Friday 29 July 2022 – A Town Like Alice
Other than needing to be at the airport at 3pm to pick up H&M we had no time commitments today. It was another chilly morning so we were slow to get out of bed and then had a leisurely breakfast using up the pancake mix from yesterday. We then headed off to the big, beaut caravan and camping store to check it out and so that Larry could buy a new headlamp as his is just not up to the task of checking for ghost camels around the campsite at night. From there we meandered back through the town stopping at a SuperCheap for some wiring so Larry could do some fancy schmancy things with auxillary batteries etc (you can tell J is writing this bit of the blog as L just told me what he needed the wire for and it was all just goobleygook). From there, it was to the botanic gardens for a spot of brunch in the little cafe. It was lovely sitting in the sun with pretty surrounds and blue sky so we took the opportunity to ring home and tell the kids how nice it was whilst they were in pouring rain and had been kept up all night with thunderstorms!
After a little relax it was back in the car and we had my phone use Google maps to direct us to Bunnings whilst the car sat nav tried to direct us somewhere else. No idea where as we hadn’t programmed anything in – we have our suspicions nearby Pine Gap is monitoring us for some reason – perhaps because Larry got too close to a group with short haircuts and American accents at dinner last night and heard something he shouldn’t have?!
We found the Bunnings and, yes, it was just like any other Bunnings except with no firewood and no butane gas – probably due to the cold weather and (we think) a long weekend in the NT coming up. After that highlight of the day it was off to the old Telegraph station which is in a lovely spot right on the banks of the Todd river and close to the springs for which Alice is named. The telegraph station is basically the reason for the town’s existence and it’s funny to think it was here to support Altunga town which had 300 people to Alice’s 5 or 6.
It was then time to head back to the caravan to do some chores. Larry sat down and got ten days worth of blog supplemented with photos and then posted on line whilst Jenny got down on her hands and knees at his feet (don’t get used to it Larry!) to clean all the floors of dirt and dust as well as banging out all the mats, wiping down surfaces AND doing two loads of washing.
Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport where the plane was right on time and there were our trusty couriers with L’s laptop, GoPro and drone. Nice of H&M to go all the way back to Perth to get them and lucky it coincided with Tom’s graduation. J
Back to camp to off load H&M’s travel stuff then back in the car for a quick trip to the Central Land Council for our permits for the Meerenie Loop. A little bit confusing about what date to put on the permit as we weren’t sure what part of the Loop is the bit the permit is required for and the girls behind the counter just keep saying if it’s on the map it’s covered but the map shows all the way to Uluru which isn’t so, as I say, a bit confusing. Never mind, we have a permit if anyone bothers to ask to see it but I doubt it and it all seems a bit like tokenism anyway as it’s free and not even a money making exercise.
It was then back to Woolies for a last minute top up shop of fruit and vegies before heading back to the van to remake the bed with clean sheets, pack up ready for tomorrow and cook a big hearty meal of tuna mornay for dinner (although it does seem a bit warmer this evening so heartiness is not necessarily required). And so our little sojourn in Alice Springs comes to an end.
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