Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles)

Karlu Karlu covers about eighteen square kilometres of shallow valley strewn with granite boulders, some of them several metres across, rounded by weathering along fracture lines in a process that split a single granite mass into blocks and then wore their corners away over more than a billion years. Several are balanced on one another or perched on narrow bases, and one famously split cleanly in half. The site is sacred to the Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarra and Warlpiri peoples and is jointly managed; a boulder removed in 1953 for a memorial in Alice Springs was returned in 2008 after a long campaign. The rocks glow red at sunrise and sunset.

The landscape

• The balanced boulders - granite blocks perched on one another across the valley.
• The split rock - the boulder cleaved cleanly in two.
• The sunset and sunrise light - the granite turning deep red at either end of the day.
• The walking loops - short marked trails among the formations.

When to go

April to September; summer temperatures pass forty degrees. Sunrise and sunset are the reasons to stay at the campground rather than pass through. The site sits directly on the Stuart Highway, so it is an easy stop on the Darwin to Alice run.

Practical notes

Climbing on the rocks is discouraged for cultural reasons and some areas are closed entirely. The campground is basic with pit toilets and no water. Midday light flattens the formation completely, and flies in warm months are constant.

Nearby

Wauchope is a few kilometres south; Tennant Creek lies north.