Day 14 - West MacDonnell Ranges to Jervois Station

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We got an early start because we had to make up some time. Tonight, according to the spreadsheet we should be at Tobermorey Station, but instead we were aiming for Jervois Station (about 250km short). We had to stop off in Alice Springs to get gas, wood and a digital air pressure gauge (and some food and alcohol). It's clear why they call Alice Springs the New York of the Centre. In the Woolies carpark there were a bunch of black guys listening to hip hop. After the guy at Cellarbrations wouldn't serve us in Coober Pedy we were starting to run low on wine (plenty of Asahi though). In Alice Springs liquor stores don't open until 2pm and then only when the police turn up to stand outside. I have to confess I find this quite depressing, after-all we are running out of wine! We stopped in at Bunnings, who as we all know have everything ( at warehouse prices) and got firewood, gas and a tomahawk in case the navigator makes further changes and headed to the Plenty Highway. As we got to the dirt there were two rows of road trains. We pulled over to let our tyres down and as I waited for the tyres to deflate I realised they were doing the same. Pumping up their tyres before they hit the tar. Geez they were working hard with those bike pumps. First stop was Gemtree where apparently there are garnets, zircons and some pretty bad coffee (but the coconut slice wasn't so bad). In contrast to Alice Springs we stopped off at Atitjera which is an indigenous community. We went to their local art centre, met some of the artists (one was wearing a Souths jersey but I got over it) and bought some paintings. We went to the local store and the kids came in after school and bought lollies and skated down the road in front of us. We got to Jervois Station at sunset and pitched camp. Mexican beef, refried Pinto beans and corn and avocado salad.



Things we learnt:

- Alice Springs is not really the New York of the Centre

- Roadtrain drivers check Google

- Not everywhere has good coffee

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Comments

[Red]

Souths
You can never escape souths

[Lloyd O'Harte]

Things we learnt
- Next time take a Nespresso machine - Please tell me you visited the Papunya Tula Gallery in Alice Springs... - and you really are Grey Nomads in disguise. That said, keep up the good work!

[BecandChris]

Friends
If a good friend had recommended a gallery we would have gone!