Day 43 5/5/2011 Gemtree – Devil’s Marbles

Day 43 5/5/2011 Gemtree – Devil’s Marbles

Unfortunately, we left Gemtree with more than just garnets, the camp ground was home to thousands of bindi’s and other prickly ground dwelling vegetation and we had unwittingly put our soft rubber green mat down and it was now full of tiny little bindi’s. We had decided that we would worry about this at our stop tonight. We had no idea how we were going to get the little bindi’s and burs out!!

The drive to Devil’s Marbles was uneventful, we did stop briefly at Wycliffe Wells – apparently this is the UFO capital of Australia, in this little town consisting of a Big 4 and a garage station, they take extra-terrestrial activity very seriously!!

My goodness when we arrived late afternoon at Devil’s Marbles we were stunned, the campground was almost full to capacity with other travellers, luckily Pete manoeuvred the caravan of love, peace and happiness into a little spot just big enough for us.  Once settled in we went for a walk around Devil’s marbles and really just marvelled at these amazing granite balls, and amazing they were.  We were also surprised by just how many there were, big ones and small ones, balanced precariously on each other and others just lying about!! It is hard to describe just how amazing they were. 

We read the explanations – Aboriginal and geological in the information sheds and neither really sounded plausible!! How come there were just so many round rocks in one place and nowhere else?. The kids had a great time walking and climbing on them and Pete and I just walked around amazed

Devil’s Marble is also a significant sacred site but the areas used for ceremonial purposes were clearly off limits to us so we could climb with abandonment!!

After climbing for a few hours we settled into a quiet evening listening to the dingoes howl!!