Loosing my marbles?

Just as the sun was setting on the first day of the trip to Darwin, we pulled into the Devil's Marbles
Campground. Apparently its the oldest exposed surface on earth and these large, rounded red rocks are spread
out over several square k's. I was surprised to find that we were right amongst them as the dinner was slowly
being put together under the light of the campfire! I was abit worried when our vegetarian stirfry was made
slightly less appetizing by the addition of 2 minute noodles to the big pot! I thought these guys were supposed
to know how to cook! It hadn't been the most exciting day or the longest, we left Alice behind in the midday
sun and travelled the 400km north to the marbles! All we passed on the way were road trains and the workings
of the railway extension for Darwin to Alice Springs, completing the Ghan line to aid the distribution of
goods around the copuntry. The railway is due to open later in the year I believe.

Anyway, after dinner we followed the guide up the marbles to a flat lip that would give us the chance to
lie back, enjoy a beer and the night sky before dozing off to sleep whenever the sandman took us! The southern cross, the milky way and the upside down northern hemispherical stars all shining brightly,
the only other light was of the infrequently passing headlights on the road trains and the beam of our
feeble torches!

The aboriginal dreamtime story relating to the marbles focuses on the snake that traveled from the
north part of the territory down to Uluru, Uluru is her body resting after the battle.
However on the way to Uluru, she was pregnent and laid her eggs, here, at the marbles, the marbles of
course representing her unhatched eggs! The thing that got me though was, it was possible to climb,
touch and feel these giant rocks, it made me feel is if I was right there in amongst it, not like at
Uluru where you kind of fell that its possible to have been beamed there from the couch at home!
Courtacy of some interactive television show! Here we made our own path. I guess that tourist numbers
etc have an effect on the environment at Uluru and therefore a boardwalk is required to maintain and
protect its current coindition, preventing more deteriation of what is already, a fragile landscape.

After the worst nights sleep humanly possible, and certainly in the last few weeks, the wind,
the angle of the rock, I felt I was going to roll off all night! I think that I protected everyone
else from the wind! I awoke to scarpper up to the top of one of the rocks to catch the sun breakthrough
against the horizon, magnificent colour changes taking place in the rock as the sun escapes the horizons
dark wall! After breakfast, I was pleased to see that there were wasn't a packet of 2 minute noodles insight, back on
the bus for the trip to mattaranka, a full 700 km up the road. They said it was like just popping
out to get a loaf of bread!