Day 18 - Daly Waters

Up early and it was dark when we started to pack up the van but just starting to get light as we pulled out of the Big 4 at Alice Springs to head to Daly Waters....again.
It was a pretty boring trip but Dad said that if we wanted to get to Daly Waters for dinner that night with the Auchterlonie's, he didn't want to hear any complaints about being hungry, how long to go or that we need to go to the toilet. We read our books most of the time to make the time pass quickly.

Bella reading a book - I am hungry but not allowed to mention it

Devils Marbles

We got to Devils Marbles around lunch time so mum made some more wraps in the van and Charlotte and Dad and myself went for a wander around the marbles. They were very unusual rocks that were all round just like marbles. We had lunch and our one toilet stop for the day that we were allowed and back on the road to try to make it to Daly Waters.

More Marbles

I was really looking forward to getting there because the Hansen's told us that it is a fantastic place and not to miss it.
A quick phone call to Sarah to check we had the right place as it was a little confusing with some of the signs and we arrived at 5 pm. When we pulled up there were caravans everywhere waiting to get into the caravan park which is just beside the Daly Waters Pub. It looked like we were just going to miss out because the park looked very full. Mum went in to the pub and managed to get us into the overflow area and we were the second last van in and then it was full.

The camp at Daly Waters Overflow area

We met up with the Aucherlonie's at the pub for the famous "BEEF & BARRA" night. The Barra was delicious and it is caught in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It  was a strange pub that looked like it was put together with bits of old tin and left over scraps. It had bras and knickers hanging off the roof that people who had been there threw up to add to the display. Mum called it a very quirky pub but it was lots of fun and us kids got to do a competition where we had to find out all this information and enter it into our booklets and then we won a free ice-cream. The man forgot to stamp our books so we all went back the other lady and got another ice cream. BONUS!!!!!
There was a man who sang lots of funny songs and played guitar. Dad and Mum got up for a dance and showed us how they used to dance. (a little bit embarrassing for me)

We made it and Dad needed to REHYDRATE

We were so tired because it was such a big day and we had a fairly late night at the pub so we went back to the overflow and I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Dad and Big George stayed on and met some guys from Swan Hill who knew our friend Sam Coffey. They had a later night than the rest of us.


A collection of Bras

 

 

Welcome to the Pub

Dad needed a big Brekky after a late night

 

Day 12,13,14,15, 16- Alice Springs and an extra Night that wasn't planned for - Alice Springs

Early start for heading off to Alice Springs which was 348 kilometers away. We are getting quicker and better at packing up now. We played more I-spy and read our books. Charlotte read her book
 ( Black Beauty) that she bought from the second hand book shop in Sea Lake when we were at Nannies and Grandads. She has been reading it all the time and loves it. I am reading Anne of Green Gables. Nannie gave me the whole set (except Anne of  Windy Willows ) they were hers when she was 11 and now she has given them to me. They use some different words that mum said are not really used now so it took a little while to get into it because i had to keep asking what they all meant.
Now i am really enjoying it and i will have enough books to keep me reading for the whole trip and probably longer. Mum is reading "A town like Alice" and said that is really funny reading about a place that we are staying at right now. It is about the war and she said it is really good.
We are staying at the Big 4 and it has a huge jumping pillow. We unpacked our van and headed into town to pick up Francis.

Our friend Francis

He flew in this morning and was waiting for us at the Todd Tavern. Francis and mum worked together as Anaesthetic Nurses at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before I was born. He lives in Melbourne but has worked at the Alice Springs Hospital about 10 years ago so he is going to stay with us and also stay with some of his other nurse friends from Alice Springs when we leave. We had a relaxing day and dad cooked up a lovely Capers, anchovy and rosemary roast in our Ziggler. The Ziggler is like a Webber Q BBQ. Our friend  Tim D has one and we got it just before we went away. We have been cooking pizzas in it as well and we love it. Dad loves it almost as much as mum loves her Thermomix.

Tonight we will be having Roast Lamb

Mum and Dad stayed up late laughing with Francis and i couldn't sleep very well because they were right under my window.
The next day Dad went to the emergency department with Francis to get a script done because he couldn't get into any doctors. They had to wait 4 hours and they had lots of funny stories to tell when they got back about all the different people ( and police ) that were waiting in the emergency department.  Charlotte and I did some homework while mum repacked the van and started putting our warmer clothes away and getting out our summer clothes because the days were heating up and we will not be needing them soon. It is lovely and sunny here during the day but the nights are still freezing. It was 0 degrees at night and we had the heater going full blast.  We hired some go-karts with Adele and George and it was so much fun. We rode around the park for an hour and mum, dad and Francis went to George and Ro's van to chat with them.

Start your Engines

Our new Friends George and Adele

Today we went to the Overland Telegraph station and Francis went to the Market because he has been to all of the tourist sites in Alice Springs already. The Overland Telegraph was really interesting and we learnt how the first telegraph line was built in Australia. It took two years to build and was finished in 1872. It went from Darwin through Alice Springs to Port Augusta in South Australia and there was 36,000 poles used along the 3,200 kilometre long line.

The Telegraph Station

Sending a message using Morse Code

Only 35999 poles to go

Before the telegraph line it could take 3 -4 months for letters to come from England by boat, now it only took a few hours. They transmitted messages using a special code called Morse code and the telegraph line was connected from Darwin to  an underwater submarine cable in Timor sea to Singapore and then this was connected onto England. We got to have a play with the Morse code machine and saw lots of different rooms that were set up in the homestead and post office exactly like they would have been all those years ago. Mum thought it was a beautiful, peaceful place and loved looking at all the buildings and I thought that we were lucky we didnt have to live like that. It would have been so hot and uncomfortable and the nearest town was 10 kilometres away and they used to walk into town for supplies. We also visited the School of the Air today and a lady gave us a tour and talk about how children from all the cattle stations, aboriginal communities, road houses, military bases and national parks  and other remote areas went to school by using the radio. They used to use a radio but now it is done by computers. There is 140 children who are enrolled in the Alice Springs School of the Air this year and it is known as the largest classroom in the world because it covers an area of 1.3 million square kms (that is 10 times the size of England).
The closest student is 80 kms away from Alice Springs and the farthest is 1300 kms. They get to come together twice a year for a school assembly when they all come in and meet each other and have a special week of activities. It costs between $10,000 and $15,000 to set up each student with the satellite and computer equipment and it is a government school and they even do the NAPLAN test. The got in the top 10 % score so that is very good. We saw lots of their art work and it was really great. They had lots of pieces that were almost like the same ones we have done with Mrs. Brown. They made a big patchwork display and each student had to make a steel plaque about where they lived. One of them had hand-cuffs on his, his dad was the policeman and one had bullet holes through it. We went for a swim when we got back to the caravan park but it was a bit chilly so just laid out in the sun on the lounges. Off to bed early as we had a big day and were very tired.

Today we went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Charlotte and I got to sit in the plane that they use to collect sick patients. We got to sit in the pilot and co-pilots seat. We watched a film all about different people who live out in  remote areas and who were in really bad accidents and were taken into hospital by the Flying Doctors. They all said that they wouldn't be alive today if there was no Flying Doctor. Reverend John Flynn started the Flying Doctor Service in 1939 and he leased the first plane from Qantas and now they have a fleet of over 60 aircraft. Francis didn't come inside but waited for us in the front area where the man said that he made the best coffees in Alice Springs...........Francis said later that it wasn't the best!! We had dinner with the Auchterlonies and had a late night and i slept like a log.

 

Nurse Bella at the RFDS

Today we went to Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm. We saw some rock wallabies at Simpsons Gap and we walked across a creek. Francis went first and then Charlotte followed him but the rocks were too far apart for her legs and she ended up in the water. It didn't matter though because now we know that her hiking boots were sort of waterproof.

Simpsons Gap

 

Çan you spot the Wallabies

 

One of us got wet feet

We got to Standley Chasm at midday which was just the right time to see it because the sun was shining through the chasm and it looked amazing. We took lots of photos but it didn't really show how nice it was.

We are off to Stanley Chasm

 

We got their at Noon so the sun would be perfect

 

Stanley Chasm was amazing

 

 We had sausage rolls and mum, dad and Francis had a meat pie. Dad took his back because it was still cold inside and they were very expensive for a microwave pie. We are heading off to the Devils Marbles tomorrow and Francis is going to his friend Liz's place to catch up with her. Francis gave Charlotte and me a really nice aboriginal painting each that he bought for us when he was at the market. It was called "collecting bush tucker". We are going to get them stretched and put over a canvas when we got home. We had tacos that night for dinner and Francis showed us the way he does his, which was a bit different to ours. We were having a debate about whether the soft tacos or hard tacos were the best and Francis and Charlotte went with the hard but I think they are just messy.
We are going to miss Francis but I wont miss his snoring.

We packed up the van and said our goodbyes to Francis and Liz came to pick him up because she had just finished a night shift at the hospital. We headed off on our way to the Devils Marbles to free camp with the Auchterlonies. It was going to be about a five hundred kms trip and we were about 120 kms out of Alice Springs and the "fuel filter maintenance"light came on. Mum tried to call the Toyota place in Alice but we had no reception. In the manual it said that you should take it straight to a Toyota dealer so it was either push on til the next Toyota dealer that was in Katherine and this was about 800 kms away or turn back 120 kms. Dad decided to turn back and when we were nearly in Alice we got reception and they said that they couldn't look at it til Thursday. (oh no we all said......because it was only Monday now) But mum worked her magic on the man and he said he would fit us in at the end of the day so that meant that we had to stay another night back in Alice. We headed back to our caravan park and dropped the van off and dad and I took the car into the dealer.
We got to pick up the car about 5.30pm that afternoon and then it was too late to start driving so we stayed at the caravan park and it rained all night. This is the first heavy rain we have had and it was heavy.
Early night because we have a huge day tomorrow because we are now just going to drop in at the Devils Marbles and try to get to Daly Waters to have dinner with the Auchterlonies. It will be a 960 km drive so It will be a big drive for mum and dad.

Day 9,10,11 - Kings Canyon

Off to Kings Canyon today and we stopped in at Kings Creek Station for lunch along the way. This is a working cattle station that covers an area of 1,800 square kilometres. They also have camels and do rides with them. The cafe was very expensive and is was $24 for a hamburger so mum hopped into the van and whipped up some tasty wraps.

The Camels at Kings Creek Station

Kings Creek Station

We arrived at our caravan park and set up and the toilets had special gates on them that you had to close them all the time because of dingos that sometime roam around the park. The next day we got up early to do the Rim walk which is about 6km that goes around the top of Kings Canyon. It is a beautiful walk and you start by climbing up a 100 metre steep cliff face and then walk around the rim of the canyon's sandstone walls. The views are amazing and you can see for miles and it felt like we were going to fall if you got too close to the edge. I felt tiny when we were looking down the cliff faces and the colours were awesome. We saw some guys that were standing right on the edge of the cliff and their girlfriends were asking them to pleeeeeease come back away from the edge. Dad went the nearest to the edge of all of us and i was glad when he got back from it because it looked like if he fell we would never see him again.

It's a long way down

Nearly at the Top

We also saw a beautiful oasis down in the bottom the canyon. It was 270 metres down into the chasm between the sandstone cliffs. It was called the Garden of Eden. It is a natural spring waterhole that has lots of enormous prehistoric ferns. I felt like diving into the water to cool off but there were signs telling us that it was a sacred place for the aboriginals and to please not swim in there as it would pollute the water and affect the environment.

On top of the World

It was very hot and i was pleased when we only had a kilometre to go. Charlotte was out in front again, because she is like a mountain goat and when we came around a corner she was laying on the ground. Mum ran up to her and she looked up and said, "you have lost one, i cant go any further!".  It was quite a hard walk because there was lots of up and down stepping and you had to watch where you put your foot everytime because it was very rocky.


The next day we did the Creek Bed Walk which is a 2 kilometer walk through the rocky creek bed at the bottom of the canyon. It ends up to an area that you can look up at the canyon rim and we could see people walking around the very top where we walked yesterday.

They looked like ants because they were so small and the cliff faces were soooooo high up. It was a much easier and more relaxing walk and it was lovely and cool because we were in the shade most of the time. I couldnt believe how many rocks were in the creek bed.

Kings Canyon Creek Walk

Indy and the Girls

I can't keep holding this rock up much longer

We went back to our caravan park and i met a girl called Adele and her brother George. They are from Tasmania and are travelling around Australia for five months. She is 11 and George is 9 so now we both have a friend to play with. We went and played tennis with Adele and then her mum, Rowena came and met mum. Charlotte lost a tooth and she set a trap for the tooth fairy because this is what she does everytime. She wants to catch the tooth fairy so she can see what she looks like. Last time she taped her tooth the the palm of her hand with sticky tape and went to sleep but the tooth fairy was too good and managed to get thru all that tape and collect the tooth off her. This time she left some food ( bread crumbs) under a cup and had her torch shinning on to it so she could see her....................but she was so tired from all our walks that she fell off to sleep. She was disappointed when she woke up in the morning because she missed her again but she was so happy because the tooth fairy left her $5. In Mt. Martha the most she has ever got was $2 or $3 for her front teeth but mum and dad said that it was probably because it was "Territory Day" and the fairy was celebrating it too. That night there were lots of fireworks going off and all the people at the caravan park were out looking up at the sky. They were soooo loud and went for ages. In the Northern Territory anyone can buy fireworks but it is illegal in every other state of Australia. You need a special license to buy them and set them off. There were signs everywhere selling fireworks and i think everyone around Kings Canyon must have bought them because the sky was full of fireworks. We also had a camel burger here at the resturant and dad and mum had beef burger. The camel burger was delicous and it tasted a bit like beef but a stronger taste. Sarah Hansen told us that it was very expensive to buy anything at Kings Canyon and she was right.............the coco pops were $10 for a small pack and they also sold Kangaroo Tails and they were only $6 but I didnt really want to eat those because I thought that they would be too tough.  We hoped into bed and were very excited because the next day we were off to Alice Springs and our friend Francis is flying up to stay with us.

Day 6, 7, 8 - Uluru

Day 6 & 7

We started off our fitness campaign this morning and dad and I went for a 4 km run around the Yalara Resort. Mum and Charlotte stayed snuggled up in bed together because it was too cold for them and they said they were going to start their fitness program when we get to Darwin. ( I will let you know how that goes?)

It is a large resort that is right in the town called Yalara. Mum thinks that they use the term "resort" very loosely up here in N.T.  It is about 25 kilometers from Uluru and it has been designed to blend in with the environment, including being powered by the sun. This is where most people stay if they want to visit the national park as you are not allowed to stay around the rock anymore. We ran up to the lookout and watched the sunrise over Uluru and the colours were beautiful and changed as the sun got higher in the sky. We did some planks after our run and Charlotte had got up by then. Dad held his plank for 1 minute and 30 seconds and Charlotte and I held ours for 1 minute. Charlotte was shaking like a rattle snake when she did hers.

Uluru (Ayers rock) and Kata-Tjuta (the Olgas) are in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and is covers 1,260 square kilometres. It is run by the Anangu (the local aboriginal people) and Environment Australia and is it also world Heritage listed because of its natural and cultural values. This means that it is a very special place in the world and protects it from being altered by people.

Today we got up and headed off to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park and we did the Valley of the winds walk at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). The walk was 7.4kms and it was amazing walking though the valley and I felt so small when we looked up at the high rocky ledges above us. It was quite a steep walk going up and down the steps but i love walking on the uneven rocks.

 

 

Kata Tjuta (means many heads)

 

 

The Valley of the Winds

 

 

 

Mum and Me.... still smiling but only half way round

 

We couldn't believe how red the rocks were and sometimes it felt like we were the only ones there. Dad looked like Indian Jones in his hat and clothes so I called him "Indiana" all day.  

 

 

Indy and the Girls

 

Charlotte loved this walk and she was like a mountain goat going up and down the ledges. Mum had to keep telling her to slow down as she would get too far ahead and we would loose her when she went around the corners.

 

Some running repairs for the Mountain Goat

 

I was very tired when we finished the walk and mum made us a big chicken curry in the Thermomix for dinner and we all slept very well. 

Day 8

We got up early to get through the gates at the national park because we wanted to go on the Mala walk. This started at 8 am and a ranger takes you on a tour and tells you all about the different areas around the rock which are important to the aborigines. This was really interesting and we saw paintings on the rock that were done thousands of years ago.

 

Aboriginal Paintings

 

 

Me and a Friendly Dingo

 

 I learnt lots of interesting facts about Uluru and have written two pages of information in my journal. When we got back from our walk the other ranger had just closed the gates to the climb and no one else was allowed to climb the rock today because it was too windy on the summit area. We saw some girls that only went a little way up and decided they wanted to come back down because of the wind and they were very scared and came down very slowly on their bottoms and lots of people stopped to try to help them because they were taking ages. I felt very sad and scared for them. When we got back from the walk, Mum and dad had already decided that they were not going to do the climb after listening to the ranger talk about how it is a very spiritual and sacred site for the aboriginals but I had not made up my mind yet........but when the ranger closed the gates I didn't have to decide because it was too late to do the walk  as he had already shut the gate and closed the walk. Oh well maybe next time.

That night we booked to go out on a bus to watch the sunset over Uluru and then to go and have a "dining experience" under the stars by the rock.

This was mums birthday present because we didnt have time to take her out before we left because we were madly getting organised to go away.

Dad set up his camera to take photos every minute when the sun started setting. We had dips and nibbles and soft drink and they had champagne for the adults. Charlotte and I had a great time eating all the nibbles. It was very cool but we had our big northface  jackets on that we bought in Vietnam and our knitted beanies that Chicko gave us,  so we were very warm.

 

After the sun went down we all got back on the bus and then they drove us to a spot right near the rock that had tables with white table cloths and it looked beautiful. It felt a bit strange being out there at night because it was so dark but when I  saw all the food I was fine. On the menu was kangaroo, steaks, chicken, lamb and pork. It was all BBQ ed and smelt amazing. There was lots of different salads too. We sat next to a lovely lady called Mary who was travelling with her niece. She was from Sydney and was really nice. After the dinner a ranger told us all about the different stars and some interesting stories about how the aborigines used the stars to help them travel through the night. There was so many stars in the sky and I couldn't believe how bright they all were when the ranger asked us to turn off our torches. It was pitch black and the sky looked like it was lit up with a million stars. I have never seen it look like that at Mt. Martha and the Milky Way looked more like a big white rainbow. I really loved being out at the rock at night but it was a bit freaky and I couldn't believe how quiet it was. Mum said the silence was deafening..........whatever that means!

Tomorrow we are off to Kings Canyon for more big walks. I cant wait to hit the bed and rest my head.

 

 

Day 5 - Coober Pedy to Uluru

We got up very early this morning and left Coober Pedy just as the sun was coming up and it was absolutely freezing, Mum said that Jayco could improve their vans by installing underfloor heating as the floor felt like ice. Dad said she needs to harden up or maybe just put some explorer socks on!!

 

An early start to the day

We have been told not to travel at Dawn or Dusk as there are no fences along the sides of the roads and sometimes cattle can be on the road. We saw lots of signs warning us about wandering cattle and saw many dead kangaroos and cows. Along the road their were lots of Grids, these gave us a fright the first twenty times that we hit them but eventually we got used to them. The Cattle Stations have no fences along the sides of the roads and the grids are used to stop the cattle from crossing into another station. We stopped at Cadney homestead for a cup of coffee but the Coffee machine was broken, we had a quick toilet stop and we hit the road. We played I-Spy but we discovered that there wasn't many different things to "Spy" as it is pretty much the same flat country side along the whole seven hour drive. There were salt bushes, dead trees, road signs, grids, burnt out cars and road trains. These road trains gave us a fright and made the car shake when they flew past, one nearly sucked the mirror of dads car, we fixed it with duct tape, Dad said it will never move now.

 

Road Train carrying a Truck for the Mines

The Truck on the back was as wide as the road.

 

 

This Trailer had Two Trucks Pulling it

 

 

The Police made us pull off the road to let this truck through.

Dad gave the Driver the Wave.

 

 

And over the top of us it goes

 

 Our next stop was Erlunda Road House where mum did a great job of lunch again and bought a cup of coffee for $7.50, Dad said that he wouldn't have paid that much but Mum said it was worth it. The Road House was full of Çarvaner's as it is in the middle of nowhere and at the cross road to Uluru, Alice Springs and Adelaide. We then travelled on the Lasseter Highway on to Yulara, we were so excited when we saw a huge rock in the distance, I got my camera out and took lots of photos as we were driving, Dad said it couldn't be the rock as we still had an hour drive, but Mum said that it had to be the rock, then we saw a sign for the Mount Conner Lookout and we knew we had made a mistake. Dad told me this proves that mum is not always right.

 

Mt Conner

As we got closer to Yulara we finally saw Uluru and we were all very excited and took lots of photos, we  arrived at Yulara resort and we were all very tired but excited to be staying for 4 nights.

 

Finally the Rock appeared

 

 

Day 4 - Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

Today we headed off down the Stuart Highway to Coober Pedy, we had to drive 540km we passed lots of Salt Lakes and we also went through "Woomera Prohibited Area" which is where the army test all their rockets and guns. Cars are not allowed to leave the road and I think that this is a good idea. We stopped at Glendambo and had chicken and avocado rolls which mum made up in the van. Mum had her first turn at driving today and did a pretty good job, she was getting right into it and giving the "big wave" to all the other caravaner's that we met on the road'. We have learnt that all Caravaners do a special wave to each other...... its like we are all in a special club together. When you see another van coming down the highway towards you, you need to dip your head slightly and raise your hand and keep it up for about 2 seconds, the really experienced vanners spread their fingers and emphasise the wave. They are all very friendly and Mum and Dad will be very good at this by the time that we finish this trip.

 

We arrived at Coober Pedy just before dark, our caravan park was called the Stuart Range Resort.
 Mum said that this is not like any other resort that she has been to, (and that isn't in a good way!) it was very full and was more like a car park than a caravan park, but they had a great playground, it was freezing outside and got down to 1 degree but we were quite warm in our caravan with the temperature set to 17 degrees, Charlotte and I had our Onsies on, so we were very snug.

 

Setting Up Camp at Coober Pedy

 

 

Our Camping Ground Car Park

 

We decided that we were too tired to do any of the touristy things so we had an early night as we had a big drive of 760km tomorrow to Uluru.

 

Our Playground