Alice Springs Arport Motel

... I hiked today left me wanting more. Several other people I have met wanted to see the park so we arranged our visit through a company specializing in the area.

We couldn't have asked for a better day either. Imagine a temperature about 90 degrees with no humidity and bright sun. That combination is just absolutely perfect for a series of hikes followed by dips in the freezing cold water. Yes, this is desert with dry river ...

Ursprünglich hatte ich vorgesehen, dass ich während acht Tagen durchs Outback zurück nach Adelaide reise. Leider wurde diese Tour um zwei Tage gekürzt und so hatte ich etwas Zeit in Alice Springs. Am ersten Tag nahm ich's eher ruhig, d.h. ganz wenig Sightseeing, die gemütlichen, kleinen Kaffees in Todd Mall geniessen und dabei etwas Routenplanung machen. Am Abend besuchte ich eine gute Didgeridoo-Show.

In meinem letzten Mail habe ich geschrieben es sei rund 30°C. Wie ...

... 8211; those further afield told them to get over it as that was what they live through on a regular basis but when your normally spotless and shiny 4 WD actually gets covered in up country dust it must have been very distressing!

I spent over a week in Sydney staying with a friend from school who is a doctor living and working in the eastern suburbs .A lot of time was spent catching up, sharing wine and stories and meeting with her friends and family – that was good ...

... threw spears went to all different kinds of waterfalls and pools and swam and jumped off rocks. Visited a place where Crocadile Dundee was filmed, did a river boat tour and saw real crocs in the wild. Helicopter ride cannoing down Catherine gorge

I could go on for much longer but there's too much that I did. Enjoy the pictures. I will have the memories forever best part of the trip by far.

... for a local hot air balloon company (always knew he was full of hot air!) whilst I've been a lady of leisure. I'm now bored so have applied for a variety of jobs in town, so will let you know how I get on. I probably won't write anything for a while, just coz there's nothing interesting to write about!

... A good show but we were collapsing after our early start.

Wednesday

We woke to the first substantial rains for seven months. We picked up the 4WD, and discovered we had very little storage space. After a couple of hours in the rain, we had finally stacked every crevice and we were ready to leave Alice for the trip to West MacDonnell ranges.

... Wayno. He is another Kiwi turned Australian tour guide as well as a Parisian trained chef. Most curiously he is an apt player of Montreal Jewish geography; it so happens he attended summer camp in Pennsylvania with a few members of the tribe.

Speaking of curious events, it rains at Uluru roughly 10 times per year. We were fortunate enough to experience this most rare occasion. We escaped the downpour ...

... she hadn't been and had always wanted to go.

We picked her up, fully packed and stocked up for 10 days in the bush. We headed west for the McDonald Ranges, stopping at Simpsons Gap for a wander, but then heading through to Ormiston Gorge campspot before it got too late. We were worried about getting a site there as it was all national park camping from here on in, and this was the only one in the West ...

... these parts is indescribable but I will try. As we drove south from Tennant Creek towards the centre, the landscape changed quite suddenly and is was overwhelmingly apparent that we were entering an amazing place. The earth is tones of ochre so luminescent it vibrates and the shrubs atop it are dried out green and yellows that when the sun hits them just so, look like they are lit from within. The rocky formations of land are unlike ...

... over to the campfire at about 6.30 for The Fines and then dinner about 7p.m. Each day, whoever was tail end Charlie had to come up with a reason to fine people (all in the name of charity to the Royal Flying Doctor Service). By the end of the trip about $500 had been collected and some of the methods of delivering the fines were hilarious. We had everything from raps, poems and quizzes to camel races… with us being the ...