Wednesday March 31, 2010 – Off to Tennant Creek.

After leaving the MacDonnell Range behind us we thought we were in for the same desert landscape. We did not expect to see the ant or termite hills. They were everywhere. Each one is different in shape and height. Some placed there were only a few and other places there were too many to count. Some were short and broad others tall and narrow. They are really fascinating. They lady at the Visitors Centre here in Tennant Creek said, "These ones here are small ones. Further north they get over 2m tall." People collect them and grind them up to make floor tiles or bricks with it. We held the top of one at the centre and it was very heavy considering how porous it is.

About 100km south of Tennant Creek we stopped to see something called The Devils Marbles or Karlu Karlu. These are granite boulders left after erosion. The boulders are precariously balanced on top of one another in a seemingly impossible arrangement. We stopped for lunch here. It was a serene and peaceful place. The wind was up as a result of the cyclone around the north coast. It kept the flies at bay. It was an incredible place. Some of the boulder were scattered around the valley like giants had been playing with them. There are a number of stories by the aboriginal people tell of how the boulders got there. One story is the rocks were eggs laid by a giant lizard. Charles said it reminded him of the rock monster part in Galaxy Quest. It was so true.

We arrived at our accommodation by mid afternoon. After a swim we went downtown to get some mushroom soup and tin foil for supper. We are having pork chops with cabbage and zapped potatoes. Little did we know that this would turn out to be a difficult proportion? Charles turned on the oven to heat up and turned on the big burner on the top of the unit and set the pork chops to brown. After a while I wondered why I could not hear any sizzling. I remembered from NZ that you cannot use the big burner and the oven at the same time. However, you can use the small burner with the oven. So after browning the meat and getting it ready for the oven, we popped it in the oven. Next came how to use the microwave. With no user manual it was not an easy task. Finally we just cooked the potatoes in two minutes increments. The pot with the cabbage in it took a long time to heat up. Eventually the cabbage cooked. It was delicious meal when we finally got to eat it. We were trying to eat earlier tonight but that was not to be.