This was my view when I woke up in the morning, I started to think about going home. I will miss these kind of views almost every day different, although I don’t think the view of Uluru can be beaten.
Not far to drive today, we could take our time, 200ks to Alice Springs. You know when you are close to Alice Springs when you get a certain rock formation, the McDonald ranges surround Alice and the range is unmistakeable. I have been to Alice a couple of times and I do not know why but I really like it. There is nothing very special about it apart from the fact of its remoteness, I have always found the locals friendly and welcoming.
Ti Tree roadhouse was coffee stop today a chance to refuel and have a quick break. Had to take a picture of Trevor and Michelle’s clean car and van, once on our way to Birdsville it will be all dirty again until we get home.
On arriving in Alice Springs we decided to go and have a look at Blatherskite Park, their showgrounds, it advertised powered camping and many other facilities. As soon as we saw it we decided we were definitely staying, it was a huge area very green and very open, just lovely. We will certainly remember this for any return trip. We were not allowed open fires but we could use the “Pig”. For those of you outside of Australia a “pig” is a pot belly fire pit that stands on legs and can be used to cook on. So a pig fire was better than no fire. We sat around it for a while and did some star gazing but it was getting far too cold to be outside so we all retired early.
The Pig
The next morning it was still bloody cold, all our winter wear was pulled out which included a onesie I had brought with me for a bit of a joke. This morning was the morning, I climbed into the onesie and walked outside to have breakfast. Emma just laughed and laughed, she had never seen me in anything like it before. All I can say is I think I was the warmest person having breakfast it worked a treat.
We sat down over breakfast to decide what we would do with our time in Alice. We had gotten here in time for the Henley on Todd regatta, boat races that takes place on the dry river bed. Trevor needed a day of rest before that so Michelle and I reassured the boys that we could entertain ourselves today with a trip into town to search out the quilt shops. (Of course we had the addresses already) Another activity for Michelle, Emma and I was a Camel ride, my third but their first, we would leave that until later, maybe the sunset ride.
Douglas's Downunder 