Kyle Rolling with the Devil's Marbles

The Devils Marbles

While spending the night in Tenant Creek we heard of a guy that goes by the name of the 'Bush Tucker Man'. We went to a show he put on that taught us all about how to survive and get food in the outback. He taught us to get natural sugar from the gum trees to getting meat off the tail of a dead kangaroo and cooking it on an open fire. None of us thought it would taste any good, but we all had to admit the kangaroo tasted delicious. The white flakes on the "platter" is sugar from the gum trees. The small green fruit is from the mistletoe and the curly tan stuff is ginger from a bush. He also showed us how to make soap from a native grass. The man had never gone to school and could hardly write but he sure did know his stuff about the outback. He had even made up poems about his travels from when he lived in the outback and when he was a miner during the gold rush.

The next morning was an early one. We left at 5 am attempting to beat the sun the the Devil's marbles. Well, we did beat the sun and when it did come up the lighting on the marbles was magnificent. They lit up in such bright shades of red and orange we were amazed by the beauty. They stretched for miles and miles and then they came to an abrupt stop and it was right back to the flat, red and barren outback. The geographical explanation for the marbles being there is from erosion. But the Aboriginals had another explanation. They believed the great serpent of the outback had layed her eggs here. We spent all morning climbing up, down, around and all over the marbles. Mariah, Jake and I would use teamwork while climbing to the top of some of the taller chunks of rocks. For 3 hours we climbed around until it was too hot. Then we found a nice shady spot for a snack and hopped back in the car and set off for Alice Springs. It was 9:30 when we left and the marbles and the temperature was 35 degrees (about 95 degrees). By the end of the day it had reached 42 (or about 108). Now that's hot! There's not much more to say about the Devils Marbles but I believe the pictures all tell their own stories so I'll make sure to add a bunch.

We miss you all "heaps" as the Aussies would say and we look forward to seeing you all again.

~~kyle~~