Been havin' so much fun!!!

Hi all! Yeah, yeah, we know it has been a long time since the last entry, but we have been really busy out and about! We made it to Alice Springs and are really loving the surroundings and hanging out with friends Em and Sandor!

The drive to Alice was a long two day push, stopping at a couple of very quirky outback stops to break up the journey. Lets just say.... UFO Capital of Australia and a pub completely covered in anything anyone wanted to leave, with the nightly entertainment by a bloke with a live chook on his head! (No, we didn’t stay for that!)

As we approached Alice the humidity disappeared and we were back in spinifex country. As it was cold and wet when we set up camp, we quickly accepted an invite to dinner at Em and Sandors! It was great to hang out with friends and find out about their lives in Alice.

At Sandor’s suggestion we headed out the next day to Altunga in the East MacDonnell Ranges. We had such an entertaining day wandering amongst the ruins of a gold mining settlement. Stone houses, the police station and jail had been beautifully restored, and remnants of the gold crushing battery were laid out to explore. We even were able to climb underground into the hand dug mines and explore them with a torch! We loved the area and history so much the day passed and after taking the scenic route home crossing the Ross River, we arrived back in Alice well after dark!

The next day we had arranged sunset drinks with Em and Sandor, so we headed out for another day of exploring the past. This time it was west along a 4WD trail following the Old Telegraph Line in Owen Springs Reserve. It was a very peaceful day with beautiful scenery along the river where we stopped for morning tea and watched the budgies fly down to the waters edge to drink. Later in the day we stopped again for lunch at what would have been a fantastic camping spot if we had taken the camper with us!

Thanks to Sandor’s connections as the local constabulary, we viewed sunset from the top of the range overlooking Alice and the West MacDonnell Ranges! We bought drinks and food watched a stunning sunset full of colour, albeit a little cloudy and windy! After laughing ourselves stupid at Sandor’s stories about policing in Alice, we headed back to their place (warmth!) to cook dinner and kick back.

Stuart had the car serviced (we have covered almost 10,000 km’s since Broome!), thanks again to more of Sandor’s connections! Then back to their place for another dinner and more drinks! We were getting used to this by now!

We headed out of town for the weekend to another of Sandor’s recommendations, The Harts Range Races, which is held at a bush race course about 200km north east of Alice. It’s an amateur horse racing weekend amongst local stations (the ‘Bushies’), and a good weekend away for the folk of Alice (the ‘Townies’). The races are followed by a weekend of rodeo action, gymkhana, family fun competitions – including running races, sack races, three legged races and a womens cow tail toss (much to my surprise and amusement, they actually bought out a bag of freshly cut, meaty cow tails!). Stuart tried so hard to get me join this but I was too shy! We have both decided that all rodeo riders are officially nuts (who else would get on the back of an angry bull for fun???) The Saturday night there was a 70’s themed Ball in the outback shed, and all we can say is these people know how to party!

The only downer for the weekend was the weather, as it was blowing a gale and FREEZING! The second night actually saw us awake at 3:00am in the morning, watching the camper’s poles bending with the strain of the wind on the canvas! A quick discussion ensured, and we decided to get up and quickly fold up the camper and retreat to the car for the remainder of the night. A wise choice, as we woke the next morning to see a few disintegrated tents around the camp! Even with the weather, it was great fun to experience a little piece of the station life, especially in such a remote area.

Back into town, we set up and headed straight to Em and Sandors for more dinner and drinks! Stuart has been getting krafty in their kitchen and has so far cooked up a bbq steak with broccoli pesto pasta, curried sausages and a paella! We have been having lots of laughs and are loving their company!

After resupplying in town, we hitched up the camper and headed out on our next loop, a week or so, taking in the West MacDonnell Ranges, Kings Canyon, Uluru and the Olga’s via the Mereenie Loop. Em and Sandor joined us for the first day of sight-seeing, visiting Ellery Creek Big Hole (too cold to swim), followed by lunch at Glen Helen Lodge. This was an old homestead built at the base of a sheer cliff face with the Finke River running just behind the restaurant. After more laughs, beers and food we took a walk along the river and discovered that both Stuart and Sandor are pretty bloody good at skimming rocks, and Em and I ....mmm...not so much! The last stop of the day for all of us was Ormiston Gorge, where a steep climb up to a lookout platform gave us magnificent views of the gorge. As the end of the day drew near, we said a temporary goodbye to Em and Sandor, and we continued west to Redbank Gorge to find a camp for the night.

The next day we spent hiking the last section of the Larapinta Trail, which consists of a 16km return ridge walk, up to the Mt Sonder Lookout. The walk was grueling, almost a constant uphill climb, but the views at the top were spectacular!

The next day saw us drive the Mereenie Loop Road ending up at King’s Canyon. We didn’t head out on the walk until the next morning, as it was a couple of hour’s long, starting with...

Yep - another steep hill! But the pain was all worth it, as the canyon is quite unique and very beautiful!

We’re actually now at Yulara, working out what we are going to look at around Uluru and the Olga’s, but we’ll save that for the next blog!