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Published: October 6th 2010
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Alice Springs
A town in the middle of nowhere Day 86 Alice Springs to Kings Canyon (Mon 27th Sept)
Today we had a free morning in Alice Springs. We had to check out of our hostel at 1000 so most of us slept in until than and then left our bags in the storage room. We were leaving at 1230, so we had a few hours to explore.
Alice Springs was a lovely little town. It was very clean, and I really noticed how equipped it was for wheelchairs. There were ramps everywhere, and even easy access to the car parks. Strange the things you notice sometimes.
I walked into town, which was only about 15 minutes from the hostel, and spent a couple hours just wandering. Did a little shopping, finally managed to send off my postcards, and took a few pictures. Very relaxed here, and I made it back in plenty of time to get my stuff on the bus.
Poor Heather managed to trip over this morning and damaged her knee. She is struggling to get in and out of the bus. Nothing worse than immobility on a trip like this.
Our first stop was Finke River, which still had some water
Bogged
no explanation required in it. Wombat told us it has had a little water for the past 8 months, which is highly unusual. Everything has been a lot wetter recently and so we are seeing things greener than usual (Not Scotland Green, of course, but certainly green for the Outback).
Next stop was Erlunda station to fuel up. It is pretty much the centre of Australia. Its right near the middle of the three points which could be the centre (the three methods used are the centre of gravity method, furthest from coastline method, and Median point). So now I’ve really been to the centre of the country!
And today we ended up in King’s Canyon. We didn’t get in until dark. We did see a beautiful sunset from the coach just before reaching the camp though. And then we got bogged. Wombat was trying to turn the bus (with the trailer) in a rather restricted area and didn’t quite make it. We had to unhook the trailer and then we all tried to help out. After about 20 minutes we gave up and had to call the local rep to come haul us out. It was kind of funny, though
Dinner
Around the campfire I wasn’t about to tell Wombat that.
Here we have permanent tents again. These ones have beds and even small lamps. You have to make sure the door is closed before you turn on the lights though as there are hundreds of locusts here. I don’t mind them too much, but they do hurt a bit when they hit you going at high speeds...
Tomas was carrying around a small stick and running it across the girls legs, making them think a locust was on them. The squeals were hilarious.
Tonight we cooked on the fire and had a few drinks. I even made Damper, which was nice for a change. A few of us stayed up quite late chatting around the fire. We saw the moon rise, which was nice. Too bad Heather wasn't watching it. She had told me earlier (when I commented that I enjoyed a moon rise as much as a sun set) that the moon doesn't rise in Ireland - it's just in the sky. What could I possibly say to that?
It was the first time I noticed the cold too. We are far enough south for it to be cold at night now. We were in a hostel last night, and in Daly Waters it was warm enough to sleep on top of the swag without a sleeping bag. Of course, instead of putting on a jacket, we just shifted closer to the fire.
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Lorraine
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Campfire cooking
Hi AJ, There's nothing quite like a meal around the campfire with a nice piece of damper. It's good to hear you remember how to make one :-) Can't wait to hear more about the centre, I'd love to got there sometime. Don't forget Day 82. Love you AJ. Mum xoxoxoxoxoxo