2012 Around Australia: Day 70 - 72 23rd April

Day 70 Monday 23^rd April 2012

It rained really hard most of last night and it was really chilly. I had set the alarm for Oscar to take his car in for a service. So it was going to be a home base day again today. Seems that we have not done very much exciting in Alice, but I guess we will have days like that when we hit the cities, so I need to just try and enjoy them. I just get the feeling that I have wasted a day whenever we have these days.

Oscar rose and took his car for a service whilst I decided to stay in bed for a while longer. When he returned I hopped out of bed. Oscar had decided to fix the loom (seven pin plug to the van) that had gotten damaged on our way to Dalhousie Springs, whilst I had decided that I was going to get the blog up to date and make us delicious warm pasta for dinner later.

The day dragged as it does when you are just hanging around not really achieving much. When Oscar had replaced the new loom we checked it to ensure that all the electronics were working. At 2pm we took a walk down to the auto shop to collect the vehicle from its service. Oscar was overjoyed that his baby had had her medical done and she was given the all clear. We then drove over to Central Comms and took the first step into purchasing a Satphone. After the Dalhousie experience we decided that we were not going into any more remote areas without at least some form of communications.

We then took a drive up to the top of ANZAC hill overlooking Alice; this is where the dawn ceremony would be held on ANZAC day 25^th April 2012. It was a pretty damn chilly day and we went home back to the van picked up our chairs a few beers and went over to visit Cathy and Bevin. We sat and chatted with them for a while. Bevin is a character and he told us the cleanest joke ever but because I was expecting it to be something really bad when the punch line came I could not help but kill myself laughing. I think he thinks I am touched but must admit he couldn’t help but join in laughing himself. I think he cracked up just because he didn’t think it was that funny but my reaction to it was hilarious.

We went back to our van around 6:00ish I finished cooking our dinner and we watched “Australia” the movie. We were moving out again the following day so we tucked in after the movie.

The Contents of the car in the van so we can give the car and van a good cleaning

Home in Alice for 4 ngihts

View of Alice from ANZAC Hill

Caught walking around the van

Day 71 Tuesday 24^th April 2012

We didn’t leave as early as we normally did when moving homes as we had a lot of things that needed drying. This was the first time we had moved home immediately after a big rain. Nonetheless we were on the road by 9:45 and we did not have too far to travel. We were moving to the West Mac Donnell ranges approx. 137km’s West of Alice.

We arrived at our destination and setup home; all done by 14:30. After lunch we decided that we were going to do a walk as well that afternoon. We did the Ghost Gum Walk which was probably 3km’s all up. The scary part about this walk was that it was fairly late in the afternoon and the weather was still very nippy after the rains of the previous days, and the probability that we would have to cross the river and swim a few metres seemed inevitable. We wanted to go down to the waterhole but neither of us wanted to do the swim.

We did go down to the waterhole and we had resigned ourselves, once we had had our WOW factor for the day, that we were going to have to swim the river to get to the other side. But when we got to the part where we would have to swim we both looked up at the rocky hill and decided we would try our damndest to climb the hill and get down the other end rather than swim. We did and we were both extremely excited and elated when we got to the other side dry and warm.

Back home for a well-deserved dinner of salmon and salads. We played cards till about 9:00 and then climbed into bed.

Home in Ormiston Gorge

The view of the gorge from the lookout

Clearly happy

Looking back towards the van from the bottom of the gorge

One of the swimming holes

Wallaby not sure what kind

Notice the hair at the end of the tail

The rocks we climbed down to avoid a swim

Waterhole

Being a pro photographer again

Day 72 Wednesday 25^th April 2012

Happy ANZAC day everyone, hope you had a wonderful relaxing day.

We woke early and fell asleep again and finally got our day started at 10:00. Oscar cooked us a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, tomato and baked beans. The man has talents he has been hiding from me.

We had decided that we would go and see the other Gorges in the regions. Well we had a number to choose from. We decided that we would go to Glen Helen and then from there we would make decisions. Glen Helen whilst it had its wow factor I would have given a miss in favour of Redbank Gorge, which the book we read, to get our what to do’s in areas, advised us to miss if we did not have the time.

My suggestion to everybody who decides to do a trip like this is not to allow yourself to be influenced by other peoples likes and dislikes. Whilst it is interesting to read others suggestions I suggest you try everything yourself. You may not get to see them all but you can decide for yourself whether you prefer one spot to another. I am extremely happy that we went to the Redbank Gorge it was the highlight of my day. Both Oscar and I swam in the icy cold water but it was extremely invigorating and refreshing. It is true what Oscar said; beauty is in the eye of the beholder

We returned home approx. 2:30pm, I to update the blog and Oscar to study our movements as I believe we were on the move again the following day. Had a BBQ for dinner and watched a corny DVD. We got in to bed and had to share blankets, it was so damn cold. Took me a while to fall asleep but once there I had an exceptional sleep.

There was still no news on Princess Bosckay as at 9:00pm; the first girl in three generations and she was taking her time, by the time she gets out I’m sure she will be slightly overcooked.

Well till the next episode keep safe, happy and healthy

O&V