DON'T FORGET YOUR FLIP FLOPS!

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We were pleased to be leaving the hustle and bustle of town to get back on the open road again. It felt like every time we hit a big town there was always something that we needed to do to fix something however minor. When we are on the road there are no shops and supermarkets so you just forget about it. It was another hot morning so we were both looking forward to cooling down in some rock pools - the croc free ones. Our first stop was at Emily Gap. It is one of the most important Aboriginal sites in the Alice Springs area. Its associated with the Eastern Arrernte Caterpillar Dreaming Trail. It promised a deep waterhole and the possibility that we would have to swim to reach the next stop of the day. We parked up and kicked off our flip flops to walk across the sand. Before long the sand was so hot under our feet that we were jogging. Then as the heat built we were sprinting towards the water. The deep pool turned out to be just shin high. It may not have been suitable for swimming but it was a relief for our poor singed feet. Our next stop was Jessie Gap, this is a similar place to Emily Gap. Unfortunately the waterhole was dry, but the Aboriginal rock art that is still visible was much clearer than expected and made the stop worth while.

Another 25km down the road we stopped at Corroboree Rock. It is an outcrop of dolomite from the Bitter Spring Formation originally laid down in salty lakes 800 million years ago. We started to have a stroll along the walking track which runs around it, but we soon had to speed up as we were chased around by the crazy flies.

We wanted to visit some of the other nature parks and also we planned to drive to an old mining ghost town. The roads were supposed to be suitable to most vehicles, but as we started to drive down them we realised that they were not suitable for Hilda. We had to go so slowly due to the bumpy roads and this made Hilda too warm for our liking. Worried that she may overheat and knowing that this was not a good road to break down on, we turned around and came back to the safety of the tarmac roads.

We had not planned where we were stopping that night, but with only one road heading in our direction we knew we would find somewhere on the way. After a good few hours we pulled up outside Aileron Road House. This place is not hard to spot due to the 17 meter 8 tonne statue entitled Anmatjere Man which looks over the roadhouse from a hill behind. He was built in 2005 and took 12 months to create. Since then he has now been joined by a wife and child who are equally as impressive. The heat was really starting to take it out of us. We planned our next few stops and got an early night. We were hoping to be on our way much earlier in the morning, getting as many miles behind us as possible before the main heat of the day.

We were up bright and early as planned. We were just about ready to leave when a resident of the campsite decided to stop and have a chat to us. When I say to us what I really mean in at us. We had our ears bent about almost everything. Starting with politicians who hardly anyone outside Australia has even heard of (well do you know who the current Deputy Prime Minister is!?) We then heard about the state of the roads and how in his opinion the Stuart Highway should be dual carriageway - we had passed maybe one or two other vehicles every hour so a dual carriageway seemed a little excessive! He finally ended our talking to with which nationalities he dislikes the most - although we have a feeling that this last topic of conversation may be liable to change depending on who he is talking at! Try as we did to look just too busy to chat, he was too busy talking to notice. By the time we did set off it was much later than planned and the temperature was already fast approaching 40°.

Today was the hottest day so far. Normally the wind coming through the open windows is just enough to keep us cool. Today it was so hot that the wind coming through the window felt like a fan heater. This was lovely weather to be sitting out in but not good for sitting in a metal box! We didn’t want to spend too long travelling in this heat, not only was it not good for us, but it was not good for Hilda. Today was one of those nothing to see days. The journey to the Wauchope Hotel where we would spend the night seemed to be the longest journey of our lives.
When we did arrive we were not that impressed with what we initially found but were too hot and tired to drive anywhere else. When we got set up and took a wander round we were very glad that we didn’t drive on. Behind a gate we found a swimming pool surrounded by lush greenery. Another gate led us through to a beautiful beer garden. To us all this looked like an oasis in the middle of the desert. We wasted no time in ordering a beer and cooling down in the pool. The day, which didn’t get off to the best start, ended up with a fantastic finish.

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Comments

[Rex]

Winter in England
Gosh, You do get around don't you. We are at the start of a very cold English winter and there you are looking as brown as berries. Ok for some. Have a good Christmas day on a beach. Love, Rex