the time and I’m loving it.

Evan28 has a new podcast out called ‘Long Play’, which has a guest each time talking about their favourite album. He and the guest go through the tracks together, talking about the music/lyrics/whatever.

The first one I listened to while driving was Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours.’ I remember when this came out. My friend Simone’s older sister bought it and we listened to it in their rumpus room and we LOVED it. But being so young, I had very little idea of all the insane marriages, divorces and affairs that were going on when the album was being made. The boys soon brought me up to speed while I was listening to the pod and it was fascinating.

I haven’t listened to this album in years. Once I finished the pod, I downloaded Rumours from Spotify while I still had internet. This was a fabulous decision. Little did I know, but I was soon going to have two days with no internet, but this meant I still had banging music to sing along to when I was driving.

I texted Evan28 about me downloading it and he replied, “Yay! That’s the aim of the podcast!”

I arrived at the Devil’s Marbles Hotel at around 4 PM. I could’ve gone further to Tennant Creek but I wanted to see the Devil’s Marbles at sunset. I was so glad I did, though I doubted myself when I saw a sign in the hotel: We have no wifi. Don’t even ask. Just talk to your neighbour.”

I haven’t heard much about the Marbles. I assumed that they’d be in a neat pile, just a few of them.

Um… no. There were lots of them and they were scattered over quite a large area. Who knew?

Unlike Uluru, there was hardly anyone else here! Just two other couples, and we were walking around this huge space, so I only ever stumbled across them once. (You’ll see the photo later.)

The sun was heading towards the horizon, but there was still plenty of time to wander around and take photos as the marbles glowed more orange.

I could hear the sounds of animals moving through the undergrowth, but although I stopped and looked, I couldn’t see anything. I obviously needed a Liga with me to make something appear.

The Devil’s Marbles are granite and are formed from erosion. They were all once buried under soil, but over thousands of years the soil has been blown away and the shapes are revealed.

Erosion wears away at these marbles too, as bits of them fall to be ground down into sand. They sit on a huge sheet of granite underneath the ground, so I’d say that this erosion thing is set to continue for thousands more years until the granite is all finally exposed.