In the Red Centre! Now at Alice Springs...

(sorry no photos- it's just too slow- not enough wireless internet reception here, so they don't upload properly- have a stack we are waiting to upload and share!)

Wednesday July 19th…in the northern territory now!

We covered a lot of distance today- heading west from Camoweal towards the T-junction with the Stuart Highway, which runs north-south and is the road into Alice Springs. Once there we turned to the south and continued on past Tennant Creek about 100 kilometres (having covered about 600kms in total by then) where we stopped to check out “Devils Marbles” huge granite boulders covering a large area. It’s a sacred spot to Aborigines and was quite a powerful place, with a strong sort of energy to it which we noticed as we wandered through the huge boulders (the granite was pushed up through the eath’s crust by volcanic activity many many years ago and the softer rock around it has gradually weathered away, leaving these strange formations).

We continued on about 20 more kms until we came to Wycliffe Well Holiday Park. It’s basically a roadhouse with caravan, camping and motel accommodation. But it has a rather strange claim to fame which we discovered when we saw a road sign advertising it- it boasts being the UFO Capital of Australia!

Heading in on the side road leading into the park we saw another sign, this one advising “Caution” as we were entering a “UFO Landing Site”. When we pulled up we were greeted by life-size alien statues, the little-green-man-with-a-pointy-head variety. Murals painted over the building walls depicted spaceships flying through the air or coming into land. There is even a painted wooden board outside the main office, featuring a male and female alien on the front, their face sections cut out so you can stick your head in for one of those chintzy photos you can usually get at amusement parks!
There is some substance to all the UFO publicity. The area has the most recorded UFO sightings of in Australia and has even been listed in National Geographic as a UFO hotspot and has been the subject of various reports and articles in the local NT press. The restaurant area has a wall with copies of all the articles as well as a variety of information on UFO sightings (it also sells UFO T-shirts). There is even a guestbook at the front desk where visitors can record any extraterrestrial sightings they may have had during their stay. The owner of the place is a firm believer in UFOs and had some pretty weird/interesting stories to tell us! It's hard to be skeptical in the face of the overwhelming number of strange sightings and reports from the region.

It’s late evening now. There is no moon and Adam and I were sitting outside earlier (actually listening to a free country music performance by a local singer here at the caravan park!!) and noticing how many stars there are out here. It was then I noticed something moving across the sky. At first we thought it was a satellite or a bit of space junk. But it then changed course and seemed to move quickly into the distance, before turning red and disappearing completely. I’m not kidding. We didn't know what to think.

There may be a scientific explanation behind our strange sighting. But we prefer to believe it was our very own Wycliffe Well UFO experience. :-)

By the way, we saw petrol near Tennant Creek today for $1.82 a litre!!!

Thursday July 20th

After another long drive through empty bush we finally arrived in Alice Springs! Cloudy today and cool..about 14 degrees most of the day. We did a big grocery shop and walked around the town centre. It’s a nice sort of place here in the middle of the country! Not especially safe to walk around alone at night though. Tomorrow we plan exploring the West McDonnal Ranges…some great gorges and waterholes and bushwalks etc.
Then it’s back in the car for the trip out to Kings Canyon the next day- about 350kms away.
I’m feeling really tired, as is Adam…be good to have a day outdoors tomorrow!
Petrol here is back to a more reasonable $1.48

Love E & A xx