Alice Springs

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Day 18

We did a number of sightseeing activities in and around Alice Springs, including having a local Aboriginal guide take us out on a nocturnal tour spotting Mala, Bettongs, and Bandicoots. Though, I think the highlight for the kids was hand feeding the rock wallabies that come down every night into the neighbouring campsite. For $1 a bag of feed, the kids had a ball feeding them and spotting the ones that were carrying joeys.

Day 19

Well, today had it’s share of strange sights. We set off from Alice to reach Wycliffe Well, so a long driving day for us. We stopped at Ti Tree which looked to consist of little more than a pub and a police station. Fortunately, I had premade sandwiches so we just found a nice shady spot, Maarten set up table and chairs. It was most civilised (unlike our surroundings…)

Our next stop was at the small Barrow Creek Hotel, a pub which has taken graffiti to a whole new level. Every inch of the walls doors an even part of the ceiling was covered in the signatures and well wishes of travellers, nomads and backpackers who’ve stopped here over the years. Many other things adorn the walls from horse harnesses, stockmans hats, shop signs and countless faded photographs of (presumably) previous pub patrons. The proprieter was happy for me to take photos of the pub but not of himself which was a shame as he was as uniquely weathered as his establishment.

Our next (and final) stop for the day was the Wycliffe Well Caravan Park, now this park takes ‘crazy’ to a whole new level. It would appear this is an area known for it’s UFO sightings. The people here have taken that concept and run with it. Everything in and around the park has an ‘alien’ flavour from the welcome signs to the directions to the toilets. Great big murals cover most of the buildings (all depicting little green men and their spacecraft) quite a great deal of effort has gone into this though. The kids thought it was great, especially the life size statue of the Incredible Hulk in the middle of the lawn.

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Photos

Daily chores!
Who'd have thought, my 3 boys all doing the dishes :)

Alice Springs
A Whistling Kite with the West MacDonnell Ranges in the background

Desert Park
A demonstration of traditional Bush Foods

Desert Park2
Daniel gets his first taste of Witchetty Grubs!!

Alice Springs2
The West MacDonnell Ranges

Nocturnal walk
All rugged up for our Nocturnal tour of Desert Park

Nocturnal Walk2
Ryan, illuminated by the red torchlights we were given on the walk

Standley Chasm
Daniel and Ryan having a cuddle on the rock in the middle of Standley Chasm, had all the tourists behind me commenting 'Awww...Will you look at that...Are they your boys?' Just melts my heart...

Standley Chasm2
Matthew in the green Tshirt walking in to the Chasm

Darwin 1428km
Not long now...

Barrow Creek Hotel3
Just some of the graffiti messages left on walls, doors, seats, etc etc

Barrow Creek Hotel2
Front bar of the Barrow Creek Pub

Barrow Creek Hotel
The old Diesolin pumps out the front of the Barrow Creek Pub

Tropic of Capricorn
Maarten standing on the Tropic of Capricorn

Wycliffe Well2
Just one of the many wall murals found in this quirky Caravan Park

Sunset in Wycliffe Well
Just to prove it wasn't all UFO's and martians here, there was some nice scenery to enjoy

Comments

[Krista]

Nice to see you've got 3 dish-washers to help you out. The wallaby feeding sounds like it was really worth it, and the photo of the wallaby and joey is so adorable. Hope you're keeping well. xo

[mumtoo]

on the road
Do you want to tell me that Daniel ate a witchetti grub? Feeding rock wallabies is indeed hard to beat for children (and their parents I suppose).Did you have electricity in these isolated "resorts" or could you not even have the heater on? Surely it must get better by now. Today arrived Maarten's parcel by registered mail. Better late than never. All good here. Dad and I raked the leaves from your lawn today. Plenty of compost! Enjoy the rest of your trip. With lots of love from dad and mum. Hugs for the boys.

[Ourexcellentadventure]

Haha!!No, it was only a pretend witchetty grub (real ones aren't that big). Thank you for raking our leaves and looking after the place, sorry I missed the camellias :( We've had power at most sites and now the weather is so warm we don't need the heater (but I'm still wearing the socks!) All still going well, kids are in bed, just waiting on the kettle boiling so Maarten and I can enjoy a coffee with our butterscotch pudding (my first attempt at baking dessert in the oven). We're off to Kakadu tomorrow. Our love to all xxx