Alice Springs, NT (Friday to Sunday)

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We arrived in Alice Springs today. An interesting drive down from the Mount Doreen ruins, which appeared to be an old mining operation.

First stop was at Yuandemu (incorrect spelling no doubt) for some fuel. $2.15 a litre. Ooooof. It was a funny setup in this community - prepay in the store and when there were enough people wanting fuel a fella came out (Swiss backpacker) who tried to organise the chaos. There was one set of pumps that only went to one side (locked in a cage) and cars coming in from both directions. Took ages to get to us but gave me a chance to chat to the people in line. The carnival that we found out about yesterday had been held here and it was a massive event. Home team won the footy apparently.

Two unfortunate things about this town were a) how much rubbish was around (immense, despite the rubbish bins everywhere), and b) the pair of scissors that got stuck in my trailer tyre - grrrr.

We eventually checked into a caravan park near the Gap in Alice. Once we did some washing and got set up, the boys headed off in search of wood for a camp fire (luckily this park allowed them). We turned out of the gate of the park and headed bush only to find after 30 metres a fella walking along the road, struggling with shopping bags. I gave him a lift and he said he’d show us some good burning wood near the town camp that he lived at. Nice fella. Had done his washing and was up for at least a 5 km walk so he was happy for the lift.

The next day we were stocking up on food, booze and car parts for the next part of the trip, down the Hay River track.

That night the boys, at my insistence, headed down to the Gap Hotel to watch the Bombers play the Dogs. That was shit. Bombers lost by over 100. Met a couple of nice people - Yad, our cab driver and Augustine, the barman at the hotel. Both had been in the Alice for a year or two and both said they wished they had never bothered! Interesting as Suz and I were loving the cooler weather and the people we met were pretty cool for the most part.

Tomorrow we head off for the last part of the trip down the Hay River track and into Birdsville - sigh.

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