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Published: August 31st 2009
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Day 125 - Finke River Rest Area to Alice Springs
When we first woke up it was still dark so we thought we had plenty more sleeping time but the next thing we heard was the rest of our group outside and somebody had ‘switched the lights on’! Dawn had broken without us!
Tony had relit the fire from last night so that was going a good un and Darryl busied himself getting the bacon and eggs sizzling away. Carol & Ray cooked pancakes which were beautiful and how we laughed when Darryl emptied the beans into the pot and I realised I’d picked up ‘beans in gravy’ by mistake! Well that’s new!! Luckily we had a tin of real beans too so all was not lost in that department! Whilst we ate the most magnificent breakfast, Jane remained true to her diet and stuck with a cereal / muesli mix watching the rest of us indulge in the works. With the added ‘M’ drawn in the sand by Tony it was the best Mc’ers we’d ever been to!
Carol & Ray are heading to Alice Springs as well but they’re in a different camp site to us
so we swap details and hope our paths will cross before the week is out. We bid them a fond farewell for now and all set off to on the road to Alice.
The journey isn’t going to take us very long as it’s less than 200 kms so we should arrive nice and early to get a few domestic chores done. Coming closer into Alice we pass by the local drag strip and there’s some sweeping activity going on so maybe we’ll catch some action over the weekend which would be great.
We stop at the Alice Springs welcome sign and have our photos taken, we’ve had a compilation CD on which just happened to land on Dad K when we pulled in so we leave it running for the others to hear, they’re very impressed. Ray and Carol are hot on our heels so we take their photos too and then all set off again.
Booking into the campsite is no problem at all, we’re even on the same pitch as last time and Tony & Jane are just behind us which is great.
We spend the next couple of hours giving PIE (the
car) and Sweetie (the caravan) a really good clean! Red dust has managed to get everywhere and the floor has turned a brown colour again! It doesn’t take long and with the help of Jane’s little dyson even the carpet in the bedroom gets freshened up! With the washing done too we head into town to find a hairdresser, if Darryl doesn’t get his cut I’ll have to plait it soon! Unfortunately they’re closed when we get there so we’ll have to come back during the week, the hair is saved another day! Over at the Visitor Centre we meet up with Tony & Jane again (small town!) and grab some leaflets about various walks in the Macdonnell Ranges. Next stop Woolworths to replenish the supplies and we get a huge shopping bill which is a bit of a shock but all the expensive stuff has run out at the same time so we’re stuck with buying more all in one go. We need beer too and luckily we’ve got our driving licence with us because you must have photo ID to purchase alcohol in Alice Springs these days. The alcohol laws within Aboriginal communities are very strict. With a
slab of Carlton and a bottle of red for the Spag Bol we’re on our way!
We join Tony & Jane for nibbles and talk about what to do over the next few days. They’ve kindly invited us to join them in their car and to team up with the walking as it seems silly to do everything separately when we’ll only end up in exactly the same places at the same time! It’s very kind of them and we gratefully accept as they’re excellent company and very good walking buddies.
We decide to hit the West MacDonnell range tomorrow and come up with a plan to visit the furthest lookout and then work our way back. We’ll see how we get on as it could change depending on how we do for time.
There’s not much of the evening left now but we do manage to grab some dinner and catch up with Mum & Dad K over Skype. They’ve been doing an amazing job with our garden back home and have been making the local wildlife very welcome with the installation of Lizard Lodge and Hedgehog Hotel!
We were very excited to hear from
our good friends & fellow bloggers Kangaroojack with a special ‘private’ blog (since included in a public one) about them finding their first Cassowary (we’ve searched the East coast and couldn’t find one anywhere!). He’s beautiful and they’ve become such good friends that they’ve named him Sydney (with a Y!). He looks lovely and cuddly and we learn that he’s for us! Wow, thanks guys, that’s very kind of you and we’re looking forward to him joining the Wallaby Wanderers family!
Also on Skype we spot our very special friend Emma back home in the UK, she’s not normally on Skype so we seize the opportunity to chat as she had brilliantly sent us a couple of text messages on the Oz phone earlier in the day. Great to catch up with her and young James who by the end of the typing conversation was playing ‘Air’ Didgeridoo! We’ll need a photo of that next time I think! Hopefully next time we’ll get to chat to her other son Ben as well but that just made our day. With Ed joining in the chat too we had a three way catch up which is excellent!
And so to
bed, big day tomorrow so we need our sleep!!
Thanks for all the messages it’s so good to hear from you all.
Lots of love
Dar & Sar
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Kangaroojack
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Sydney with a Y
Hi guys! just to add that Sydney with a Y is very excited about joining the Wallaby Wanderers team, he is hoping to catch up with you real soon, he is looking forward to meeting Cheri,we are concerned about what Bob told him ;-)) Take care and travel safe, see you on Skype soon! KJ xx