TREKKING in the OUTBACK
A spectacular rocky outcrop in the middle of nowhere seems a fitting place to start a story about an outback trek through Northern Territory.
In a landscape often dominated by wide open spaces and long stretches of bitumen reaching into the horizon, Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) is an ochre-stained oasis of geological evolution. It’s where massive granite spheres, smoothed and sculpted by nature over millions of years, defy gravity.
The term Devils Marbles came from Scottish-Australian explorer, John Ross, who led a survey team for the Overland Telegraph Line in 1870. “This is the devil’s country,” he said. “He’s even emptied his bag of marbles around the place.”
Many of the ‘marbles’ remain perched precariously on top of each other as if the Devil himself, is still holding on to them.
To the local Warumungu Indigenous people, who believe the rocks are the fossilised eggs of the Rainbow Serpent, this is an important historical site where four tribes from all over the country would meet
