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We sat in a caravan park in Alice Springs for three days, something we are not prone to doing. We came in to be able to fill up our water tanks. If anyone comes this way we can highly recommend the G'Day Mate Caravan Park. Quiet, peaceful, grassed sites and the amenities are absolutely spotless. No flies, well minimal, 2 or 3. After the bush where you need to wear a fly net just to walk around it was magic.
Water situation is now under control. We were so lucky that the stone only damaged the actual plug on the outlet. Putting on a new plug, reversing the washer and adding some plumbers tape has solved the problem. Mind you GMan has been out there checking whether it is leaking or not every couple of hours. I am surprised you did not hear the cry of joy from me when I was able to turn on the tap and get water again. Coffee consumption will soar.
Once we had completed cleaning the caravan inside and out and fixing the water tank we planned an afternoon of sight seeing and GMan came down with a tummy wog. Oh well the
RFDS, School of the Air and the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame we planned to visit will all be here next time. We had to turn on the air-conditioner in the van yesterday because it got so hot. Very nice it was too. We will have to try and remember that we have A/C in the van next summer when it is so darn hot in Brinkworth.
I made scones in the Baby Q yesterday, not bad, but could have been cooked another couple of minutes The Q is an excellent way to cook. It makes up for not having an oven as I can bake and even make bread in it. BBQ's a mean steak as well. We have the one with the thermometer in the higher domed lid which you need if you want to bake easily.
We left Alice Springs on Tuesday 30
th April and headed north through small towns. The number of memorials to Stuart is incredible. We have been at least 6 so far. The place we stopped and let the boys out was when we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. One thing we have noticed since being on the road is
how very clean the sides of the road and the lay-bys are. In SA we believe it is because of the contained legislation but were wondering why so lean in NT. We came across a truck in one lay-by with a single worker who moves about emptying bins, cleaning up the little left on the ground, cleaning the toilets and even trimming the shrubs surround the lay-bys. The amount of care taken really shows. We also came across a works crew from highways who had two mowers, one about 4 feet across which mowed the area close to the road and another about 8 feet across which moved the next strip. Keeps everything clean.
On the way we passed a Melon Farm, a Grape Farm and a Mango Farm. The Mango farm also offered winetasting. We didn’t stop because we did not notice this until we had passed the entrance. Possibly a wise move. There were a lot of grape vines planted.
We have passed through areas of low shrubs which appeared to be comprised of many species I recognise from our gardens but cannot put a name too. Occasionally some gums would appear, quondongs and the odd
desert oak. Nothing in this area was in bloom until we reached the lower Davenport Ranges (the lumpy twisty bits according to the ever eloquent GMan). Then the vegetation started to change every 5-10 kilometers. We were passing through eucalypt woodlands followed by shrubs, though they had changed species. Stuarts Desert Rose was most noticeable, very dry but trying hard to bloom. We also passed a blooming grevillea which had all the attributes of Grevillea Grandiflora but had yellow instead of orange flowers. Much of the area looks like it has been through fire recently. We can remember hearing of big fires around Alice and things are starting to regrow. Further north we have moved into grassed woodlands and the ant hills have started to appear.
The most noticeable thing was the size of the wedge tail eagles. I have overstated their size as being small donkeys but they are HUGE. We have come across some feeding on the side of the road and they do not move until I actually turn the camera on and try and get a shot of them. Very arrogant and majestic looking birds they are.
It is a sad thing to see
the broken windmills, very big ones, which will never be repaired. They appear to be being replaced by solar powered pumps less work but no where as romantic.
Spent some time looking around the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station. It is very well preserved and worth taking a look at. The history is not well displayed but the buildings themselves are very nice and the stone work exceptional.
We figured we would move between 200 and 300 kms however we had such a good run and had left so early we made it to Kurlu Kurlu (Devil’s Marbles) and were set up in the camp area by 3:30 pm. The area was crowded and people just kept coming. The last time we stayed here we were by ourselves for three days!
We wandered around the rocks taking lots of photographs and later for the first time experienced the so called camaraderie happening all over the camp area. It was loud and intrusive. The caravan park in Alice was quieter. I know we are considered standoffish but we really don’t handle it well. It all ceased around 8:30 and they wandered off to bed only to all emerge at
7am and pack up and leave the area. We counted 19 various types of vehicle leave. We are now sitting in silent splendour just wondering how soon the vans will start pouring in again.
The first one has just appeared 10:35 am, a Jayco Sterling the most common van on the road and referred to as the Bush Fly of the road by most cannavanners. My god they took one photograph, got back into their car and left! About 5 minutes.
We have been listening to the most beautiful bird call for the last 15 minutes so I ventured out with my books and managed to ascertain it was a Pied Butcher Bird but making a different call this time.
We left the Devil's Marbles and headed north to try and stay at Newcastle Waters Rest Stop overnight. When we got there at 3pm it was already so crowded we decided to move on for another 80 kms to Dunmarra. We had to pay but the sites were grassed, lots of shade and the amenities were okay. We spent some time talking with the two couples in the vans closest to us and they were very pleasant.
They too find the raucous stuff hard to handle. Just before heading off to bed I went to use the loo and bumped in to a brahman bull eating the grass next to our van when I returned. I know it was a Brahman because of the big lump on his back and how he was a bull was obvious! of my.
The owner of Dunmarra has a great marketing ploy 5% fuel discount if you have a seniors card, 5% more if you stayed in the caravan park and another 5% if you get more than 50 litres. Our fuel went from 1.95 to 1.80 a litre. Every vehicle leaving topped up with fuel.
After leaving Dunmarra we headed for Mataranka only 230 kms away. We wanted to stop early today. We are in the Bitter Springs caravan park. Incredibly overpriced at $30 per night and we had to get the owners out to remove the ants from the power points to get the electricity to work. We might feel a little kinder when we have done a walk down around the springs themselves later one when we have cooled down. It is 36c outside and not
very pleasant as we have no shade or lawn in the site we have. The AC is churning away and has the van down to 28c at the present time.
To date we have seen emus, horses and one donkey but no live kangaroos. Very odd.The bird life has also been very sparse, or perhaps we simply cannot see the birds too well. So far we have been unable to identify one species having been through the bird book three times. The closest we can get is a zebra finch which is wrong because it has a white collar, yellow beak and the face spots are not orange but a pinky red. I figure the caged Princess parrots at Dunmarra don't count. We also saw a bird flying over the Devil's Marbles but only from underneath. It was all white except for the bottom of it's tail and the edge of it's wings being black. Closest I can come is a Nankeen Kestral. No Tawny Frog Mouths yet SueB.
We are moving on again tomorrow, lord alone know where too
Cheers
Chris and Graham
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Mieke
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Good going!
Trip sounds fantastic - lovely photos.