Got up early as we had a reasonably long drive, but didn't have to set the alarm as the howling dingos woke us at 6 am. When we came out of the van, 3 of them walked past, in between our van and our neighbours, not too worried about the campers in their backyard.
The speed limit on the Stuart Highway in this area is 130km. We didn't drive that speed, but we made good time and arrived at Stuart Caravan Park, Alice Springs ($32 power & water), at about 2.30pm. This gave us plenty of time to set up before dark.
The caravan park is a good one with lots of shady trees. The park seems to have stronger security than usual and we need a key to enter the grounds. Like everywhere else we have stayed lately, it gets very dusty. The weather is cool and there is a cold wind, even during the day.
The following day we strolled around Alice town centre. It is not a big town, but has all the usual chain stores and lots of galleries showing Aboriginal art. There were lots of local Aboriginals in town, mainly wandering around the streets or just sitting around, seemingly with nothing else to do. Lots of police presence. We needed to stock up again, so shopped at Woolies and then found a butcher shop owned by a Scouser who had lived in Alice for 4 years. He and Pete had a good chat about Liverpool and we bought some camel & date sausages (I'll tell you what they were like next blog). Pete also treated himself to a pork pie (heaven!!!!!).
The MacDonnell Ranges run east-west through Alice Springs for 640km and we drove out there on our 3rd day. The traditional owners, the Arrente people, are spiritually connected to the Ranges through Dreamtime stories. The Ranges are protected through National Parks.
We stopped first at Simpsons Gap and after a short walk beside a dry creek bed, the towering gap in the range became visible. Quite a site!!! Apparently this is a good area to see rock wallabies, but unfortunately they weren't around while we were there. We did get some good photos of the Gap though.
Our next stop was Stanley Chasm, which is a privately owned property and therefore not part of the National Park and a fee is charged to enter. The path was very rocky and took us through a gully of ferns and tall gum trees, sometimes walking in a dry rocky creek bed. The Chasm is a narrow corridor sliced through the bright red/orange rock walls which are about 80m high and looks spectacular with the sun shining through the crack. More photo opportunities!!!! On the drive back to town we stopped at John Flynn's grave, the flying doctor's final resting place.
We made the most of what was left of the afternoon by cleaning the car inside and out as it was full of red dust.
Our last day here and I caught up on our washing. We had arranged to meet our 4 friends from Sydney in town for a coffee as it is unlikely we will be running into them again. Did a little more shopping and had to wait until 2.00pm when the liquor stores open to by more grog. There are very strick restrictions on the sale of grog here and everyone must show ID before being allowed to purchase. On the local TV stations we have seen several ads stating that your car can be confiscated if used for transporting grog into dry areas. Those who do are called grog runners.
We took a walk up Anzac Hill which is in the town and gives a really great view of Alice Springs town and the surrounding countryside before going back to the van to prepare for departing tomorrow. After leaving tomorrow we will be doing 4 different one night stopovers before arriving at Kakadu.
Oh, just for your information. The camel and date sausages were very tasty, so we bought a few more today and froze them for our trip North!!!!
Cheers
Rhonda (Sam) & Pete
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