Hi from Alice

---

Monbulk, Victoria to Alice Springs.
We left Heathrow Tuesday evening and arrived at Belgrave Station in the Blue Dandenongs, North East of Melbourne, Thursday Lunchtime. The weather was actually colder than at home, sunny, but with a distinct chill in the air. Debbie was there to meet us and took us back to their place in Monbulk, where Syd the camper was waiting for us. We spent Friday getting a few bits (puncture repair kit, toaster, new fridge (which we didn’t really need as Deb & Ian were happy for us to use theirs - but we have put on them enough just storing the camper with them, without wrecking their fridge too!)). We had a great meal with them at Rose Cottage (highly recommend the place). Saturday morning we set off, heading North towards the Murray. For some unexplained reason I really wanted to go to Bendigo so we spent our first night there -not much there though, bit os a disappointment really. We continued North to Mildura, on the banks of the Murray. Country Music festival in full swing and the campsite had it’s own concert on - sadly, the violinist was flat and most of the singers couldn’t sing. This wonderful event started at 5pm and went on until 10pm - it was wonderful when they stopped. Next morning we treated Syd to two new tyres - the old ones were illegal, the man said. Whilst they were being fitted we wandered the Murray and found a lock - and watched a tourist laden paddle steamer go through it. The Murray isn’t like the Thames - it’s all muddy looking, with scarcely a flow.
We are now in the fruit fly exclusion zone and there are fruit trees everywhere - but we can’t buy anything because they will take it away when we cross the border into South Australia. The border control wouldn’t believe we had nothing though and performed an intensive search. As soon as we hit Renmark (1st big town in SA) we purchased lots of fruit and veg - Ha ha - didn’t get us this time!
We stopped the night in Burra - the outback town we visited with Greg and Trish a few years ago. That time it was all red and the hills looked like something from Mars. Couldn’t believe it was the same place - the red hills are now all green and lush. In fact the journey up to Burra and on to Port Augusta was a joy, everywhere was green - with rolling hills - lovely (reminded us of the Lake District - without the lakes!)
Up the middle, the countryside is more barren, but still with more green than we expected - we even saw a heron(!) sitting next to a patch of water. Wildlife that is still breathing is very sparse - we have only seen a few emus, and a couple of farmed camels, quite a few parrots and some magnificent eagles. No kangaroos at all. Lots of roadkill - including a massive goanna

We are now in Alice Springs. We have been going for a week, driving , driving, driving - and we are still only half way to Darwin! This place is HUGE!

---

Photos

SDC11615
Bendigo tram

SDC11620
giant goanna

SDC11623
Mildura paddle steamer

SDC11635
Syd's new boots

SDC11637
Green hills of Burra

SDC11644
Wild Flowers in SA (Pattison's Curse)

SDC11650
Coober Pedy

SDC11655
Painted Desert

SDC11664
Long Way to go