Our friends Christine and Stephen with their doggie Jack arrived at the airport having flown in from Sydney to tour with us for a while, and so we went to meet them and collect their KEA van. It was lovely to see them again after 3 months - we were going to have us a “convoy” for a few weeks! That evening we were lucky enough to get tickets to the outdoor Variety Bash concert and listened to many Australian greats from the music scene, including John Williamson, Leo Sayer (adopted Australian)(Paul had a chat with him in the airport car park), James Blundell, John Paul Young, Russell Morris, Adam Harvey , Frankie J Holden, Wilber Wild, The Screaming Jets. The atmosphere was lovely, the crowd small and we enjoyed ourselves. Terrific venue surrounded by the amazing hill ranges around Alice Springs.
The next day we stood in the Mall and watched some of the 600 cars sponsored to raise money for the Variety Club and disadvantaged children parade by. The cars are each over 30 years old and have major modifications to withstand the thousands of kilometres they travel raising money. Lots have ’fun themes’ too, and they hooted their horns and sprayed the crowd with water and sweets. We walked on the see the Henley-Todd Regatta – a selection of light home-made boats with people standing inside who run races up and down the dry, sandy Todd River bed. It was a real hoot. Then we had a big shop at Woolies and back for a BBQ with our camp next door neighbours Greg and Joan.
23rd August was Stephen’s birthday so after dropping off all the four dogs at the local kennels for four days, we headed off in our two Kea Vans into the West MacDonnell Ranges where dogs are not allowed, and spent the first night at Ellery Creek Big Hole. It was a lovely spot with a fascinating geological history which we explored on a short 3km Dolomite Walk the following day. A swim in the waterhole required courage as the water was extremely cold even though the outdoor temperature was into the 30s. I stayed in for about 15 minutes but the rest of the group chickened out after a quick exhilarating dunk! We did lots of eating, drinking and star gazing to end a great day.
We woke up next morning missing the dogs but ready for a walk and chilly swim before breakfast. The sun came up quickly and we relaxed and read and did any repairs before moving onto our next stop at Orminston Gorge and Pound. We stayed there for two nights. The highlight was a $50 helicopter ride over the gorges and Mount Sonder, taking off from Glen Helen. The helicopter was just a little bubble with open sides and all we had was a lap belt so it was pretty scary as the pilot banked one way and then the other. But the scenery was so magnificent that the ride was over far too soon. It was breath-taking and very memorable. We also did the 7km Orminston Pound walk which is a circular walk across the slopes and onto the floor of the Pound, retuning along the Gorge floor scrambling over the rocks via the main waterhole. Amazingly the weather completely changed from really hot to much cooler and drizzle, but it was a welcome relief. Paul just couldn’t get over the minerals and spent most of the walk bent double gazing at the ground.
The next night we moved back through Alice and out the other side to the East MacDonnell ranges and we camped at Corroboree Rock. This is a sacred Aboriginal site and is a huge rock shaped a bit like a dorsal fin standing up from the ground, with a couple of holes through it. We were the only two vans there and Christine cooked a magnificent Prawn Pasta and we had lots of wine and a fire – a beautiful campsite evening with lovely friends. Sadly Stephen had to return back to Sydney, so Christine dropped him at the airport and we splashed out on a powered site for each van at one of the Top Tourist Park in Alice Springs. It was time for some washing and a spring clean before we collected the doggies.
We had booked our van in for 135,000km service at the Ford garage, so we got up early the next day to drop it in. All was Ok and it just cost $300, cheap by Sydney standards. We visited the old Hospital and Alice Springs jail and a museum about the pioneering woman of Australia – amazing how hard they worked and brought up huge numbers of children in the very hostile environment of the untamed outback. Their personal diaries and accounts were so interesting.
All in all we really liked Alice Springs - a real treat and a surprise - we were expecting a dusty old outback town - wrong!! We can see why so many people come for a visit and end up staying!
Then we collected the van and the 4 dogs from the kennels and headed out of Alice, South on the Stuart Highway, with a turn off to Uluru. We found a great rest area with plenty of space, trees, red sand and wood for a camp fire and had a good night’s sleep. Early the next morning we had to lend a hand to some people who had bogged their car in soft ground and we flagged down another car load of people to help with the pushing. All ended well.
The road to Uluru was peppered with a couple of dead cows and lots of Kangaroos – all “road kill”. But we did see a live Dingo strolling casually around a rest area scavenging for food and a magnificent Eagle feasting on a dead Kangaroo and seemingly unafraid of the traffic going by. Finally we reached the Ayes Rock Resort and found the Camp Ground - a very clean and spacious area, quite empty and with all the facilities we could possibly need. We had a view of Uluru and dogs were allowed...we immediately booked in for two nights!
Click below on photos (open in new window) to see some photos:
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| 52 Alice Springs |
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| 53 W_McDonell_Range |
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| 53a-heli |
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| 54 Corroboree |
