Devils Marbles - Banka Banka - Daly Waters

See if you can spot our car & van at Devil's Marbles.   Cost was $7/night.   Camp was a dust bowl but the views were sensational of the great boulders that look like marbles. We could have stayed here for 2 nights easily.  The kayak has definitely looked out of place thru Central Australia!

As you can see some of the "marbles" started to fall towards camp but I managed to stop this one!!

Tony's first fire for the triip at Devil's Marbles....   having Happy Hour with friends we met in Alice Springs.. Later we cooked our loin chops on the open fire for dinner.   As we were packing up to go inside for the night a dingo walked passed our camp twice looking for food & at 2am the whole pack starting howling to each other.   The "Loo" was officially christened with "No 2's" here as it was too scary to go outside & the dump toilet was disgusting.........& no, Tony didn't make me empty it (this time)!

 Banka Banka is a great stopover. Beautiful green oval & our site was in the middle under shade so we were able to observe the other campers! We ventured up to the communal camp fire with our wine after tea & chatted to other tourists heading in the same direction.... a lot of whom we seem to keep meeting up with!

Finally time for some R & R at Banka Banka - yeh!!!

 

Daly Waters Pub is a must stopover.... Another dust bowl with a few trees (lucky we had one as it is starting to get quite hot during the day).    The photo above is the "Reecepshun" where you book your site.   Menu at the Pub was  Barra & Steak, Steak & Barra or Steak or Barra.   The meals were very good tho & the  entertainment was great - guitar/singer, funny story teller & the owners son who had just returned from Afghanastan sang 4 songs as well.  

Nikki, this photo is for you to have a look at.  If you look closely at the bib left in the Pub on the top right hand side, has the name "Bean" written on it!

We spent some time wandering around looking at the memorabilia people have left there, from nickers, jocks, bras to money & business cards & then a must have wine at the bar before dinner!   We didn't recognise anyone's jocks, nickers or bras!  If anyone is thinking of visiting this Pub in the near future.... see if you can see ours!



Woomera - Coober Pedy - Alice Springs

After Tony's expertese in spreadsheets & planning 127 days holiday our Itinery changed on day 1....   here we are after a very long day travelling at the Cudgee Bar in the Woomera Caravan Park. Stayed chatting for 2.5 hours with the locals, tourist and manager of the van park.   Think we have settled into travelling already!

Didgeridoo Cafe was an underground coffee shop in Coober Pedy so thought we would give it a go!    After a misunderstanding about wanting to use the toilet before we ordered, we finally ordered a coffee.   This turned out to be the most expensive we have bought $6.50 a cup.   The cafe also had Didgeridoos for sale and opals & as people walked into the shop he turned the lights on & then turned them off when they left so we sat in the dark having our expensive coffee.    1 hour later I bought a paper for Tony to read & later having lunch back at the van realised we had bought yesterdays paper!   I think they all saw us coming, but we are getting better!

Tony thought he would try and play the Didjeridoo..... we thought we deserved it after paying $13 for our coffees, but they were so exspensive here....  up to $1000!!     Tony is looking for something to play around the fire at night!

Spent a day walking around the beautiful Sampson Gap, Serpentine Gorge and Stanley Chasm which were all just out of Alice Springs.    The first photo above is of Sampson Gap.

Stanley Chasm was beautiful but were a little late to see the sun between the gap.   We stayed for a picnic lunch here & met up with a couple in a motohome.   There were mice everywhere here (although we haven't been bothered by them until now!).    One of the mice climbed up the lady's leg while she was eating lunch, so  I was sat on top of the picnic table
so they couldn't get to me!

Alice Springs was very cold at night (0 deg) but the days were sunny & mild.   The electric blanket we bought for this trip has been worth its weight in gold until we camped without power (the hot water bottles had to come out!)