Devil's Marbles

From Kakadu National Park we head south, once again visiting the familiar places that we had seen on the northbound journey: Edith Falls, Daly Waters, Banka Banka station. Once we have passed Three Ways, the intersection of Stuart Highway and Barkly Highway (which we had travelled on on our trip from the coast to the red centre), we are on unknown territory.

Well, not quite, as Claudia and I had been here around ten years ago. So it’s no surprise that our next stop is hand-picked, a special place: The Devil’s Marbles, today named Karlu Karlu, an area of boulders strewn all over the place. Geologists would tell you that this impression is totally wrong. In actual fact these formations are the result of a huge granite slap with vertical and horizontal cracks eroding through extreme weather conditions.

The size of these boulders ranges from one to around ten metres, and many have got symmetrical shapes. Some look as if you could easily tip them over or get them rolling by a gentle push. We try hard, but to no avail.

[Devil’s Marbles (Karlu Karlu), 27.-28. August]