July 30th, Australia Day 159

This was the first day of the leg of the trip that would take me north to Darwin, cutting across continent. We would be taking the Stuart Highway the entire way and this road is named after the first European man to cross the continent from north to south. He had been tasked with finding an overland route for a proposed telegraph line, and though he nearly died, he succeeded. The Stuart Highway follows his actual route, closely, as well as the telegraph line, now buried. Until recently, this road was the only way to get to Darwin over land and was once a very narrow highway. It used to be just a dirt trail but it was paved in World War 2. A rail link from Alice Springs to Darwin was only completed in 1988.

Our tour guide, Nick, informed us that this was the portion of the tour where you could catch up on your sleep. Between Alice Springs and Darwin, there is no much that is easily accessible and so most of the day consists of driving. I can never sleep while traveling so I kept my eyes open for anything unusual.

Our first stop that day was a quick photo opportunity at the Tropic of Capricorn which is located only a few kilometers north of Alice Springs. On December 21st, or thereabouts, this is the latitude at which the sun is at noon, about 23.5 degrees South. In the southern hemisphere, it marks the longest day, while in the northern hemisphere it signals the shortest day. The counterpart to the Tropic of Capricorn is the Tropic of Cancer located at about 23.5 degrees North.

Some time later we stopped at a rock formation known as the Devil's Marbles, which is really a field of balancing rocks. With erosion, these stones come to look like marbles resting on other stones. As it turns out, the aborigines believe that malevolent spirits inhabit this area and they do not often travel to this place. I got some good photos of the formation and then got back on the bus for our next stop. Close to these formations, as well as along the side of the road, there were fields upon fields of large termite mounds.

Along the Stuart Highway, the main form of bulk transportation is by a type of truck known as a "Road Train". These monsters are essentially trucks with train length carriages attached to them. The smallest ones will only have 2 cars but in the old days of unrestricted length, 13 car road trains were not unheard of. The typical road train now consists of 3 or 4 cars and can be double-deckered, although I have heard stories of triple-deckered road trains in Queensland. These road trains are used to transport any number of goods, even cattle and are preferred to the train system because it has had some problems in the past.

For lunch we stopped at a little oasis known as Mary Ann Dam. The river, while almost completely dry is dammed up and in the small reservoir behind it, there is quite a bit of wildlife. As I recall, pelicans were the dominant bird species in the dam at the time.

From Mary Ann Dam we proceeded to Banka Banka Cattle Station where we would spend the night in solid tents. In Banka Banka there was a small pen where kangaroos were kept and you could go up to them, feed them and pet them. I got some good close-ups of this Australian animal. That night, I watched a slide show which depicted life on the ranch, which is a typical one in Australia. I was told that although the local area seemed arid, only 15 kilometers east was the Barkly Tablelands which were grassy plains conducive to cattle grazing. That night, while looking at the night sky, I saw a bright object,a meteorite, burning up and breaking apart in the atmosphere. It may have been some debris from space but it was definitely not just a shooting star; astronomers will know what I'm talking about. I went to sleep a little later than usual as the next day only began at 07:45, so a little extra sleep time was available.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday159.blogspot.com/