Stuarts Well / Alice Springs, Northern Territory

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19 - 25 May 2011

After a night at Stuarts Well (roadhouse on the Stuart Hwy) we were off to Alice. Stuarts Well wasn't without it's moments though.... The mice took a liking to my toes whilst I was cooking dinner and must have mistaken them for a nice piece of cheese. Hmmmm..

Once in Alice we really didn't do much at all for a few days. We took pleasure in the basic things we hadn't had for a while - running water (and drinkable!), power, flushing toilets, showers, laundry, etc etc. Not to mention reasonably priced supermarkets and fuel and all the outlets we needed by that stage to give the car and camper some maintenance from the past few weeks on the road.

We did see some of the sights - Jessie and Emily Gaps, Corroboree Rock, Trephina Gorge and Ewaninga Rock Carvings. The scenery in the NT is insane, so much greener than we had imagined.

Coincidently we met up with Andrew, who happened to be in Alice Springs cycling. It was a chance encounter and great to catch up somewhere out of the ordinary.

One night whilst cooking at the campground bbq's we were joined by some fellow campers of which one turned out to be one of my high school science teachers. Mr Orchrid (?) remembered the family name (oh no!!) but luckily there were no clear memories of the Oneile boys... What a ridiculously small world! So far we have met about 30 people from the northern beaches in all different areas around the country including some really remote areas like Triabunna (Tasmania) and Oodnadatta (outback Australia). And so many people we have met time and again in different places even if we are travelling at different paces and in different directions. Some people in this world you are just meant to meet!!

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