devils marbles
This place surprised us! We didn’t realize that there were so many large boulders across a large section of land, as we thought it was just one group of rocks on a small patch. This place was surreal!
After our stay at Alice Springs, we decided to make the 4hr trek further north to visit the Karlu Karlu, also known as the Devils Marbles. Karlu Karlu is a shared name by the Kaytete, Warumungu, Warlpiri and Alyawarra Peoples, who are the traditional custodians of the area. It means ‘round boulders’, and in 2008, ownership of the Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve was officially given back to the site’s traditional custodians. We spent our one month anniversary of full time travel watching the sunset over the boulders, and then woke to watch the sunrise too. The boulders glowed on both occasions, from a deep purple, to dusty pink and then rusty orange.
|
|
There is a parking bay where you could park up the car and van to visit the marbles. We suggest turning up 30mins before sunrise and sunset as the glow along the horizon is stunning, plus the sun times on our weather apps were a little out. If we relied on that, we would have missed the sunset! There is a campground that is booked through National Parks. All of the sites looked fine for a van but our picks would be sites 23 or 24. There are drop toilets and you need to be self-sufficient. Please be mindful of the areas that have been marked as no photography due to cultural reasons. Visitors have also been asked not to climb on the boulders. There is a designated path that you can follow over the boulders that does give you great views overlooking the area. There is Optus phone reception, but no Telstra service.
We stayed at the Devils Marbles Hotel which is only 9mins down the road. We had a powered site so decided to stay for two nights. There is a pool which was lazed around during the day and an award-winning restaurant. We were not disappointed! The food was delicious, so much so, we bought some frozen portions of lasagna to have for our wedding anniversary later on in the month. Our warriors loved seeing the road trains stopping in for a light refreshment too!
|
|
On your travels to Devils Marbles, be sure to stop in at Aileron to visit the Anmatjere Man and Anmatjere Woman and Child. These are 17-meter tall sculptures of an Aboriginal man holding a spear and an Aboriginal women cuddling a child. There are many road trains that use this main highway between Alice Springs and Darwin, so be sure to have your UHF set on channel 40 for easy communications, particularly when passing. It was the furthest north we travelled before we slowly made our way back down to the South Australian coast over the next few weeks. But first, another couple of nights were spent in Alice Springs on our return from Devils Marbles.
Peace + love,
Peace + love,