Day 26 & 27, Travelling to Alice Springs ( Wednesday 22nd & Thursday 23rd July)

Wednesday

The Barkley Roadhouse

This morning we headed off toward Alice Springs, we have not really decided on where we would stop so we will play it by ear, we had a bit of a late start not leaving Mt Isa till after 1030.

 Originally we were going to go to Alice via the Sandover Hwy but have decided to stay on the blacktop going via Tennant Creek instead.

Driving on the tar had its advantages too, better economy and less risk of another flat tyre, only draw back was the numerous caravans travelling at snail pace.

We drove as far as the Barkley Roadhouse and got a non powered campsite therefor the night, the sites are nice, grassy and flat, the  amenities need a little TLC but are OK, cost $34.00 for the family.

We set up pretty quickly and were just in time for happy hour at the bar where we enjoyed a couple of reasonably priced drinks, also the nicest Beer batter chips ever.

The weather had changed remarkably overnight, we had gone from cold and windy to warm and still, finally some t shirt and thong weather.

Thursday

Ti-Tree

After a pretty good night sleep we headed off toward Alice, next stop unknown, we knew we wanted to see the Devils Marbles but had not decided if we would stay there or not.
Comments on Wiki Camps were pretty good about the Devils Marbles camp ground but we wanted to see for ourselves before deciding.

The drive to the Marbles was pretty easy only stopping for fuel at Tennant Creek, where we paid $1.60 per litre, not too bad.
We arrived at the Marbles at lunch time, went through the picnic area and drove around to the campground to see what it was like.

The campgrounds were OK, more like a car park with some fire pits spread around really, there was a drop toilet that I could see at the camp, but a better toilet at the picnic area.

I believe its pretty cheap to camp there though but we have also been advised that if you want a site with a fire pit you have to be there before 1400 hrs.

We had a pretty good look around, did a little information walk around the marbles and had a nice lunch at the picnic area then headed off South to find a camp spot for the night.

The Devils Marbles are definitely worth stopping for, and if you spend a little tome reading the information notices, the history is pretty interesting.

Wycliffe Well

Not far down the road we stopped at Wycliffe Well, which is supposed to be the UFO capital of Australia.

First thing we noticed as we drove in was the large concentration of indigenous folk, more than we had seen anywhere in the last few weeks, it does not concern us at all just an observation really.

Wycliffe consists of a roadhouse/restaurant and caravan park, the theme for the whole place is definitely UFO related.




We did not stay at the caravan park but it looked like a decent enough park, green grass sites and what looked like pretty decent amenities.














After our little visit to Wycliffe Well we got back on the road and headed further south toward Alice Springs, we drove down to Ti Tree and booked into the caravan park behind the roadhouse.

The caravan park was pretty nice, plenty of room with grassy sites and good amenities, we paid $25.00 for the family for an non-powered site and were treated to a very nice sunset.

Tomorrow its only a 200 kilometer drive to Alice, we will decide where to stay on the way there,probably two nights of relative luxury before we head onto the Tanami Road and into WA.