Finally, we've seen a live kangaroo!

3rd June 2013

We left Alice Springs this morning and continued north with the aim of stopping in Tennant Creek that night.

A little way down the road we saw our first kangaroo since before Coober Pedy. We'd been commenting on how there didn't seem to be any around Uluru, Kings Canyon and Alice, and how if you were an overseas tourist you'd probably be dissappointed.

Our progress once again came to a halt to allow some cattle to leisurely make their way off the highway.

Pedestrian crossing, outback style.

After a long period of not-much-to-remark-about, we came upon the Devil's Marbles. These are curious clusters of mostly rounded boulders out in the middle of nowhere, some stacked on top of each other to form piles.

The time to stop for a coffee break coincided with our arrival at another strange place called Aileron, essentially a very small community centred around the roadhouse/pub. This place's stand-out feature is the huge metal sculpture of an Aboriginal warrior, seen as you approach the town, and another of a woman and child as you leave.

A quirky "couple" seen outside the Aileron Roadhouse

 We strolled into the Roadhouse and the young fella asked what we'd like. Sharon ordered "A Cappucino and a Long Black to have here please." to which he replied "Come into the Bar area". We stepped half a dozen paces to the left, and were in The Bar, where the young bloke, now the Bar tender, handed us two cups and pointed to the coffee vending machine standing on a table behind us. Not the best cup of coffee either of us have ever had, but an amusing experience anyway.

The rest of the drive to Tennant Creek gave us nothing more worth noting apart from the fact that we did  cross the Tropic of Capricorn.