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!
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!
Nice to see people are following us? But who is PeterL?
ReplyDeleteNice words about the Desert Park - they are appreciated. It is a special place for those of us who work there. I hope that you get everything sorted out with your van.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Gary Fry
Director, Desert Park
Wow! Nice to know people who live and work where we've been are reading our blog. That reminds me I should be as nice as possible!
ReplyDelete