Fri

Day 27 – Alice Springs (sunny)

I can’t remember what happened this day. Must have been a big night!

The top photo is from the inside of our cabin!

Sat

Day 28

Today’s main event was the Henley on Todd Regatta- boat-related races in the dry Todd river bed. It began with a boat parade through the Todd Mall. Some boats were so tall they hardly fit through the arches in the middle of the mall. Kids squirted the boat people with water pistols. As the parade swept through everyone followed them up to the north end of the river bed where the arena was.

There were many different events. They had under 18’s, backpackers, sponsors, bath tub, water ski, surf board paddle, BYO boat, sand shoveling, surf rescue, boogie board, beach sprint, cycling Tour d’Todd, Kayak, rowing, mini yacht, anchor the boat and Australia Cup.

The day was absolutely hilarious. The weather was beautiful and it was a great last day before we headed back to Sydney. But about ½ way through a wedding planner called with an emergency & we had to race to the internet café to help. It ended being a really hot day and we had a bit of sun stroke.

Sunday

Day 29 – Alice Springs to Sydney (it actually rained a little bit)

Today was the day. We packed everything up. Got a taxi to the airport and waited until 1pm go through to board the Qantas flight to Sydney. A flight attendant who must have been from a really small town had a problem with Anthea’s violin being in the cabin but we got on our way without too much trouble.

So that is the end of our adventure for now. We are staying in Sydney for a few weeks until the Van is fixed and we sort out what to do next. We could be teaching in a remote Indigenous community, we could be driving to Uluru, we could be driving to Darwin. Why knows?

So I probably won’t make any updates until we’re back on our trip, unless something really interesting happens and I just have to share it. Maybe our birthdays?!

Rodney & Anthea 25/08/10

Day 24 - 26

Tue
Day 24 – Alice Springs (sunny… again)
Today we got up early 8.30am because Anthea made an appointment to get her hair trimmed (yes they have hairdresser, in fact several!). So while she did that I did the business emails and updated our blog. The mechanic called with the update on fixing the van. He gave us a rough estimate, but what could we do? There’s no way we’ll be driving it back. But as Anthea’s Ned Kelly hat says “such is life”. So I began to think of cheaper ways to get back to Sydney as apposed to the $800 cost of 2 one way tickets. Could we hire a car and get NRMA to pay for it? The answer was no because the hire car companies won’t do one way trips at the moment because they need all their cars here in the busy period. I had a few other ideas until I came up with the idea of getting NRMA to pay for our air tickets. And it worked. It turns out I can access up to $3000 for associated car trouble costs. But if I push it any more they might start to refuse to insure Transit owners. Should I also get them to pay for our ticked back to Alice Springs in September?

We came back to the van park for lunch, then walked across the road to the Aviation Museum which is actually the Connellan hangar of the old Alice Springs airport. While it was interesting, it is much smaller than HARS in Albion Park. It had only a few planes, and the Kookaburra memorial was closed due to refurbishments.

We walked back across the road back to our cabin and settled watching Top Gear on TV. The first episode was on motorhomes, and second one was the Botswana special driving a Mercedes, Lancia and 1960’s Opel all broke down whilst driving across the desert. Both were extremely appropriate. We are ½ hour behind Sydney because of the time zone, but the TV programs run on Sydney time.

Wed
Day 25 - Alice Springs (sunny… again)

Today we got up early again, about 8.30am (Sorry everyone, not rubbing it in or anything!) and power-walked the 6 or so kilometres west of town to the Desert Park. This place is amazing, and is in some ways more interesting than Dubbo Western Plains Zoo because of its local significance. We got there at 10 for the Birds of Prey show. This is similar to the Taronga Zoo bird show, but all the birds (and everything else in the Desert Park) are native to the surrounding desert areas of Alice Springs. We then decided to go to all the talks that were being held throughout the day. We went to the Aboriginal survival in the desert talk, desert rivers discovery walk and the red kangaroo talk. The guides were Aboriginal and gave a really good insight into how they live in the desert. The Aboriginal woman even talked about the rules of marriage depending on your skin name.

Thu
Day 26 - Alice Springs (it actually rained for about 5 minutes this morning, then sunny… again)

Today we didn’t get out of our house until after lunch. I was stuck on a composition which is now pretty much done. But after lunch we walked for about an hour to the School of Air. They didn’t have any live lessons going on at the time because it was an in-school week, which meant all the students were actually in Alice Springs, and they arrived just as we were leaving the School of Air. It was really interesting. The school serves 140 students from NT, northern SA and eastern WA. Each teacher has between 8-12 students logged who log into the daily one hour lesson. The children are on cattle farms or are traveling with their parents. The live video conferencing began in 2004 and the teacher studios are set up really well with 2 full time technicians on hand.

After the School of Air we went to the mechanic to see the van and get some stuff to bring back to Sydney, and clear out the fridge. It’s difficult to see but the head is cracked, which is why it will be hideously expensive to repair. Luckily one of the mechanic’s suppliers had the right head, as they are difficult to source, even though every 2nd van is a Transit around here.

After the mechanic we walked back to town go get some groceries before heading back to our cabin. Alice Springs is a lively town with more than enough places to eat out. It even has several cafes! And even though the mechanic’s bill will put a hole in our pocket, we’ve only spent $150 for the entire trip on accommodation in van parks. And thanks to NRMA we get 7 nights in a nice cabin!

new photos from Alice Springs

Pictures from top to bottom:

1. That's me pretending to teach at the Old Telegraph Line which they converted into a school.

2. Silk landscape Anthea did at the Craft Open day at the Araluen Cultural Precinct. I contributed the little trees on the bottom right.

3. Where our car should be laid to rest.

4. Anthea at the Old Telegraph Line with the morse code instruments

5. Anthea creating her silk craft masterpiece

No real update on the engine. Looking at freight for van to Syd, engine rebuild or recod 2nd engine.

It's overcast here today. I had to put a pair of pants on (as opposed to shorts ha), supposed to be 28 today.

Day 19 to 23

I'll upload photos tomorrow. This internet cafe is too slow.

Thu
Day 19 – Ormiston Gorge – Alice Springs – Yulara – Alice Springs (sunny)

If pictures can say 1000 words I’ll let this one do its job…TBC.

Lets just say the drive from Ormiston Gorge to Alice Springs was a very quick, smooth and successful one. Once in Alice Springs we did the usual- groceries, emails and petrol. And then went on a toilet hunt.

Public toilets are different in Alice Springs. I don’t mean the water flushes the other way like in America or something, but they are slightly hard to find, some are locked, and for others you have to get a key from the local pawn store. The ones that are free are the ones where your hands would be cleaner if you didn’t wash them after using the toilet, but we’ve been to toilets in China, so nothing is shocking. Other toilets you have to pay 50c. The cafes in Todd Mall don’t have their own toilets either.

During the grocery shopping we decided to make an addition to the small range of kitchen equipment we carry. As you know I’m into cooking. I’m so into cooking I subscribed to the Master Chef magazine. Imagine making one of those recipes in the campervan! The challenge is keeping it all warm if venturing beyond a “one pan dinner”. The twin burner we have is good, but the plate goes over both burners so I can’t fry a pancake and stew the rhubarb at the same time. So we looked for a small 20cm pan. Since I was so impressed with our anodized Trangia hiking set I decided to also get an anodized pan. Of course it was the most expensive pan in Kmart - $39.95, with the cheapest being just $8. Places like Kmart are great to get an idea of what the locals are like. There were quite a few characters out today. It was obviously payday and the lines were long.

Once out of Kmart we walked past an election office and we decided to get our vote out of the way. We didn’t have to line up for that.

After getting burnt while out hiking we decided to buy hats. I got a floppy hat that has Alice Springs stitched on the front. This was good because I couldn’t take the Akubra when we went hiking. My neck and ears wouldn’t get burnt with a fully brimmed hat. Anthea bought a Ned Kelly baseball cap. It says “Such is Life” on it. What a comforting phrase for the events to come.

We finally got on the road about 2pm. We stopped at the first rest area out of Alice to have lunch. We had a chat with a Winnebago grey nomad, then back on the road heading for the big rock. We passed Stuarts Well, found a good album to sing along to, cruising at 100kms per hour…

I’ve been glancing over the dials of the Transit more often ever since it overheated in Kiama in January this year, resulting in a new radiator and water pump. So that’s how I discovered the Transit was overheating this time. But really, I probably glanced at the temperature gauge because I smelt the smoke & steam that was very quickly pouring into the cabin. Before I could explain to Anthea what was going on the car lost power and we had to pull over into a ditch.

We both jumped out of the car and up the embankment. Was it going to actually blow up? I remembered there is a fire extinguisher behind the drivers seat. Now I know why. After a few minutes I gained enough confidence to go back to the car, pop open the steaming bonnet and pretend to know what to look for underneath, if not let passers by that we are broken down in the middle of nowhere. I put the hazard lights on too.

It worked. Within 5 minutes a car stopped and an old couple came to have a look. Cole and Heather were from Kalgoorlie and Cole used to be a truck driver. The car wouldn’t start. We are 70kms north of Erldunda, 40kms south of Stuarts Well and there is no phone reception. Luckily Cole had with him a Hyundai V6 fully equipped to help out Transit owners. He got out the tow rope, hooked us up and back up the highway he towed us to Stuarts Well, steady at 80kms. 20 years ago it would have been a Ford towing a Hyundai… Along the way I joked about our brakes not working for when we needed to slow down, but they kind of were, and Anthea wrote a sweet little thank you letter to Cole and Heather.

Stuarts Well consists of a petrol station, caravan park and a camel and emu farm. Your perfect holiday destination. The car had cooled down by this time and Cole found the cause of our car problem- a split water hose. Cole was loving the challenge, but his wife though was less enthusiastic. I went into the petrol station to ask if by any chance they had any hose. The Irish bloke (obviously a backpacker) replied “Jim might, but Jim’s asleep at the moment, and it’s Jim’s place”. I imagined Jim probably had a dozen wrecked cars behind the petrol station. The hose was split about an inch from one end. I got out our shiny new tool set, given to us by Jon. Cole doctored the hose and reconnected it. I refilled the radiator. Could it really be this simple? Surely not. I actually believed I could fix it next time (but hopefully I won’t be in that situation).

Now it was time to start the car. It turned over but it wouldn’t get going. Tried again. Still the same. Topped up the radiator again. Tried again. Cole was baffled, and looking like he might delve deeper into his toolbox to tackle the 2nd challenge, but Heather piped up and they had to get going. We were so grateful and Anthea handed over her thank-you letter. They were so chuffed they exchanged their details and we are now invited to their place when we pass through.

Now that we could use a phone I had to call the NRMA. But the public phones only take phone cards. So I had to buy a phone card. The AANT (NT version of NRMA) sent a tow truck because they don’t send roadside assistance further than 97kms out of town. And because I was a premium member the tow was free. Luckily, because it would of cost atleast $250. Alice to Stuarts Well is 140kms and back again that’s 280kms.

We waited for the truck to come. We had a cup of tea and a few biscuits. Watched the sun go down. Fretted about the possible financial consequences of owning a Transit. Chippy the tow truck driver turned up about 7pm. It took about 30mins to load on and that’s when I took the photo. It was about 1 ½ hours back so we had some good conversations with Chippy who was an apprentice mechanic. He told us about growing up in Alice Springs and some stories about the gaol where his mum worked with disabled prisoners.

He dropped us off at a caravan park. Because the tow truck was so big he could only drop us off behind the main building where the glass and paper recycling was. It didn’t stink but it was all dirt ground. Atleast it was flat. The caravan park must of loved all the truck noises offloading the campervan at 10pm. I just got the extension cord to the powerpoint on the side of the building. They charged us $38 for the night. I made “one pan dinner” for dinner. It’s an actual meal base you buy in a box. I call it dinner winner. The new pan performed beautifully.

Friday
Day 20 – Alice Springs (sunny)

Got on the phone to get the mess sorted out. NRMA couldn’t get us into accommodation until a mechanic had looked at the van. But the AANT was telling NRMA a mechanic had already looked at it. So it was a bit of trouble dealing with the two services but NRMA were most helpful and Chippy came out again to confirm the car was not driveable and would need to be towed to a mechanic. I called a mechanic that was recommended and booked it in. 20 minutes later the tow truck came and off we went across town to the mechanic.

The garage was busy. Stevo the mechanic tried to start the car with no success. I got on the phone to NRMA and the man wanted to know what was wrong. I asked Stevo. He replied “at worst, you’ll need a new engine”. I relayed the message to the NRMA guy over the phone with a nervous laugh. He smelt the radiator water. “Hopefully ony a head gasket”. Only a head gasket? Only a head gasket. “Could be a craked head. Won’t find out till I open her up”. I was in denial.

Atleast NRMA fixed us up with a cabin for 7 nights at Stuart Caravan Park where we stayed before. We packed out hiking packs and hiked for over one hour in the blistering heat to the caravan park. We weren’t getting a taxi.

We stayed in the cabin for the rest of the day. I took advantage of the kitchen and cooked up a variation of my leek & sweet potato stirfry with cous cous. It ended up having noodles in it because I didn’t have any stock so I bought an instant noodles and put the stock from that in it.

It was strange not sleeping in the van. The cabin felt so big. We watched the DVD Dead Heart (An Aboriginal film with David Gulpilil & Ernie Dingo) I brought with me.
We were lucky I changed over the NRMA membership from my other car to the Transit the day before we left. Finally all the money I’ve paid on membership has paid off! I was initially thinking we’ll have to camp in our tiny hiking tent until the van is fixed.

Saturday
Day 21 – Alice Springs (sunny)

Now that we knew we were going to be stuck in Alice Springs for a while, it was a chance to slow down and relax, and do all the things in the Alice we didn’t have time to do before. I decided to have a shave. 20 day old patchy beard, stained flanny shirt with thongs, burnt neck from hiking, living in a caravan park because my campervan had broken down. It was starting to add up. I didn’t want to look like a Jerry Springer guest.

We went into town. Posted the photo of our van on our blog. Looked at teaching jobs in the NT. (Gotta pay for this somehow!) Checked out the prices to fly to Sydney if the van wasn’t ready to drive back in time. Had lunch at a café in the Todd Mall while a pair of locals kept us entertained with their antics over a wine bottle. Called the mechanic. He can’t look at it until Monday. Did anybody say anxiety? We climbed up Anzac Hill. Then walked about 4kms north out of town to the Telegraph Station Historical Reserve. It was built in the 1870’s and operated until 1932 when it became a school for children of mixed ancestry. These people are now identified as part of the stolen generation. There was a man there who was a student of the school and he had many stories to tell.

We walked back to town, and because we couldn’t carry everything to the cabin in our hiking packs from the day before we had to buy some more stuff. We had a freezer in our cabin. That meant ice cream. We made pizzas and watched Mad Men on DVD.


Sunday
Day 22 – Alice Springs (sunny)

Today was a real Sunday, except I didn’t get the paper. We slept in until about 11. Made pancakes and coffee. Did some reading and composing before getting across the road to the Araluen Cultural Precinct about 2pm. This is where we went last Sunday when they had the big Albert Namatjira celebration. This time they had an art and craft open day. We got there a bit late, but still had time to participate in a silk wool fusing workshop. Anthea produced a beautiful landscape picture with her $6 bag of silk wool. The teacher was very impressed. I contributed the 2 ghost river gums in the lower right hand corner.

After the workshop the ladies gave us a tin of cakes and biscuits because or sad story. We went back to the art exhibitions and saw watercolour paintings of Albert Namatjira, and of his descendents which were for sale. There was also an open community competition exhibition with some really interesting works.

At 5pm they kicked us out and we went back to our cabin and made a caramelized pizza with some leftover ingredients before heading back again to the Araluen Cultural Precinct to see the Sunday Arthouse movie. It was a French film called Mademoiselle Chambon. It was about a married man who has an affair with his son’s primary school teacher. It was pretty average for a French film, although it used some Elgar violin music to much dramatic effect.

Monday
Day 23 - Alice Springs (sunny)
Today we went to the Strehlow Research Centre & Museum at the Araluen Cultural Precinct. Then into town to buy some new socks. I've been wearing these ones since Friday and not going to walk to the mechanic to pick up new socks. He's 4kms across town and I didn't bother getting the hire car.

Mechanic called. Wanted me to come in to the workshop. I explained the walking situation so he just told me.

"The engine is basically shagged. The head is cracked and some of the pistons have melted." So that was the worst possible scenario. If it was just a cheap backpacker van we could just walk away but it's not. And it's worth nothing if the engine's blown and we have no car to travel in. He said he will put some options together and probably get back to me tomorrow.

So we went with my socks to the cafe for coffee. I called the NT teacher relief number to enquire about doing some relief teaching and they were very nice, but said it will take several weeks to register with NT teachers.

Went to Flight Centre to enquire about flights. At this stage we'll be getting a one way flight to Syd on Sunday after the Henly on Todd regatta on Saturday. But we didn't book it because there is still a glimmer of hope about the mechanic calling tomorrow with a cheap quick alternative.

If a picture can say 1000 words, I'll let this one do its job. TBC...

Day 16 - 19

Day 16 – Ormiston Gorge (West Macdonnell Ranges

After doing emails, grocery shopping and petrol fill we headed out to the West Macdonnell Ranges. First stop Simson’s Gap- 24kms west of Alice. We went for a short walk to the gap and the waterhole through the dry river bed. Had lunch, then left for Ormiston Gorge, arriving about 4pm.

The camp area was busy with caravans, tents and campers. And another 2.2 family pulled up beside us. They could be heard from all over the place. The father and the 2 boys were koo-eeing each other between the caravan and the toilets. None of the gas bbq’s were working, so I made up a chicken & vegetable stirfry with cous cous on the gas burner, after which Sandy Inland mice would dart between our feet picking up the tiny scraps. The shower has hot water but there is no drinking water available. That night were woken by a dingo howling at 3am.

Day 17 – Larapinta Trail – section 9

We had decided the night before to tackle a section of the 230km Larapinta Trail. We chose section 9 which is 29kms long, but because we would need to return we would only do 16km before setting up camp. We got up pretty late, got our packs ready and headed. In the first few kilometers there were river red gums along the riverbed, and we had to take our shoes and socks off and wade through the river, which is usually dry. Once we got away from the river we walked over and around many hills.

There were many flowers out already including the paper daisies and the holly grevillia. Most of the ground cover was extremely rocky and covered by spinifex & mulga trees. Along the way we saw native pigeons, thousands of budgerigars and the black and yellow bowerbird whose call sounds like a yelping pup.

After a few hours we ascended Mount Giles and then walked along the ridge. On the way we met a lady who had walked from Alice Springs, and had lost count of how many days she had been out. About 30 minutes on we got to the lookout and decided to make camp.

Despite it being windy on top of the mountain it was an excellent spot where we wouldn’t likely encounter any animals. And there was a fireplace with plenty of firewood. We made a fire and had some tea. Then we saw the lady from before and we had a chat for about ½ hour. She was low on water so I gave her a popper. There is no water along this section of the track. Dinner was rice with Mexican beans. We watched the sun go down. The tent (our 5 (million) star tent) flapped in the wind all night, but besides that it wasn’t cold or uncomfortable.

Day 18 – Back to Ormiston Gorge area

I woke up and made porridge. Tried to take photos of the rising sun. Took down the tent, packed our packs & got going at 8.50am. We made it back to the camp area at Ormiston Gorge just before 1pm. Time for a beer, then a shower, then lunch then a sleep. Dinner was bangers n’mash with onion & eggs. The gas bbq’s near the car park were working so we used those ones instead of trying to do it all on my little burner.

At 7pm there was a ranger slide show presentation at the ampitheatre on desert rivers, woodlands and wildlife. During the presentation was interrupted by the dingo howling again! The rest of the night went well, except for some over-rigged grey nomads running a generator (probably to run their heater) the whole night

Day 19 – Ormiston Gorge – Alice Springs - Yulara

Day 12 - 15

Day 12 – Port Germein, Woomera, Bon Bon Rest Area

As soon as we drove out of the van park we went to the longest jetty for another go at photos. We then drove up to Port Augusta to do the emails, groceries and petrol, before heading up the Stewart Highway. We stopped off at Woomera to look at the very interesting Lions Club Aircraft and Missile Park, before heading further north, staying at Bon Bon Rest Area.

Day 13 – Coober Pedy to Tarcoonyinna Rest Area

We rolled into to Coober Pedy just before lunch first up was breath tested by the only 2 policemen in town. After seeing some of the locals I understood why. We checked out the Info Centre and cooked up 2 minute noodles on the gas bottle in the carpark, just like real travellers!

We visited the Catholic and Serbian Orthodox underground churches and went to the Big Winch for some photos. There a Hong Kong man invited us into his home to check out some of his opal jewellery. We then went to Tom’s working opal mine. We were guided by a miner lady who has followed in her dad’s footsteps of ‘gambling with the mines’. It was great tour, even though some of the machinery was broken.

We drove further north up the Stewart Highway, expecting to stay at a campsite off a dirt road just out of Marla, but it got too dark, not wanting to drive on a dirt road at night, and we couldn’t find it anyway so we headed further up for about another hour to the next stop.

We were the only people at the rest area. We went to bed very tired, but there was a constant scratching and rustling sound. It was so annoying after one hour I went to see what it was. There were rats in the bin (or something) and so I moved the car because I thought they were going under the car.

Day 14 – Alice Springs

We got to Alice Springs about lunch time. It was so hot. 21 degrees but actually much hotter in the sun. We went to Maccas to do the emails. Unfortunately it was impossible due to bad internet so we found our caravan park and set up. The caravan park is very crowded. Some very interesting vehicles here, including massive Winnebagoes, an old bus, 4WD caravans, truck trailer caravans and a bunch of motorcyclists. We had the 2.2 children family next to us, and some grey nomads on the other side. Oddly no one has been friendly here. We cooked up a bolognaise before heading into town to see the Didjeridoo Show Outback starring Andrew Langford. It was actually quite good with accompanying photos, electronic drumkit, percussion and an interactive part where we all joined in with sticks & shakers! Anthea played the djembe & I had a shaker. Now I know how my year 7 students feel! It was so much fun!!!

Day 15 – Alice Springs

Today we went for a walk around town wearing summer clothes. We climbed up the top of Billy Goat Hill to get a good view. Aboriginies camping at the Todd riverbed. Markets in the mall- a little bit of Paddington! We bought a very beautiful Aboriginal painting. It was about ½ the price of what you would buy in a shop. The artist was very shy and hardly spoke to us at all. After that we were approached by an Aboriginal who wanted to sell us a small painting for $15. Unfortunately we only had a $20 to which he replied “that will do!” We all had a good laugh and off he went.

Later in the day we went across to the Arulean Centre which is just across the road from our caravan park. They were celebrating the watercolour paintings of Albert Namantjira. They had a bbq, a desert reggae band, art exhibition and concert. The concert was very interesting. They had artists drawing a landscape right across the stage with chalk. There was a portrait painting being done, and excerpts of a new play produced by Belvoir St theatre took place. There was also the Ntaria Aboriginal women’s choir who gave us a brief lesson on some of their local language phrases. There was also a pottery demonstration by Hermannsburg Potters and Archie Roach performed a few songs. The theatre was packed. We also saw Simon from The Chef and the Cook!

After the show we walked back and chilled out before making a vegetable stirfry and packing almost everything up for an early start the next day.


Day 16 – Ormiston Gorge (West Macdonnell Ranges