Bye Bye Alice

Who let this one thru??? Maybe all those flies have finally made us CRAZY!

Ormiston Pound (west of Alice) is HUGE! We did the 3 hour pound and gorge hike.

The Thorny Devil is a little CUTEY! And so well adapted to life in the harsh Red Centre.

Nights spent out bush are SPECTACULAR! Beautiful sunsets.....good-bye flies....hello brilliant stars.

Arltunga Historic Reserve is home to the ruins and mines that hundreds of gold miners lived and worked in in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Absolutely INSANE!  Pushed wheelbarrows of all their stuff more than 600kms from the end of the rail line to what??? Little water, 120kms+ from civilisation, harsh winters and summers and very little gold. This is the restored ruin of the gaol. The guy in front....WANTED! On suspicion of goat rustling. Oh yeah, goats were another obstacle the miners faced. Good for meat but ate every bit of vegetation in sight.

Today we are 'on the road again' after 8 days in and around Alice Springs. Of course, that was not our original intention, but a service of the Nissan revealed the bushes on the struts were very worn. Not good when you want to cross a desert or climb a sand dune or tackle a rocky road. So we've had a week of chasing new ones which had to be flown in from Adelaide and were fitted by the local ARB guys yesterday. Not that we have been bored at all while we have been here in town. Alice has a lot to offer the tourist and we have enjoyed doing some of the in-town stuff as well as getting out and about in the MacDonnell Ranges which run either side of Alice. We have visited gorges and chasms, ochre pits and pounds, holes and rocks and more gaps than you could poke a stick at. Not much water around in any of them, but there's a little bit there so you can imagine how pretty it all must be when there is water around. In town we have had a shopping fix as well as visiting some of the local icons...the RFDS station, School of the Air, Old Telegraph Station and Desert Park....where the birds of prey show is a must! The weather has been exceedingly good....days of 23 and nights of 8. And we found a cozy, clean little caravan park with friendly owners and fellow tourists. All in all another great week in the Van Itallie's trip.