On our last night in
Alice Springs we decided to go out for pre dinner drinks to Lasseter's Casino. We had to fight crowds of excited
young people gathering around the building beside the casino. It seems that the Year 10 Formal was on and as we had our drinks we watched the
young ladies and their partners arrive. What a display! They came in such a variety of transport, ranging from modern day Mercedes and sports cars, to vintage cars, motor bikes and the best of all - the local police "paddy wagon"!! It was fun to watch and they were greeted like movie stars.
Over the last months I'd been talking to
Laura B and we hoped to meet up at Kings Canyon. As happens to most of us on our trips, things change and plans get altered along the way. She was ahead of schedule and at Ayers Rock by the time I got to Alice so we missed by a couple of days. They were having a great trip though and I'm looking forward to hearing about it when she gets home.
From Alice we went out to Hermannsberg and stopped at the Historical Precinct to look around and get our
Mereenie Loop pass from the local service station. This road is an example of how things change in such a short time. When we were camped at
Redbank Gorge in the first week of our trip we'd been told that the road was terrible. Luckily for us, by the time we got back the graders had been out there and it was really good going. It was an enjoyable drive. One day I must get out to Gosse's
Bluff it looks so impressive. We got to Kings Canyon late afternoon and set up. We decided to go to the bbq and nightly entertainment..mainly because we didn't feel like cooking for ourselves! It was a good night. The group called "The Roadies" put on a show which involves getting the kids up on the stage with them. They sing mostly Australiana type songs and give the kids a variety of clackers, bangers, whistles, and bells to play and hats to wear. Then they give them all sorts of actions to do. The kids just love it and the parents really appreciate it.
Next morning we spent about four hours climbing and walking around the
Rim Walk. Kings Canyon is so beautiful with the shapes, the colours and the markings. Those canyon walls look like someone has come along and cut them with a knife, they're so straight and sheer. It was really hot though and we would have appreciated our air conditioning when we got back into the car.
On we went to the Lasseter Highway and
Yulara where we set up
camp. Our site was so small that it was difficult to get both trailer and car onto it. This is one place where a tent would be best as they at least have grass to set up on. It didn't matter for one night so we set up then headed out with bikkies and cheese to watch the sunset on Uluru. Back at
camp we heard that Steve Irwin had died and couldn't believe it. We were just stunned.
This was Ray's first time to see "The Rock" and even though he'd seen photos and thought he knew what to expect he was still surprised by it. It is so much more than the photos! The colours, the folds and creases, marks and shapes all give it character and a mighty presence. It has a magnetism about it that draws the eye.
The
park entry fee is $25 per couple for three days with children under 16 free. When we got there the next morning the climb was closed because of strong winds at
the summit. We decided to go out to the Olga's and walked around there for a while. Back at Uluru we had a look at the cultural centre and spent about an hour looking, reading and learning. I think it's very
well done. We decided to drive out and walk around Uluru but when we got there we could see that the climb had opened. It's surely a daunting sight when you get to the bottom and look up at the endless line of chain looming above, but up we went. This is the third time that I've climbed and the least stressful. The times before I've had my children with me and this time I thought Ray could look after himself!! It's hard work as you know, but such a great view and sense of achievement when you reach the top.
The time was now running out on our trip. We had to be home by Friday because my daughter Hannah was coming home after two years overseas. We decided since it was only about 3pm that we would leave and get a couple of hundred kms travelled before dark. We made it to
Kulgera by dusk.
Three things happened here at
Kulgera. Number One there were people from
my home area camped there. Number Two - it came up windy and blew a gale all night during which Ray got up to check on things, stood on my glasses and snapped a piece of the lens out and Number Three - we caught up with some blokes we'd been
camping next to at
Yulara. The interesting thing about them was that they had been to the
Birdsville Races on the Friday and Saturday. They left on the Sunday, had one night in the
Simpson Desert and were at
Yulara by the Monday night and back at
Kulgera on the Tuesday night. This seems like the fastest desert crossing..a mad rush.
Just the same we were now on a mad rush ourselves. The wind blew a gale all night and the morning was cold. This continued all the way down the highway with the only compensation coming when at
Marla I got a message on my phone to say that we'd had about an inch of rain back home. That made suffering the extreme change of temperature worth while. It was too windy and cold to do the usual stop, boil the billy and have morning tea, lunch etc so we made good time down the highway. On the way up we had liked the look of
Lake Hart and thought we'd
camp there on the way home. It was mid afternoon and still blowing when we got there so decided a motel in
Port Augusta looked like the best bet. We didn't know that when we got to
Port Augusta there'd be no rooms available!! Something big was on in town and we had no luck at all. It was still blowing and now even raining. We went on. We didn't feel like setting up the camper in this weather and when we got to
Wilmington the hotel lights looked so inviting. We got a room...typical old hotel room with bed, wardrobe, dressing table, wash basin with the
toilet and shower down the creaky hallway. That was great and a better way to end the trip than in a flash motel room.
Next day we drove on to
Adelaide to see Ray's daughter and family then finally got home Friday 8th September mid afternoon. Hannah got home about 9pm and we talked until
well after midnight. It was so good to give her a hug and to see her face while we talked. Two years has been so long.
So that's the end of our trip. Thanks to good advice from exploroz we adjusted our tyre pressure to 26 on the dirt roads and had only a blow out and a puncture. We thought that was pretty good for all the rough roads we'd travelled. The catches on the back of the camper trailer snapped and had to be replaced and the tie down ropes on the cover of the camper were not strong enough and we replaced them as they broke. The screws on the kitchen part of the camper came loose but they were easily tightened and the spare tyre support on the trailer cracked the weld. The main thing to happen was the air conditioner but we'll get that fixed now we're home. I consider anything that doesn't stop you driving isn't a major disaster.
We did about 13000kms with about 6000kms dirt. We're already planning for next year.
Thank you everyone for putting up with this report and thanks for all the nice comments.