Monday 13th June to Tuesday 21st June
We left Kings Canyon at about 10.00 and headed back to the Lassiter Highway 160km away. Then we headed west out to the ERLDUNDA ROADHOUSE on the ADELAIDE to ALICE SPRINGS Highway. We stopped there for fuel and lunch. On our way down to ULURU, we had also stopped ERLDUNDA for fuel and lunch. At that time it was extremely busy, and we had to queue for fuel. We found the same situation again when we arrived this time. There were six cars and caravans lined up waiting to get fuel. This place must be a Gold Mine for its owners.
While we were at ERLDUNDA getting fuel, Christel had rung ahead to the caravan park in ALICE SPRINGS that we had stayed at on our trip down. They were booked out, but luckily the second camp ground she tried, could take us.
All fuelled up, we started the long drag north to ALICE SPRINGS, arriving there at about 4.30pm, making it our longest days travel so far, at 482km. We have now clocked up 10,368 km with the caravan, about bang on target for our estimated 20,000km for the entire trip.
We are jammed in like sardines in this park,
but we have good neighbours, and two sites down from us is a 8 year old boy travelling around Aussie with his parents, and he and Cameron hit it off right from the word go. Consequently we haven’t seen much of Cameron since we got here. Like Cameron, he is also being home schooled by his mother, so they both know there’s no play until the school work’s been done each morning.
For the last couple of weeks my back has been giving me hell, I think I stuffed it lifting the generator while we were at Curtin Springs. Anyhow, it got to the point that I have got in touch with a Chiropractor here in ALICE SPRINGS and am now getting some treatment for it. So far he’s certainly helping, so we will stay here until I’m fixed. Hopefully, no more than a week.
In the meantime we have been catching up on the blogs, as you will have noticed, getting ahead with school work, and doing numerous other chores. We are also doing some more sightseeing, albeit a bit slow on my behalf. On Thursday we checked out EMILY and JESSIE Gaps, which are gorges through the Eastern MacDonnell Ranges. Quite picturesque, but not a patch on SIMPSONS GAP and STANDLEY CHASM.
As we were leaving the camp to go into town the other day, we saw this set up arriving at the camp.
What a great way to tour Australia. The ‘Tow vehicle’ is a vintage LANZ BULLDOG Tractor. It is unique in that its engine consists of only one cylinder, and it has a very distinctive pop, pop sound when it is running.
On Friday we visited the Australian Reptile Centre here in Alice Springs. It was brilliant. A very informative talk on all the reptiles kept at the centre, with a special part dedicated to Australia’s Venomous Snakes, how to identify them, what to do if you come across a snake, and what action to take in the unlikely event that you get bitten. It was reassuring to learn that everything we had read, and told Cameron, was spot on.
During the talk we got to hold several different lizards including The Blue Tongue, Frilled Lizard, and the Sand Goanna. After the snake talk, we got to hold an Olive Python, similar in size to the Black Headed Python we had encountered at Barrow Creek. The centre had most of Australia’s deadliest snakes on display, including the Inland Python and the Eastern Brown, which are the second and third most deadly snakes in the world.
It was interesting to learn that Australian snakes have very short fangs, about 2 to 3 mm in length, which means if you are wearing shoes and long pants and they bite you, invariably their fangs are not long enough to penetrate your clothing, and so they are unable to inject their venom into your skin. A comforting thought, but how are we going to convince Cameron to run around in socks and shoes and long pants in the hot northern climate?
The centre also had a Salt water Crocodile on display which we could view through an underwater viewing tank. Quite impressive.
On Sunday afternoon we took a drive out to the old mission settlement of HERMANNSBURG, about 120 km west of ALICE SPRINGS. HERMANNSBURG is quite significant in the history of Australia, in that it was the first settlement in central Australia. It was established in the 1870’s by German Missionaries, and most of the original buildings are still standing.
It was incredible what those early missionaries achieved, and what they managed to build, thousands of miles from the nearest habitation, with only the tools they had carried in with them. How they managed to survive is almost beyond belief. To their credit HERMANNSBURG still operates as a mission today.
Apart from the old buildings there is also a supermarket and a garage to support the 100 or so local aborigines living in the government built houses that make up the community. After visiting the old buildings we took a drive around the rest of the community. Most of the streets had big signs up at the entrance forbidding visitors from entering the streets, and from taking photographs.
It was no wonder they didn’t want anyone taking photos, the conditions they were living in made the Inglewood Dump look like Buckingham Palace. Piles of rubbish everywhere, and thousands of plastic bags blowing in the wind and wrapping themselves in the fences. Most of the houses were concrete block with no windows and doors, and every house had at least one wrecked car, most of them two or three, lying on the section, and hundreds of skinny dogs running around.
A really depressing sight, and the worst indictment yet that we had seen against these people. This, added to the fact that we have to hold our breath each time we pass them in the street, does nothing to endear them to us. We have long ago given up on one of our original intentions on this trip, and that was to try and get permission to go into one of the aboriginal communities to get to know them better. Sad, but a fact of life, one we had not expected to be confronted with.
Tomorrow, Wednesday we will be on the road again. The chiropractor has managed to get me walking upright again, so we will head north, and hope my back keeps improving as we continue on towards DARWIN.
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