A Week In Alice

“How the hell can you spend a week in Alice?” you may ask.   Well we did and it was great.  We spent the whole time under the bridge on the sand of the Todd River talking about our love for the bush.  Only joking!  We made the 1800km down to Alice from the scorching heat of the north in 3 days staying back at Katherine and then Wauchope, which was just past the Devil’s Marbles,

 and arrived in a nice balmy Alice Springs around lunchtime.   

There was a pretty useless information lady so we got the info booklet and headed across the road to Montes to get some lunch.  There we ran into the Swedosh’s whom we had met in Katherine and ended up enjoying their company quite a bit over the coming week as we were staying in the same holiday park.  We had a rest day first up after free pancakes for brekkie and then watched as our site became surrounded by other vans, we were under the false impression that we had the park pretty much to ourselves.  So we caught up on other families travelling stories and dramas and ended up with the world’s worst snorer behind us.  I have never heard anything like it, it sounded like a cross between horse and feral pig.  So we headed out on some adventures the next day checking out the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Reptile Centre opposite.  Kirst had the time of her life holding an olive python and the boys continued their fetish for cold blooded creatures.   

The next day we decided on a bike ride to the botanical gardens, an art gallery and Anzac Hill.  The best thing was seeing the solar cars in 2^nd and 3^rd position doing a pit stop on our way out from the park.   We learnt all about them and even got interviewed (my second interview after Maccas) by the ABC. 

The stuff that we had planned to see was all pathetic but the boys made the most of the skate bowl at the bottom of Anzac Hill, 

and we did a bit of off track riding on the way back.  The next day we went to MacDonnells and ordered a Simpsons Gap and a Standley Chasm. 

Then Tori suggested we go visit a Christian based aboriginal community called Santa Theresa.  So we headed out there and felt like we had walked into a western. 

We checked out the church which had some beautiful art, had some lunch, and did a walk up to the big cross on the hill to check out the view if you were nailed to it.  Then we finished off the day with a beautiful dinner at the Swedosh’s camp while an electrical storm lit up the night sky.  The next day we did a big drive (150km) out to Palm Valley and experienced the hardest off road driving I had done.  It took about 20mins to do 4km, with ofcourse Kirst hanging on for grim death, and even a big perentie took us on running straight at and under the car. 

The drive back coincided with us finishing HP6 and we are all keen for the last book, which you can’t download on itunes godamnit.  The following day saw some welcome cloud cover and a perfect opportunity to catch up on some shopping and wander around the Desert Park.  We loved the Desert Park with some more reptile loving and a fun talk with Tammy who kept having all her questions answered by a very enthusiastic  Woodley.  We also enjoyed a great talk with Doug who taught us more about the aborigines and their very successful way of life before the whiteman. 

 On the last day we hit the Telegraph Station with the Swedosh’s and learnt a lot of the history of Alice and the life of Alec Ross, an aboriginal man who had lived at the Telegraph Station when he was 4 and was now taking tours 76 years later.  He had great stories and had been a very good professional boxer so I had to get a boxing photo with him. 

What a great way to end our week in Alice.

Lake Argyle- The Rogers, Endless Pools, and Air Conditioning

Finally after all the talk about spending some time together on our dream holidays, the Rogers and the Halls got together for some fun and adventure.  After stirring Rick up about us having a better time, there we were waiting for them at Home Valley thinking they won’t make it through the river crossing, when in the distance we see the landcruiser and the expanda riding into town like Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven.  Mr Cool, fresh from giving 2 French female backpackers a lift, cruises in, puts the Camp Nazi back in his box, and in 5 minutes has the van set up with the aircon full blast.  Needless to say we spent a lot of time in their caravan.  Home Valley was a letdown though (it was a bit sterile, we caught no fish and there was no shade), so we left the next day deciding to meet again at Lake Argyle.   The Rogers were going via ELQ where they got a better deal on a helicopter ride and did everything we did, in 5 days, in 1.  So we arrived at Lake Argyle first and were blown away by the place, quickly setting up and jumping in the endless pool to watch the sunset.   

It reminded me of Santorini and I was wallowing in reverie until it was suddenly broken by the old grumps telling us to get out of the pool and make sure we police our kids and it was lights out at 8.30 and...he was a tosser.  Anyway we knew everything would be ok when the Rogers arrived and we were right- no one mess’s with Spiderman.  We had a ball catching black bream at the spillway (Arch landed a 42cm one), 

catching redclaw at the dam wall, lots of swims in the pool, and the kids had a lot of fun together.  

 Archer proved Cooper’s theory that his Dad does nothing when he spent a whole day putting Cooper’s remote controlled car together.  Coops was going off and I think Arch has a mate for life. 

 Our big outing was driving over the dam wall and we didn’t even get a dam t-shirt to say we had done it!  But we ended our time together with a bang doing the sunset cruise on the lake which was spectacular- lots of swims and jumping off the boat, lots of info (I fell asleep during the story of the Duracks) and just magic scenery finished with a great sunset and a full moon.   

We will definitely miss the Rogers as they head west and we head back and down the middle, but we look forward to moving into their house when we return while they move back into their unit.  Special mention to a great couple we met from Hampton, Sue and Di.  Di is a hairdresser and talked the boys into removing their long locks.  Checkout how much older they look!   

 There were a few black clouds, thunder and lightning too signalling the start of the wet season.  Rain seems a welcome relief to the stifling heat.