Thursday 14th August
As we were drinking our sundowners last evening, we watched a young lady cross to the toilet carrying clothes and we wondered if she thought that there were showers in the little tin shed. To ouir surprise she emerged in what looked like a panda suit! Was there a fancy dress party that we were missing? Laraine explained that it was, in fact, night attire, known as ‘onesies’, presumably because they are a one-piece. Her friend confirmed the diagnosis by going to the loo in her ‘onesie’ – we think a dinosaur..
There is actually very little traffic after dark on the highway so it’s not a bad night but we are all happy to be away before 0900 the next morning – this is becoming a habit!
Lunch is taken on the Tropic of Capricorn
It’s a windy run down the track but we expect to be in Alice Springs just after lunch and can see the MacDonell Range stretching across our track from east to west.
The approaches to the The Alice’ from both north and south are impressive as the ranges loom in front of you appearing to form an impenetrable barrier.
Rounding a bend something else loomed in front of us……
…. hit that at 130 and you’re in a lot of trouble!
Then we’re in Alice Springs, the first time for us. Alice has a population of approximately 23,000, it is quite close to the geographical centre of Australia and is certainly the iconic ‘centre’. It is virtually surrounded by ranges and then by red dirt for hundreds and hundreds of kilometres in all directions. It is halfway between Adelaide and Darwin on the Stuart Hwy, which, although it parallels the railway (The Ghan) all the way across the continent, it carries the bulk of the freight in road train after road train.
We check into the Big4, one of the many caravan parks, mainly because we’re members and get a reduction on the $40 per night, which is welcome. Shopping is the main activity this afternoon and we are soon finding our way round the supermarkets, something we haven’t been able to do for the last couple of weeks. I am also able to get my HF radio fixed a lot more cheaply than I expected, another bonus.
Friday 15th August
Eter and I have a bit of shopping expedition this morning but our purchases are more to do with the continuing progress of the trip rather than provisioning, needless to say Pat and Loraine and found more reasons for checking out the local shops.
So this afternoon we go and have a look at a few of the sights, firstly ANZAC Hill, which commemorates those lost in two world wars but also provides views over the town and surrounding countryside.
If you look down the main street, in the middle of the scene, you can see the way through the MacDonnel Range, called Heavitree Gap (as in Devon), after the school attended by John MacDonnel Stuart, the explorer who first past through here around 1860.
Heavitree Gap from the south.
Alice Springs is named after Alice Todd, the wife of Charles Todd whose great achievement was the planning and execution of the project to run the telegraph from Adelaide to Darwin. He alos gave his name to the river that runs through Alice, the Todd River, which is famous for the Henley-on-Todd regatta which (tongue in cheek) mimics the Henley-on–Thames event. As there is rarely any water in the Todd River, all the ‘boats’ are sort of carried by the crews, their feet sticking through the bottom. The regatta had to be cancelled a few years ago because the river actually had water in it!
We will be back in Alice again before long so we have a quick ride out to the ranges and leave the rest of the sights for next time.
Saturday 16th August
Enough of the ‘black top’, today we’re back off into the bush and heading for the western edge of the Simpson Desert.
On our way we encounter some more locals…
Our first stopping point is Maryvale, where there is an aboriginal community and a store.
We need to stop here because we are leaving the caravans and going to have a loo at Chamber’s Pillar a weathered outcrop of rock which dominates the surrounding countryside and was a marker for all the first explorers and later the people who came to settle this country. It 43ks but takes an hour on rather rough roads, however, the view of the rock from 15 ks away is sufficient incentive to continue.
It looks a bit like a light house with is reddish top.
We are allowed to climb up the base of the outcrop, where many of the earlier travellers (and sadly many more modern ones) have carved their names in the relatively soft stone.
The landscape is vast and empty…
A ‘selfie’ on the way down seems appropriate………….
Back to Maryvale to pick up the caravans and we’re off down the Heritage Trail following the track of the Old Ghan Railway (Adelaide to Alice Springs). This was operational until the early 60’s when the new railroad from Adelaide to Darwin became a reality.
It is a beautiful day
It’s quite hard going down the trail, mainly due to the corrugations but the reward for the effort is the peaceful beauty of a desert sun setting behind the desert oaks………………. accompanied by a glass of red, of course!
Sunday 17th August
A desert sunrise gets us out and about in good time this morning
Back on the railway track the scenery is magnificent
but the road conditions don’t get any better.
In the distance the water tower at Bundooma appears, the first ‘siding’ since we joined the rail road!
This being a Heritage Trail, there are excellent information boards at most points of interest, where they haven’t been defaced by morons!
A little further down the track we pass through one of the many cuttings on the line, you have to think about the people who built these railways, we’re driving down here in our air-conditioned 4WDs immune to the heat and the flies, we can have a shower when we stop for for the night……
The road is littered with the pegs that were hammered into the sleepers to hold the rails down, you can stop almost anywhere and pick up half a dozen within a 5 metre radius.
We stop for lunch just outside Finke another aboriginal community, the place, as usual, is sadly, a tip but whilst we are unable to address the real problems, nothing will change.
After lunch we’re heading southeast for Mt Dare, the scenery and the road conditions change dramatically and were running very slowly through gibber plains (areas where the ground surface is small stones stones (below left), the horizons are just so far……
We cross the border into South Australia, no fruit fly checks here – we don’t wonder why!
Our destination is the Mt Dare Hotel for tonight and a sign tells us it’s not far. If these look like official road signs, it’s because they are, all the roads we have been travelling on are gazetted roads, in other words they are the responsibility of the State roads department!
The Mt Dare Hotel is a relatively new institution, the buildings were once part of the Mt Dare station, which is next door. It is a very popular stopping off for people crossing the Simpson Desert, being the last place top up fuel, water and limited food before setting out or replenishing after the crossing.
We had a beer before going to park the vans, then came back for dinner after a shower.
Alloveroz 