Hanging around for mail again, stayed in the
Shady Lane caravan Park, a beautiful well maintained park with immaculate
toilets showers and camp kitchen. This park was immaculate last time we were
here 3 years ago and is even better now.
After almost 12 months on the road and
setting up my satellite dish most nights, this is the first time I have failed
because of the enormous trees that cover most of the park. No big deal, I would
rather be swimming anyway.
Kim rang us, he was staying just down the
road and saw that we were in Katherine on Facebook. We had a great meal and a
good chat.
We didn't do the gorge or hot springs as we
had been to Katherine twice before and spent this time having a rest rather
than site seeing.
Got most of my mail, the missed ones may find
us in Alice.
Mataranka 5th to 7th October
We pulled into Mataranka with Kim in tow,
last time we stayed at the caravan park so this time we decided on the
homestead, what a great choice, the atmosphere here is fantastic.
The couple who pulled in beside us have a
brand new Jayco Sterling, 25 foot with a giant slide out. All leather interior
and amazing electrics , Jayco have come a long way in 5 years? The couple who
own this van picked it up around 3 months ago and are living in it full time as
they travel, pretty much what we are doing but we still own a home.
There is a barramundi fishing competition
with a first prize of $2,000 but apparently there are fish being caught but
only at secret fishing spots. The spring is beautiful, it is crystal clear and
warm, not hot. 30.5 million litres of water pass through this pool each and
every day. We swam both morning and afternoon and went for a walk to the River.
Happy hour was calling so off we wandered for a night of frivolity and a lovely
meal. Kim is great company and it will be sad to see him go, he has decided to
stay another night and go with us to Daly Waters.
The homestead was the site for the making of
the film "We of the Never Never
Off to the thermal pool again, the smell this
morning was putrid, not the pool but the colony of around 200,000 flying foxes
who sleep here during the day. 3 years ago the palms which line the spring and
pool were stripped bare by the flying foxes but this year everything is in one
piece. The flying foxes group at sunset to fly off up to 50 klm gathering food.
They take off and and do a couple of laps of the park to make sure all flying
foxes are on board, they then leave as a dark cloud in the setting sun.
We are having a lovely swim when we hear a
multitude of voices coming towards the pool, it was a school trip from
Canberra. There were a total of 52 students and 4 teachers. They were grades 9
and 10 all around 15 to 16, they were very well behaved with one young girl who
was very informative and told us all about their trip so far.
We were starting to wrinkle up so we thought
it may be a good thing to get out of the water, can't have any more wrinkles.
The pool flows further down into Stevie's Hole, we walked the 1.2 klm track down
to see the water hole.
The park has started to empty today as it is
the end of the school holidays.
More swims and a quieter night, we are
packing up for Daly Waters tomorrow.
The kangaroos are causing havoc by ripping
open the garbage bags and knocking over wheels bins. They can't be blamed as
many tourists are feeding them.
Daly Waters Pub 7th to 9th October
Left Mataranka for Daly Waters Pub. We
stopped at the Larrimah pub (pink panther). We were going to have a beer in the
bar and maybe a bite to eat but the service was so lousy we had a look around
their private zoo and left.
We arrived at the Daly Waters caravan park
and it is deserted, certainly not peak period. Kim has joined us so we
adjourned to the pool and spent most of the afternoon there.While we were swimming around 10 vehicles have arrived, a mix of tents, camper trailers, motor homes and vans.
Happy hour at 4.30, stayed on for Barra and
Beef and copious more wines and beers. Met Lyn Biggs and Rick from Atherton, very funny couple. Trice tried
to sleep in the shower, must have had something to do with the meal.
Kim has left for Queensland, we were all very sad as we have enjoyed his company.
We are the sole occupants except for a poor
young girl who has broken her car and is now waiting for a tilt tray, that
won't be cheap.
More swimming and wandering around the town.
The old police station was an enormous building with 2 jail blocks. Funnily we
were walking the town in our swimmers and carrying our towels when a local
pulled up and asked us if we were looking for the pool. We explained that we
had just been for a swim and decided to go for a walk. Occupants are starting
to arrive in the afternoon, got up to 15 tonight. The funny thing is when we
get out of the van in the morning we are virtually the only ones left.
We started the day by singing "Happy
Birthday" to our son in law Ben. He didn't take the call so now he has a
beautiful recorded message that he can replay when he needs to think of us.
We have decided to head towards a freestay or
freedom staying as it is now called apparently. We turned off just before
Elliott to travel on 11klm of dirt and sand towards Longreach Waterhole. We
found the site of a fire mishap and pulled up on the waters edge. We opened
the car door and it was like a blast furnace. It will be ok, the water hole is
not that attractive and it is damn hot. We put out the awning and the
temperature has just gone up another notch. 
Trice asks what would you like to do? I would
rather be sitting in air conditioning and having a swim in a pool. With that we
packed up and hit the road for Tennant Creek.
We stopped in Elliott, just for old time
sake, had lunch and moved on. Hey John and Wil, the old pub is open, BP has
taken over the old garage and caravan park, a new caravan park has opened. You
know what? The town still looks like crap.
Tennant Creek 9th to 10th October
We pulled into Tennant Creek, fuel is
$1.79.9, the old Tennant Creek Caravan Park is $35/night. The park needs a good
cleanup but the pool was icy cool, we had power for the air and a multitude of
TV stations, mostly broadcast from Brisbane. There were cats everywhere, Trice
was not happy.
Full phone service for both phones was also a
blessing, Trice was beside herself.
Our site is a long drive through with good
shade, with the awning out we are very comfortable. A van pulls in beside us
and sets up but doesn't put their awning out, they leave to go out to dinner.
Next thing another van comes in and instead of choosing one of the many vacant
sites, chooses to park on the same drive through site as the van beside us.
There is hardly enough room to open the door of the van, what were they
thinking?
We sat outside once the temperature went down a but but at 9.15pm it is still 30c.
We wandered inside, the town was pretty quiet
and did not have the yelling and screaming of local aboriginals as we were
told. (But this was Wednesday night - Thursday is pension day)
Tennant creek originally started as a gold
mining town in the 1930's. It also has the remnants of the Overland Telegraph
station just up the road.
Went for a walk around town this morning, all
shops have bars on the windows, everything is locked, except for the cars left
with windows down. There are many aboriginals walking or sitting and talking,
most were very friendly and said hello. We found one fellow who was tired and
emotional asleep on the concrete footpath, he wasn't dead,
The town has a new police station, school and
a good array of stores, 2 pubs offering meals. One pub had kangaroo and
vegetable stew on their menu for $14. Beer is expensive, a carton of Tooheys
Extra Dry is $85.95 hot.
Back to the park to pack up the van, we have
this down to a fine art, 15 mins and we are on the road, helps when you don't
have to rehitch.
Devil’s Marbles 10th to 11th October
About 100klm down the road is the Devil's
Marbles, we stayed here with John and Wil 3 years ago, this was Trice's
highlight then and was hoping it didn't disappoint this time, it didn't. We
pulled in and set the van up to see if it was going to be too hot, it is
currently 40c at midday. There is a caravan park 30klm down the road at
Wycliffe well , home of the UFO centre if we decide to move on.
We have decided to stay as a beautiful
northerly has made the heat more bearable. The 'marbles' are still spectacular,
when climbing them the heat rises when you are protected from the wind. We are
here by ourselves with the occasional day tripper dropping in.
This is the site of the Kurlu Kurlu people.
The balancing rocks are made of granite, they are formed by larger boulders
splitting in uniform blocks and then breaking down over millions of years into
round boulders, it gives the appearance of a giant having placed huge marbles
on top of each other. These boulders change colour throughout the day. They are
at their most spectacular at sunrise and sunset.We are seeing a number of 'Whirlies' on our travels. While we were sitting here one just started a few metres away and I had to jump up and grab the awning as it headed straight for us. Dirt and little rocks went everywhere. It must have something to do with the heat as we are seeing at least a couple a day at the moment.
Just checked the outside temperature, 46c and
inside the van 40.1c, that is at 5.00pm.
It is so hot tonight making it very
uncomfortable to sleep. It is now just after midnight and I am wandering around
looking at the stars, not a breath of wind and still high 20's at least. I
climb back into bed with 2 fans going flat out and finally fall asleep. An hour
later we have cyclonic wind battering the van, Trice gets up to pull the awning in before it gets ripped off. We are copping a battering, everything is
getting blown away and the temperature has dropped dramatically.
We are all battened down, we pull the
blankets up and fall to sleep, well at least I did, Trice spent most of the
night worrying about the wind.
Everyone is a bit worse for wear due to the
lack of sleep, we are the only ones in a van. A camper trailer was worried that
they were going to lose their canvas and were kept awake with the flapping. We
didn't get to speak to those in the tents and campervans.
We bid farewell to Devil's Marbles and hit
the road, we are not sure how far we will get as the wind is still blowing and
may make it too hard to travel. The temperature is a cool 28c at 10.00am.
The wind has dropped so we make a dash for
Alice Springs.
Tropic of Capricorn 11th – 12th October
The first stop was the UFO centre, the fellow
who owns this has been trying to sell for years and was convinced Robbie
Williams was going to buy it as he has an interest in strange UFO events.
Just a few greens aliens outside and a cafe
with the walls lined with
UFO newspaper clippings. I was expecting so much more but at least it had nice clean toilets and OK coffee.
We pulled off the highway into a little town
called Aileron and the place of Big Man Walking. Here was a service station,
pub and aboriginal arts centre, which was closed. The staggering thing was a
statue of an aboriginal woman, her child and a goanna. The statue was around 9
metres tall and the detail was staggering, even having the female genitalia. In
the distance on top of a hill was a huge male aboriginal, with the sun behind
him you see that he was complete as well. We were disappointed that the art
centre was closed. An aboriginal was sitting beside a sign so Trice asked if it
was OK to take his photo as well. He said yes for $10, Trice told him that he
has to be joking and took a photo of the sign only.
We pulled up at a marker which was originally
known as the centre of Australia, the most isolated point from all Australian
coastlines.
The Mbantua Festival is an aboriginal
festival where they get the chance to show off there culture and teach non
aboriginals the art of weaving, bead making, art and many other parts of their
heritage. There were even discussion platforms where they spoke of different
skins and and very heavy session on the effects of alcohol on the culture
including domestic violence. It was a healthy discussion which was more than
enlightening.
We spent the day walking around the town and taking in what Alice has to offer. Most of the inhabitants are really gentle folk but you can see that there appears to be a poor side as well as a very well off side. It would appear that those coming in from the communities have certainly a lot more money than those who are town based. The communities are supplemented by royalties from the mines and this money is handed out to those who choose to live away from town.
The town is very well laid out and has
Bunnings, Harvey Norman, an enormous Toyota dealer and all the facilities of
any other larger town.
I really didn't know what to expect and was
blown away, many vintage cars, trucks and the like but the real eye opener was
the the Kenworth Museum. This has every model of Kenworth truck released of
recent years. A brand new truck is delivered here and put on show, the trucks
have never been driven.
There was an array of old trucks as well and
the one that intrigued me the most was an AEC truck which was built in 1934 in
Middlesex England and brought to Australia as an experiment to use as the first
road train. It was an 8 wheel truck with all wheels driven and the front and
rear axles were steering. An amazing piece of machinery and developed in 1934.
I spent most of the day at the museum and
could have stayed longer.
We are going out to the East MacDonald Ranges.
Trice has decided to finish off her aboriginal weaving,
I am starting to think
she does this too easily, could there be a little bit of native blood running
through those veins? When we get back I am going to get a DNA test done just to
make sure. I am sure there were similarities with the woman who was teaching her.
About time we hit the trail again so we drove
into the East MacDonnell Ranges which included walks to N'Dhala Gorge,
Irlwentye Waterhole, Trephina Gorge and Coroboree Rock, these places would be
beautiful with a bit of water but they are starting to look very tired and
dusty due to the very long stint of dry.
The drive into N'Dhala Gorge was
great having to drive through 3 water crossings. We spent most of the day
walking so couldn't finish Emily and Jessie Gaps so we need to come back the
next day.
Alice aboriginals speak a lot about the
caterpillar dreaming. They call the drawings petroglyphs a series of lines and
circles which is the life cycle of 3 caterpillars.
Back to Emily and Jessie Gaps where we
witnessed beautiful artwork again based on the caterpillar but the lack of
water ruined the atmosphere.
This is an area made up of the Central Australian Aviation,
The Aviation Museum was a bit of fun, it is
manned by volunteers and we even got to try and fly a plane on a flight
simulator which resulted in all on board dying a violent death.
The West MacDonnell Ranges incorporates
Redbank Gorge, Ormiston Gorge, the Ochre Pits, Serpentine Gorge, Ellery
Creek Bighole, Standley Chasm Simpson Gap to the north on the Red Centre Way
which takes you around to Kings Canyon of rough Unsealed Road, we chose not to
go that far and just stick with the walks to the major sites.
We started at Redbank Gorge which was compulsory Fly net
city. It is easy to see that all this area was once an inland sea with sandstone, sand and conglomerate rock everywhere.
We found
water at the end of this gorge but the lines on the walls just demonstrate how
much water really gets in here after the wet season. We are realising that we
have to come back as it will be a totally different world with more water.
Ochre Pits was where the aboriginals mined
the coloured rock for their artwork. They would grind the stone and blend it
with animal oil such as emu to produce their paint. They must have done it well
as the painting are still visible after all these years.
After all this walking into Serpentine Gorge
I was starting to get a bit tired and emotional and needed a lie down.
More water we were beside ourselves at
Ellery Creek, just beautiful.
Standley Chasm is more touristy but has constructed paths
out to the chasm. There are prehistoric cycads everywhere. To get the most out
of the chasm you need to be here exactly when the sun is overhead, we were
about half an hour late but managed to get a very good look around anyway.
The amazing thing about the Gaps such as Heavitree Gap, Jessie, Simpsons and the rest is that you have a huge mountain range and then a gap that seams to split the mountains. I struggle to comprehend what must have happened here all those billions of years ago. You have to see this stuff to believe it.
This is an aboriginal community that was
established in 1877 by 2 Lutheran Missionaries from Germany, hence the name.
I didn't know that Albert Namatjira was born
at Hermannsburg in 1902. He developed the ability to use his acute observation
of the land to paint Western-style watercolours. Painting in this style came to
be known as the Hermannsburg School of painting. There are many samples of
painting and you can see the influence of this schooling.
From a historical point of view the original
buildings are still here along with the struggles of water and supplies. From a
social point of view the town is a mess, car wrecks and rubbish litter the area
outside of the historical area. We spotted a family of aboriginals driving a
commodore around, no registration, rear window removed so the kids could sit on
the rear parcel tray to get the wind in their hair. An aboriginal had broken
down or simply run out of fuel in his unregistered car and just set up camp
under a tree.
It is so sad that our tax money is just handed out in multitudes
out here and it really does not appear to be doing any good. In speaking to a
police officer he told me that they can't do anything about the unregistered
cars as soon as they take one away they just go out and get another.
It is
just so sad.
Back in time for the Darwin Symphony
Orchestra with James Morrison. This was a free concert held in the grounds of
the Alice Springs Golf Club. We had a fantastic night and it was a just a great
end to another interesting day. The Golf Club is on the North Eastern side of
the MacDonnell ranges which is just over the 'hill' from the caravan park.
We head back to the caravan park and turn
into the driveway where we are greeted by police cars and a police officer who
simply said "We have had an incident in the park, you will have to park your car over there and stay with it", lucky I have wine in the fridge in
the car.
We had been told about the Desert Park, it is
parkland that has been established to demonstrate the different environments of
the desert. They had distinct areas of desert rivers which demonstrated that
even though it may look dry and arid just look at the vegetation on the banks,
healthy ghost gums show that there is plenty of water. 
This is where we learnt about the 'Upside Down Rivers', water actually flows under the layers of gravel. Gypsum, clay and salt pans support different classes of life. The Woodlands and Amphitheatre gave us a look at the bird life.
We have also learnt about the different aboriginal countries within Australia. There was huge conflict amongst these countries and we have been told that around the time of the arrival of the white man one of these 'Tribes' was planning to wipe out all the other tribes.
The Nocturnal House let us see wildlife in a dark environment. This was a great display and besides being 'bloody HOT' was a really pleasure.
This will do for a sleep over tonight, no toilets
and just us. When we first pulled in there were 2 car loads of aboriginals and
a few of them were wandering around the rest area. After they pulled out Trice
had a look at what they were doing, they were collecting cigarette buts and
collecting the tobacco. One of the woman approached us asking for a cigarette
but we told her that neither of us smoked. I couldn't believe the price of
cigarettes in the service station, $22, no wonder they were collecting butts.
We set off for Kings Canyon some 100 klm down the road. We booked into the Kings Canyon Resort had an early lunch and headed off to the Canyon.
It looked like a sea with sand hills, if you
ever questioned this being an ancient inland sea, this will take that away.
The rocks of the 'humps' were the sand dunes
and if you break a rock they are white sand inside. One of the rocks was
leaching white sand.
The walk was 5klm with a 600m lookout walk,
did walk in 2 3/4 hours. We came back and met another 2 couples for a happy
hour.
UFO newspaper clippings. I was expecting so much more but at least it had nice clean toilets and OK coffee.
Barrow Creek was our next stop, site of a
historic telegraph station. The station was established in 1871. It seems that
Barrow Creek's fame has been overshadowed by massacres including large numbers
of aborigines. It was close by that Peter Falconio was murdered by Bradley John
Murdoch, and Joanne Lees was abducted. The actual location of the crime was 13
kilometres to the North of Barrow Creek.
We pulled off the highway into a little town
called Aileron and the place of Big Man Walking. Here was a service station,
pub and aboriginal arts centre, which was closed. The staggering thing was a
statue of an aboriginal woman, her child and a goanna. The statue was around 9
metres tall and the detail was staggering, even having the female genitalia. In
the distance on top of a hill was a huge male aboriginal, with the sun behind
him you see that he was complete as well. We were disappointed that the art
centre was closed. An aboriginal was sitting beside a sign so Trice asked if it
was OK to take his photo as well. He said yes for $10, Trice told him that he
has to be joking and took a photo of the sign only.
This little town services the aboriginal
community 2 kilometres down the road. In most cases you can tell that an
aboriginal community is close by as you will all of a sudden get full Telstra
service.
As we drove along the Stuart Highway it is a
very straight flat road with very dry land on either side, wild flowers are
struggling to start coming out. Every few kilometres is a car wreck just off
the road. The cars don't stay complete for very long as they are either burnt
or vandalised and stripped.
We pulled up at a marker which was originally
known as the centre of Australia, the most isolated point from all Australian
coastlines.
Today's run has been 365klm, after a bad
nights sleep we have pulled over about 30klm short of Alice Springs in a Rest
Stop that allows 24 hour camping. We are now at the Tropic of Capricorn, the
second time we have crossed the Tropic of Capricorn this trip., first time
being the WA coast. We are now just
below Exmouth on the west coast and level with Longreach in the centre and
Rockhampton on the east coast. Time for a beer and an early night before we
head into Alice tomorrow.
Alice Springs 12th to 22th October
We are very lucky in the fact that the first
ever Mbantua Festival is being held at the old telegraph station. The telegraph
station was the original site of Alice Springs while the town centre which is
now Alice Springs was once known as Stuart.
The Mbantua Festival is an aboriginal
festival where they get the chance to show off there culture and teach non
aboriginals the art of weaving, bead making, art and many other parts of their
heritage. There were even discussion platforms where they spoke of different
skins and and very heavy session on the effects of alcohol on the culture
including domestic violence. It was a healthy discussion which was more than
enlightening.
The day was topped off with a night concert
with aboriginal artists and the main support act of Jessica Mauboy. She is just
stunning and and a real performer who is so humble and giving. Such a great
day.
We spent the day walking around the town and taking in what Alice has to offer. Most of the inhabitants are really gentle folk but you can see that there appears to be a poor side as well as a very well off side. It would appear that those coming in from the communities have certainly a lot more money than those who are town based. The communities are supplemented by royalties from the mines and this money is handed out to those who choose to live away from town.
The town is very well laid out and has
Bunnings, Harvey Norman, an enormous Toyota dealer and all the facilities of
any other larger town.
I went to the truck museum without Patrice so
I could have a slow long quiet look around.
I really didn't know what to expect and was
blown away, many vintage cars, trucks and the like but the real eye opener was
the the Kenworth Museum. This has every model of Kenworth truck released of
recent years. A brand new truck is delivered here and put on show, the trucks
have never been driven.
There was an array of old trucks as well and
the one that intrigued me the most was an AEC truck which was built in 1934 in
Middlesex England and brought to Australia as an experiment to use as the first
road train. It was an 8 wheel truck with all wheels driven and the front and
rear axles were steering. An amazing piece of machinery and developed in 1934.
I spent most of the day at the museum and
could have stayed longer.
We are going out to the East MacDonald Ranges.
Trice has decided to finish off her aboriginal weaving, 
I am starting to think
she does this too easily, could there be a little bit of native blood running
through those veins? When we get back I am going to get a DNA test done just to
make sure. I am sure there were similarities with the woman who was teaching her.
About time we hit the trail again so we drove
into the East MacDonnell Ranges which included walks to N'Dhala Gorge,
Irlwentye Waterhole, Trephina Gorge and Coroboree Rock, these places would be
beautiful with a bit of water but they are starting to look very tired and
dusty due to the very long stint of dry. 
The drive into N'Dhala Gorge was
great having to drive through 3 water crossings. We spent most of the day
walking so couldn't finish Emily and Jessie Gaps so we need to come back the
next day.
Alice aboriginals speak a lot about the
caterpillar dreaming. They call the drawings petroglyphs a series of lines and
circles which is the life cycle of 3 caterpillars. 
Back to Emily and Jessie Gaps where we
witnessed beautiful artwork again based on the caterpillar but the lack of
water ruined the atmosphere.
We headed into town to the Aruluen Cultural
Precinct.
This is an area made up of the Central Australian Aviation,
Museum of Central Australia and the Araluen Arts Centre.
Quite a stunning
display ranging from beautiful examples of aboriginal art, full skeletal
fossils, display boards of vast varieties of shells, bugs and animals
displaying everything that can sting, bite, maul and eat you.
The Aviation Museum was a bit of fun, it is
manned by volunteers and we even got to try and fly a plane on a flight
simulator which resulted in all on board dying a violent death.
The museum was
dedicated to the Flying Doctor Service started by John Flynn in 1927 and also
to Connellan Airways which was the first of the regional airways and was a
fearless competitor to Ansett and Qantas. The airport in Yulara is named after
this airline.
The West MacDonnell Ranges incorporates
Redbank Gorge, Ormiston Gorge, the Ochre Pits, Serpentine Gorge, Ellery
Creek Bighole, Standley Chasm Simpson Gap to the north on the Red Centre Way
which takes you around to Kings Canyon of rough Unsealed Road, we chose not to
go that far and just stick with the walks to the major sites.
We started at Redbank Gorge which was compulsory Fly net
city. It is easy to see that all this area was once an inland sea with sandstone, sand and conglomerate rock everywhere.
We found
water at the end of this gorge but the lines on the walls just demonstrate how
much water really gets in here after the wet season. We are realising that we
have to come back as it will be a totally different world with more water.
Ormiston Gorge gave us a glimpse of what
these places would have been like with water, just beautiful and worth the walk.
Ochre Pits was where the aboriginals mined
the coloured rock for their artwork. They would grind the stone and blend it
with animal oil such as emu to produce their paint. They must have done it well
as the painting are still visible after all these years.
After all this walking into Serpentine Gorge
I was starting to get a bit tired and emotional and needed a lie down.
More water we were beside ourselves at
Ellery Creek, just beautiful. 
Standley Chasm is more touristy but has constructed paths
out to the chasm. There are prehistoric cycads everywhere. To get the most out
of the chasm you need to be here exactly when the sun is overhead, we were
about half an hour late but managed to get a very good look around anyway.The amazing thing about the Gaps such as Heavitree Gap, Jessie, Simpsons and the rest is that you have a huge mountain range and then a gap that seams to split the mountains. I struggle to comprehend what must have happened here all those billions of years ago. You have to see this stuff to believe it.
We headed back west along Larapinta Drive
which is the southern most road of the West MacDonnell Ranges. At the end of
the bitumen is a town called Hermannsburg some 126 klm from the turnoff.
This is an aboriginal community that was
established in 1877 by 2 Lutheran Missionaries from Germany, hence the name.
I didn't know that Albert Namatjira was born
at Hermannsburg in 1902. He developed the ability to use his acute observation
of the land to paint Western-style watercolours. Painting in this style came to
be known as the Hermannsburg School of painting. There are many samples of
painting and you can see the influence of this schooling.
The mission land was handed over to
traditional ownership in 1982.
From a historical point of view the original
buildings are still here along with the struggles of water and supplies. From a
social point of view the town is a mess, car wrecks and rubbish litter the area
outside of the historical area. We spotted a family of aboriginals driving a
commodore around, no registration, rear window removed so the kids could sit on
the rear parcel tray to get the wind in their hair. An aboriginal had broken
down or simply run out of fuel in his unregistered car and just set up camp
under a tree. 
It is so sad that our tax money is just handed out in multitudes
out here and it really does not appear to be doing any good. In speaking to a
police officer he told me that they can't do anything about the unregistered
cars as soon as they take one away they just go out and get another. 
It is
just so sad.
Back in time for the Darwin Symphony
Orchestra with James Morrison. This was a free concert held in the grounds of
the Alice Springs Golf Club. We had a fantastic night and it was a just a great
end to another interesting day. The Golf Club is on the North Eastern side of
the MacDonnell ranges which is just over the 'hill' from the caravan park.
We head back to the caravan park and turn
into the driveway where we are greeted by police cars and a police officer who
simply said "We have had an incident in the park, you will have to park your car over there and stay with it", lucky I have wine in the fridge in
the car.
Turned out that a fellow had had a dispute
with his wife after a bit of a drinking session and took her into the caravan
along with a gas bottle and was threatening to blow themselves up.
We didn't get to our van until around 1.00
am, no big deal we simply got our chairs out, cracked a couple bottles of wine
and made the most of the atmosphere. We were lucky the other half of the park
didn't get back to their vans until the next day.
We had been told about the Desert Park, it is
parkland that has been established to demonstrate the different environments of
the desert. They had distinct areas of desert rivers which demonstrated that
even though it may look dry and arid just look at the vegetation on the banks,
healthy ghost gums show that there is plenty of water. 
This is where we learnt about the 'Upside Down Rivers', water actually flows under the layers of gravel. Gypsum, clay and salt pans support different classes of life. The Woodlands and Amphitheatre gave us a look at the bird life.
We have also learnt about the different aboriginal countries within Australia. There was huge conflict amongst these countries and we have been told that around the time of the arrival of the white man one of these 'Tribes' was planning to wipe out all the other tribes.
The Nocturnal House let us see wildlife in a dark environment. This was a great display and besides being 'bloody HOT' was a really pleasure.
Left Alice and I can honestly say that I was
sad, it is a great town and besides the town having a little bit of trouble
with the locals, it is clean and very friendly. We are off to Kings Canyon
which is around 480 klms from Alice.
Kings Canyon 22th October to 26th October
This will do for a sleep over tonight, no toilets
and just us. When we first pulled in there were 2 car loads of aboriginals and
a few of them were wandering around the rest area. After they pulled out Trice
had a look at what they were doing, they were collecting cigarette buts and
collecting the tobacco. One of the woman approached us asking for a cigarette
but we told her that neither of us smoked. I couldn't believe the price of
cigarettes in the service station, $22, no wonder they were collecting butts.
Set up the satellite, sat down with a cup of
coffee with a backdrop of straggly Shea Oaks and a rich red sand. Apparently
the red colour is rust from the high concentrations of iron in the soil. It is
just so dry but at least it is cooler than 2 days ago. We have now travelled
well over 30,000 klms and we are still yet to see a camel in the wild, we have
even seen 2 camel farms without a single camel.
It will be an early night with an early start
towards Kings Canyon.
Woke up today with 2 other wizz bangers who
must have come in after we went to bed. Even though I was a little concerned
going to bed I woke up this morning wondering where the hell we were.
We set off for Kings Canyon some 100 klm down the road. We booked into the Kings Canyon Resort had an early lunch and headed off to the Canyon.
It looked like a sea with sand hills, if you
ever questioned this being an ancient inland sea, this will take that away.
The rocks of the 'humps' were the sand dunes
and if you break a rock they are white sand inside. One of the rocks was
leaching white sand.
The walk was 5klm with a 600m lookout walk,
did walk in 2 3/4 hours. We came back and met another 2 couples for a happy
hour.
Dingoes and feral cats were out. The couple 2
up from us lost a loaf of bread.
Just 2 walks today firstly the Resort Ridge Walk and then followed by the Kings Creek Walk. Both walks were easy to moderate.
Went to the pub this afternoon, the Dingo
Bar. $15 for 2 beers. Diesel here is $2.33 / litre, lucky I don't need to fill
up. I should be able to fill up for around $2.04, with 159 litres I will take the $15 saving.
Sunset in the resort is beautiful with the
Gills Range in the background and the sun bringing out the glorious reds.
We are on dingo watch again tonight. Not a
dingo to be seen.
Yulara 26th to 31st October
Left for Uluru but dropped into Kathleen
Springs for a walk. The walk was very
easy with good paths and plenty of things to see. 
We headed towards Yulara but
got confused with Mount Connor thinking
it was Uluru. Staying at Resort, got 3 nights for the price of 2. Sunset was
not spectacular maybe tomorrow. 
We headed out to the Rock today as we are
both keen to climb it, when we got there it was too windy and the climb was
closed. Luckily a guided tour is just starting and joined them for a walk to
the Kantju Gorge. Unfortunately this is normally full of pristine water but
again due to the dryness of the last season it is virtually dry. 
The park
ranger was very interesting and gave us a great insight into the rock.
Interestingly after listening to what he was telling us we could understand a
little bit more about the indigenous not wanting us to climb.
The rock itself is like a big blob of wet
sand, it is enormous. Uluru and Kata Tjuta are the same piece of rock but are
exposed some 50klm apart. Uluru is a fine sandstone, it was formed by the Delta
of 2 rivers joining. Kata Tjuta has a more course finish, almost conglomerate
appearance, it would have been more upstream.
We continued the base walk which is a
moderate 10.6 klm. It was very hot and the reflection off the rock was just
reminding us that this is a long walk. The rock itself is beautiful, it has
many gorges, caves, serpent heads and the like. An area that is supposed to
resemble a woman's womb is sacred and photography in this area as well as 5
other areas is strictly forbidden
We took many photos and could have taken a
lot more, there is a strange feel about the place.
As we
got back to the start of the walk we notice a number of plaques attached to the
rock around from the entrance to the climb. Over 35 people of various ages have died attempting to climb the rock, this does not account for those who have gone home and died later from a heart attack.
As it was explained to us, "How would
you feel if someone came to your home and died in your pool or the like, how
would you feel?"
The aboriginals treat this as their home. The
rock was only open for 11 days last year and is now closed for wind, heat or
cultural significance. By 2020 the rock will be permanently closed to climbing
but they do understand that they have to give back to get people to still want
to come here.
They have recently introduced bicycle hire
and will be introducing Segways to assist people in navigating around the rock.
We are having a rest and a wander around the resort. First stop was the spear and boomerang throwing.
There was a
competition for anyone who could hit a cutout of a kangaroo with a spear. I
gave it a fright and just missed. Both Trice and I could throw the spears
pretty well. 
Next was the boomerang throwing, it would appear that again we
have a natural talent in this sort of thing, maybe I need to check my DNA as
well. Next we joined in on a bush talk which was about the tools and weapons of
the desert.
We headed out to Uluru for the sunset with a
bottle of wine and our cameras, a lovely way to finish another day.
Off to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), and to walk the valley of the winds on what is a very windy day.
The walk comprises of Karu Lookout a moderate
walk of 2.2 klm and Karingana Lookout a difficult 5.4 klm. 
The full circuit which goes around the back of Kata Tjuta is a full 7.4 klm and on a hot and windy day it was a challenge but absolutely worth every step.
After 2 days of big walks and booking a
further 3 nights today calls for a relaxing day. The resort provides lots a
free activities as well as paying ones like Aboriginal Art. We have booked
Trice in for her class, she has a natural drawing to this type of stuff. Trice
attended her art class and I was going to meet up with Matthew Brown from the Gold Coast who I used to work with but as it turned out 2 people did a no show and I was asked to join in for free.
It was a great lesson and were taught the principles of their drawing. Real aboriginal art has a story to be told and if you understand the symbols you can interpret the drawing. It was interesting but after posting our drawings on Facebook, an old friend who has knowledge in this area was able to interpret our paintings.
I caught up with Matthew and enjoyed a good
chat with him over a great coffee.
Thinking about leaving here tomorrow and
quite sad about it. The town has a beautiful relaxed feel about it.
The
aboriginals are beautiful people, their greatest fear is losing respect.
We wandered over to watch the aboriginal dancing.
This was fantastic as they
showed you the meaning of the dance rather than jumping around like lunatics.
When they asked for audience participation Trice and I decided to try it out.
It was great fun and we wandered back to camp with big grins.
The
aboriginals are beautiful people, their greatest fear is losing respect. We wandered over to watch the aboriginal dancing.
This was fantastic as they
showed you the meaning of the dance rather than jumping around like lunatics.
When they asked for audience participation Trice and I decided to try it out.
It was great fun and we wandered back to camp with big grins.
After 6 days here it about time we moved on.
We are not far from the border with South Australia where we intend to spend a far bit of time.
