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Published: July 19th 2011
July 18th
The last day in Alice Springs. I have nothing planned. I washed all of my clothes last night and had them sprawled all over the room. Mostly near the heater so they would all dry by morning. Check out is at 10 AM; I wait till the very last minute. Then take my bags to storage in the hotel.
I hit the streets for souvenirs for my granddaughters and maybe me too! I find some things but can't tell you as it would not be a surprise when I get home. But they are cute little things the girls will love. For myself I buy a very functional Australia purse to carry little things while walking around.
I buy a club sandwich to go; 8.50 for just the sandwich. Things here are very expensive. A bottle of pop is 2.50 to 3.00 average. Most cheap meals are 10.00 & up. A nice meal will cost 20.00 plus. Internet connections are about $10 an hour + in hotels and at cafes about $4 an hour.
I am back at the hotel and want to upload some photos to the blog. But the signal in the lobby
is very poor. I walk outside near the pool and various areas trying to get better reception but no real luck. There are interruptions in the service that will cause the upload to fail. So I get my 13.00 back and go back to the main street to find a place that can upload photos. I tried the hostel and theirs is not fast enough and then I have to go all the way to the end of Todd St. to find fast service. When I get online the server is doing maintenance and I can't get on the web site. After waiting 30 minutes I log back on and transfer my photos but the computer does not have Java, so with the permission of the computer store I download Java onto his machine. I have to go to each photo and open it for Java. All of this for less than 20 photos and one blog. I have run out of time and need to get back for the transfer to the train station.
Warren, Judith Ann and myself will be taking the famous “Gahn” train to Darwin. It is an overnighter and we only have reclining seats
to sleep in. I had been told that they are quite comfortable. Well, they are not. You do get a lot of leg room and the width of the seat is sightly larger than an airplane seat but they are not comfortable to sleep in. There are no foot rests so your feet are not elevated and if you lay back with your feet on the floor it is very awkward. Now, that's not the only problem. I am surround by Aboriginals and they don't use deodorant and their odor is very strong. So if I turn left or right I get this noxious aroma so I am forced to lay on my back with my head tucked down just to breathe. Francine knows what it is like to sleep in uncomfortable positions in a bus or a train and this was one of those times.
A Good night at this point is only wishful thinking.
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Francine
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Welcome to Australia
Loving your blogs. So glad you have seen so much of Central Australia. Sounds like you have been doing some walking training too. And body odour is universal, sadly on this one Aust has not been left out of the mix. No more kids to travel with, just BO. Swapped one for the other. Looking forward to hearing more of your travels. I have been to Central Aust although not to Darwin. Keep on enjoying our beautiful country. x