Days 13 to 17

DAY 13

Today we decided that we needed a nice restful day at Ormiston Gorge.  After a bit of a sleep-in we headed down to the waterhole for a look.  It was the most beautiful and peaceful little waterhole.  It had lovely still water, red textured rocks, beautiful sandy beach and an abundance of birds and wildlife.  The boys climbed around the rocks and in the caves for a while, and then decided to climb the cliff-face.  They had climbed a fair way up when Mitchell called out to Thomas to look up.  About one metre from Thomas was a black-footed rock wallaby.  It just sat there and looked back at Thomas...it wasn’t scared at all.  The boys climbed back down so that they wouldn’t scare it away while Darren went back to the caravan to get the camera.  We took a few photos and the boys climbed back up again.  The wallaby just sat on the rock sunning and cleaning itself.  The boys were even able to pick some grass off a rock and feed it by hand.  This made their day!!

After a few Kodak moments, Mitch decided that he wanted to go for a swim, so we went back to the caravan, had lunch, and got their bathers and towels.  Daren and I grabbed our books and we all headed back to the waterhole.  We spent the afternoon laying on the sand reading our books while the boys swam and played in the sand.  It was a lovely relaxing day.

Ormiston Gorge

The Wallaby is checking the boys out......

When it started to cool down (and I could feel that I was a bit sunburnt), we headed back to the van.  The boys played a game of Skip-Bo while Darren and I went for a walk to the lookout.  We then had tea, with a nice glass of red, and packed up for the night.  Kerrie and Dave called in for a chat and the boys talked to her about the information they had learned from the ranger’s talk the night before, and Kerrie promised to get them some information to help answer their questions.  We played a family game of Skip-Bo and turned in for an early night.

DAY 14 - Friday

We were going to head for Alice Springs today, but the Camel Cup is on tomorrow and we have been told that all of the accommodation is booked out.  Instead we are going to stay here for another couple of nights.  The supplies are a bit low so we will go to Alice Springs to do some shopping and then come back.  Up early and on the road to Alice...

We got to Alice Springs at about 10.30am and had a bit of a look about.  Darren had Rodney Berry’s business card so we kept an eye out for the Dealership where he worked.  We found it easily and decided to call in.  Rod wasn’t there so we went across to a 4X4 shop for a look, and then decided to go to The School of The Air for a look.  As it is school holidays up here, there were no classes in progress, but they showed a film on how the school operates, and also had a recording of a class in action.  We had a look around the classroom and the souvenir shop before heading off.  We went back to Rodney’s work and this time he was there.  We had a bit of a chat and arranged to catch up when we come back to Alice Springs on Sunday.

We went to Subway for lunch, did a quick shop at the supermarket and then headed back to Ormiston Gorge.  On the way back we called into Serpentine Gorge for a quick look, where a group of 4 travellers sang a few “shanties” for our benefit.....very amusing!!!  We took a few quick photos and headed for home.

Once back at camp we had hamburgers with the lot for tea....washed down with a bit more of the red wine.  The boys were both excited to find a heap of information and brochures left by Kerrie for them.  The ranger was doing a campfire talk, so we grabbed our chairs and a bag of marshmallows and headed to the campfire.  The ranger talked about the flora and fauna of the area, as well as the role of the ranger.  Both of the boys were really interested and fired a lot of questions at him.  When the talk was over, the boys cooked some marshmallows and then we packed up our chairs.  We then decided to go on a night walk down to the waterhole to see if we could see any animals coming down to feed.  Thomas heard a noise when we got there and when we shined the torch in the direction of the noise, we saw a dingo, at the side of the water, having a drink.  We sat quietly for a little while and heard a few bird calls, but nothing else.  It was getting a bit cold so we went back to the van for a game of GREED, and then off to sleep.

DAY 15 - Saturday

Up early and on the road to explore some more of the West MacDonnell Ranges.  We decided to go to Palm Valley via Hermannsburg which was another 45K’s of corrugated dirt road then along a 4wd track for another 22K’s.  The scenery was magnificent and Darren enjoyed the 4 wheel driving, which involved driving in sand, over rocks, and through water(bit of a testosterone boost!!).  We went in as far as we could, and stopped at a little parking area for lunch.  The valley was very picturesque, with the rock cliffs and the usual greenery along the bottom, as well as a few palm trees which give the valley its name.  The wind was quite cool, and we wanted to call in at a few other stops before going back to the van, so we headed off.

Palm Valley

 Our next stop was Ellery Big Hole.  This was another camping ground with a walk down to the scenic little waterhole at the base of the cliffs.  We took a few pictures and the boys had a climb on the rocks, but it was getting cool and the place was in shade, so we headed back to the van.  We cooked t-bone steaks and vegetables for tea (washed down with a glass of red!), and played a game of GREED before climbing in to bed.  I looked at my watch and saw that it was only 7.45pm, so we put on “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs” and watched that before going to sleep.

Ellery Big hole

DAY 16 – Sunday

We packed up early and headed to Alice Springs.  Our first port-of-call was the car wash so that Darren could wash some of the red dirt off the van.  Then we booked in at Heavitree Camping Ground.  We picked out a nice shady site and got set up, before heading into town for a look.  We went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and paid for our tour.  The film and information was very interesting, but it was a bit disappointing to find out that the service is not run from Alice Springs anymore, but from Port Augusta.  This meant that we could look through the window into the radio room, but there was nobody there operating it.  After a quick look through the museum we got back into the car and headed for the Telegraph Station for a look.  As we headed up the path to the Telegraph Station, we saw some faces that looked familiar.  Sure enough it was a family from Ararat (Tracey and Sandy Laidlaw, and their kids).  We stopped and had a chat then went and had a look around.  Next we went to the top of Anzac Hill and had a look at Alice Springs from above.  We took a few photos and headed back into town.

Anzac Hill Alice springs

Royal Flying Doctors

It was after 2pm, so we were able to purchase some beer (you can’t purchase alcohol till after 2pm here, and they have to scan your licence for you to buy it – maybe that’s where the saying “BEER O”CLOCK” comes from?!!).  Then Rod called to say that they were doing a barbecue tea at 6.30pm for us. 

We went back to the caravan park at had a bit of a rest while the kids met up with some kids (the Andersons from Wheelers Hill in Melbourne) that have regularly camped in the same camps as us along the way (Coober Pedy, Maryat, Yulara, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs) In fact they are stalking us I think.... LOL.

We had a lovely barbecue tea at Rod and Loretta’s and caught up on a few years.  Some of their other speedway friends were their too, and Mitchell and Thomas made friends with their kids.  Thomas thought it was pretty cool that all three of the boys (who were all under 16) had their own speedway cars and raced in the juniors.  We watched a few of their speedway home movies and then headed back to the van for sleep.

DAY 17 – Monday

Today was going to be our “lazy day in Alice”, so the kids went off early to the jumping pillow while we slept in.  Darren got up and went to see Rod about some new rear tyres for the Pajero, whilst I put a couple of loads of washing on, stripped the beds and did some cleaning.

After lunch, we headed into town for a bit of a look.  We went to Target, and then to Safeway where we did a bit of a shop for the next week or so.  The boys bought the game Cuponk.  Darren and Thomas then headed back into town to pick up the Pajero whilst Mitch and I stayed back at camp.  I folded the washing whilst Mitch played Cuponk.  When Darren and Thomas got back, Mitchell and Thomas headed to the jumping pillows on their scooters to use up a bit of energy.  Darren washed the car and I “blogged” to catch us up.