Devils Marbles
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We arrived an hour or so before sunset with the wind whipping up to gale force and the sky overcast. The "marbles" are the surface outcroppings of a granite platform that first fracture into square blocks and are then rounded off by wind and rain. If the shapes look familiar, this is exactly the same process that shapes the outcrops on Dartmoor. |
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| The sunset
was spectacular as storm clouds started to gather. Throughout the night, dry lightning flashed between the clouds and occasionally to earth. Inevitably, a little after midnight we saw the glow of a bushfire reflecting off the low clouds over to the north west - a little worrying since that was the direction the wind was blowing from. It never got near us, though you could occasionally smell smoke on the air. |
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 Wherever you go, whatever you do, a cat is watching... |
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The rocks and camp ground have been colonised by feral cats. Gone wild from farm cats introduced by settlers in the 19th century they are truly wild and will not let anyone come near. Feral cats are a huge problem in Australia and are having a devastating effect on the native wildlife, bringing many species close to extinction so mustn't be encouraged by feeding. There are big fines to re-enforce the point too. In some places the Aborigines have adopted a pragmatic approach - the cats have hunted out the animals they would eat so they in turn hunt the cats. If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em... |
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Next morning,
the sky was clear and the marbles shone in all their glory. What you don't get an idea of from these pictures is an idea of the size of some of these boulders so lets put some people in there for scale... |
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The other thing you don't see is the flies. Thousands of the buggers... |
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| As we set out northwards
again we passed where that fire was last night. It looks devastated but with a shower of rain and a couple of weeks and this will be greening up again. |