Sat 23 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

At John Flynn's grave

0045 (5257 km) Lovely cold night - with lots of stars. Saw the scorpion constellation that had been pointed out to us on the stargazing night. Walked to the spot where purse was spotted on photos, nothing there, so decided to leave notes with our phone number on vehicles, boards and ranger residence. Lots of kangaroos by the roadside on the drive back.

0230 (5336 km) Got home. Sleep, really tired now.

0915 (5336 km) Left for Simpson's Gap for flora and fauna ranger talk. Learnt some geology of the area. Flora - Dead Finish tree, River Red Gum, Bush Coconut, Native Fig, Native Cypress, Ti Tree, Witchetty Bush. Fauna - black footed rock wallabies, possum, witchetty grubs, fish, lots of birds. Stopped by Flynn's Grave. It had a rock from the Devil's Marbles. John Flynn founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

1115 (5362 km) Went grocery shopping - again.

1250 (5396 km) Back at caravan park for pizza lunch. Played pool. A family called to say they found purse. Yay!

1800 (5396 km) Go out to dinner.
1815 (5401 km) Dinner at Juicy Rump.
2000 (5401 km) Left Juicy Rump.
2010 (5404 km) Back at caravan park.

Fri 22 Jul 2011 Alice Springs



At Emily Gap with Rock paintings in the background



0900 (5010 km) MJ had a Skype session with Mr Paul and class from school. It was 9.30 am in Melbourne.

0930 (5010 km) Went to East MacDonnell Ranges.

1055 (5082 km) Information board for Trephina Gorge. Had two river crossings. Reshuffled contents of car so that everyone was in 4WD to get across the water. Luckily the water was only about 10cm, so wasn't really that exciting, although the ground was pretty uneven.

1110 (5088 km) Trephina Gorge. Went for Panorama Walk - we're getting good at these uphill, rocky climbs. Great views and CK produced some great echoes down the valley. Had sandwiches for lunch. Realised HM's purse was missing. Thought maybe it has been left in bag in other car.

1415 (5088 km) Left Trephina Gorge. Drove to Ghost Gum trail - very old, approximately 300 year old tree. Ghost gum trunks are covered with a fine white powder so they have ghostly sheen at night.

1500 (5129 km) Corroboree Rock. A narrow rock formation (Aboriginal sacred site) with a couple of holes in it so that it looks like windows. Also found some coloured ochre.

1600 (5150 km) Jessie Gap. Caterpillar dreaming stories.

1620 (5158 km) Emily Gap. Rock art of white lime & red ochre stripes representing caterpillar dreaming.

1650 (5168 km) Back at caravan park. Played pool - kids are really enjoying this. Had steak and sausages for dinner.

2010 (5168 km) Looked everywhere, still can't find purse. Made Police Report for lost purse.

2045 (5181 km) Came back and discussed what to do about lost purse.

2330 (5181 km) Went through photos of the day, and found a couple of photos with a purse like object on the ground next to HM. So decided to drive to Trephina Gorge, again, with SL and Dad.

Thu 21 Jul 2011 Alice Springs



At the didgeridoo workshop



1025 (4969 km) Breakfast of toast and then went to Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. Lovely gardens

1115 (4980 km) Filled up.

1200 (4988 km) Went to the old Telegraph Station. Walked to the original Alice Spring. Named after Mrs. Alice Todd, wife of the Chief Superintendent of Telegraphs. Ironically, Alice had never been to Alice Springs. Saw a kangaroo in the fields. Walked up to Trig Hill and looked over the surrounding area.

1315 (4997 km) Got back to the caravan park to cook pea and ham soup & leftovers.

1430 (5004 km) Went to a free Didgeridoo workshop in town. We all learnt, or tried to learn, how to blow the didgeridoo. We made some interesting and disgusting noises. The instructor played some really good sounds on the didgeridoo.
1600 (5010 km) Back at the caravan park to play pool and attended the Wine and Cheese Evening.
1900 (5010 km) Dinner of tandoori chicken and soy chicken. Watched a slide show of flora and fauna of Central Australia.

Wed 20 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

At Simpson Gap - with a very cold waterhole

0850 (4648 km) Breakfast of toast and then went to West MacDonnell Ranges.

0920 (4674 km) Simpson's Gap. It was still quite cold so we all rugged up. Walked along the river bed. Apparently the water hole is very cold and very deep. Went for the Ghost Gum walk. There was a recent burn off so we couldn't see some of the features of the flora.

1100 (4715 km) Standley Chasm. Apparently it is on private property and someone had started charging.

1200 (4775 km) Ellery Creek Big Waterhole. It was certainly a big waterhole. However, there were dead fish everywhere and the whole area stank of dead fish, obviously. In the cold weather, a protozoa lives on the gills of the fish and prevents oxygen from going to the fish and so the fish die. It's all part of the natural cycle according to the signs.

1315 (4790 km) Serpentine Gorge. We had sandwiches for lunch at the car park and then went for a walk to the gorge. A huge river red gum stood impressively in the middle of the gorge in the water hole. It is impressive that the tree survives with the base of its trunk under water. Then we walked up to the lookout. Hard work but worth it. Not good for those scared of heights - the path was quite close to the cliffs at times. We saw some lizards on the path.

1545 (4805 km) Orche Pits. The colourful Orche Pits, the Aborigines used them to make paint for painting on their bodies for the ceremonies. Different stripes of colours were on the cliffs.

1630 (4830 km) Ormiston Gorge. Quite a nice campground. There were several campers sitting around the outside of the information centre with their computers plugged into the wall for power. Technology in the middle of nowhere.

1715 (4830 km) Went home.

1845 (4969 km) Got home and cooked chicken burgers for dinner.

Tue 19 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

See Heavitree Gap between East & West MacDonnell Ranges

0900 (4617 km) Spent the morning talking to insurance companies, caravan repairers, assessors, etc.

1030 (4617 km) Take camper trailer to JC Detailing Caravan Repairs.

1045 (4625 km) Left camper trailer at repairers. Went shopping and bought lots. Really lots, as we hadn't had a decent sized supermarket for a while. SL (CK's sister) and partner arrived - flew in from Melbourne to join us for 2 weeks.

1300 (4633 km) Got home and spent half an hour unloading the car. Had roast chicken for lunch, hot from Coles.

1530 (4633 km) Went for a drive into Alice Springs.

1545 (4640 km) Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre. There was a lot of information and lots to see around the area. Went up to Anzac Hill and looked around - could see the whole town. The kids found the McDonald's straight away. Quite interesting to see the gap in the MacDonnell Ranges where we drive through daily to get into town from the caravan park and the dry Todd River bed running through it.
1715 (4648 km) Back at caravan park and checked out the pool table. Had dinner of fish & rice- it was really nice and yummy.
1900 (4648 km) Star gazing, organised by the the caravan park. Saw several constellations and also Saturn.

Mon 18 Jul 2011 Kings Canyon to Alice Springs

0845 (4124 km) Had toast for breakfast and left Kings Canyon resort.
1115 (4346 km) Mt Ebenezeer. Put in some diesel for $2.50 per litre. Yes, CK remembered diesel. Filled up.
1200 (4403 km) Erldunda. Filled up. There was a giant echidna and frilled necked lizard. There was also some live emus wandering around behind a fence area. Had lunch of Ritz, creamed corn, cheese, tuna sandwiches.
1245 (4403 km) Left Erldunda.
1530 (4611 km) Arrived at Alice Springs - amazing how close the McDonnell Ranges are to town. Got to JC's Detailing and Caravan Repairs, Elder St, Alice Springs. Got them to inspect the damage, they estimated it will take a week to fix.
1730 (4617 km) MacDonnell Ranges Holiday Park. What a beautiful park! Got a cabin so that we could arrange for the camper trailer to be fixed. Cabins 45 and 46. Had meatballs and potato for dinner. Did washing.

Sun 17 Jul 2011 Kings Canyon

At the rim of Kings Canyon

0900 (4103 km) Had breakfast of toast. Left for Kings Canyon.

0915 (4113 km) Kings Canyon car park - definitely warming up quickly today. Put on sun block, hats, loaded with water. Checked out information boards and away we went. It was definitely a difficult climb up but it was worth it. It was a magnificent view looking out at the top of the climb. We walked through the "Lost City" and saw lots of domes around forming the "city". Went down to the cool waters of Garden of Eden. It is amazing there is so much water hidden in the desert. Learnt about the geology of how it was all formed. Also saw some really tame Spinifex Pigeons.

1245 (4113 km) Left Kings Canyon.
1300 (4124 km) Kings Canyon Resort. Had pumpkin soup, pea ham, bacon and eggs. Checked out the swimming pool and found the water was freezing. Way too cold to have a swim but the boys tried to go in anyway.
1800 (4124 km) Had salmon mornay for dinner.