alice - who the **** is alice?

We have a mega trek today - its 685km to drive before we reach the middle of oz- alice springs. So we start the day with a mega breakfast at the servo- who knows when we will get our next meal! The dusty pyramids continue as far as we can see on the horizon as we leave coober pedy but its still very eeirie because there is no-one to be seen anywhere apart from a few other motorists every mile or so. The desert is deserted! This though, is the real Australia - the cities are great but you could be anywhere in the world with all the familiar business logos etc that are there - even before some of the oz countryside reminded us of England but here with the red sand rocks and blue skies we could only be in Australia. The space is immense. There are still trees and scrub and even some grass in patches but the roadside indicates what a hostile place this is for wildlife- every few yards we see the skeletal remains of cattle and other creatures that have fallen victim to the dry hot sun, some were probably killed by vehicles but with no water to be found its amazing that a few do survive - today we see a few cows, some wild horses and several mahoosive eagles but no roos or camels! Lots of creeks we pass over are completely dry. There are still the famous aussie watering holes every few hundred kms - the roadhouses - in the middle of nowhere- where everything the weary traveller might need is met- including the pokie machines! We devour an icecream and carry on...we were told there arnt any speed limits (!) in the northern territory but that wasn't true - since last year the limit is 130km and having heard about some tourists being fined $300 on the desert road we stick to that despite the road being empty. Akubras (Hats) off to the guys that built this road back in the 80's, prior to that it was still a dirt track, it seems endless and with nowhere around to stay, live etc it must have been a real feat of engineering. About 100km south of alice springs is a wacky roadhouse that has a singing dingo - sadly no-one in at the time could play the piano so we feel like we've missed out on something there! We will try again on our return trip! We thought there were lots of weirdos in w.a. but maybe the sun here has a similar effect! Bevs turn today to have a sore throat and cough... our air con too?! After 5 and a half hours driving we find alice - a city in the middle of nowhere and people again! Wow. Weve crossed the nullabor and now made our way to the red centre (good job we didn't bring maz - she wouldn't have made it)- we really are tourists now! Staying here for two nights we check in to the macdonnell range big 4 - lovely cabin this time - and 3 swimming pools to choose from! A bit out of town we drive to the supermarket (this ones open till 12- yippee!) and cook ourselves a curry for dinner back at the cabin. 41 degrees again today in the shade and at 10.30 at night the patio outside is still hot to touch! But we are bearing up - this feels no different to the heat of Adelaide last week - so much for the claptrap about it being too hot , a different sort of heat etc... what a load of ****! Potd - UTE FUL - on a pick up truck (called utes here) full of junk - classic!

Another Border Crossing

Great Looking Locals

Is This Uluru?!

Coco Co Pilot

Dinner??