After Kakadu we dropped the van back at Katherine Headquarters ( Jane and Neil's ) and were given a guided tour of the Katherine Research Station by the Regional Director ( no less ). We felt it only fitting to prepare a sumptuous feast for his wife and himself and while we were off shopping for that evening's banquet, he took our two boys home with him and taught Ben how to drive their car around the paddock!! Not content with supervising Ben from the front seat, he popped Sam in the passenger seat and waved them off on their merry way.. Luckily for me Neil is a good teacher and both survived unscathed!!
If you read this, Neil, I am actually very grateful it was you and not me who gave Ben his first driving lesson.
A few days ( and a canoe trip down the Katherine River ) later we bade farewell with heavy hearts and set forth for Alice.
Fast forward 4 days and we decided on impulse to detour a short way up the Plenty Hwy to Gemtree to fossick for zircons. Unfortunately the zircon fields were closed but we could fossick for garnets instead. What a great day! And apparently much easier work than zircons. Ben quickly asserted himself as chief garnet spotter ( but we never would have found them if Mick hadn't done the digging...yes we're very grateful Mick )
It was so exciting to see that rich red colour hiding amongst the other rocks. If it wasn't such back-breaking work you could get quite addicted to the thrill of the chase!
The best part of going to Gemtree was meeting the lovely Frichot family from Alice springs ( and Ballarat ).
We had lots to do with Ben and Tracy and their three children during our 11 days in Alice and I'm sure we will remain friends for a long time to come.
They say if you spend two weeks in Alice you may as well move there! The town reaches out it tentacles and stakes its claim. We were 3 days shy of the two week rule but we did consider an offer to join a 4WD day the next weekend which was extremely tempting to say the least. It was ladies and novices day and I fit the bill on both counts and would have learnt heaps!
I have to air my ignorance here and say I didn't realize that Alice Springs was surrounded by so many mountains. I guess I hadn't given it much thought at all really, but presumed it was in the middle of a vast flat desert. The town itself is quite modern with a few shopping centres and all of the standard facilities . It also boasts the fantastic Desert Park with its dramatic backdrop of the West MacDonnell ranges. We had read about this park otherwise may have forgone the experience based solely on its unappealling name. The park sprawls over a huge area and is roughly divided into 3 sections each explaining about the flora and fauna in its own region. One of the highlights which we all enjoyed was a talk by an aboriginal ranger demonstrating their bush tucker and bush medicine. Other enjoyable aspects of the park were the walk-through aviaries, the wildflower beds and the enormous nocturnal display. All beautifully maintained and accompanied by individual prerecorded commentaries on individual exhibits. We could listen to any or all of the comments at our own pace as we each wore a recorder around our necks.
No trip to Alice would be complete without venturing out to the MacDonnell Ranges. We went to both East and West MacDonnells and whilst we enjoyed the Trephina Gorge walk in the east, we felt the West appealed more. The day we drove to the West was quite hot so a few swims in the refreshing waterholes was very welcome. Standley Chasm was as impressive as the postcards show but for sheer dominance of landscape, Ormiston Gorge won our vote. In hindsight, we should have stayed at the Glen Helen resort in order to complete the loop and visit Palm Valley and Gosse Bluff which are both said to be spectacular.
Alice Springs itself originated as the site of the first Overland Telegraph Station. A visit to the station is very interesting and informative and a good lesson on our recent history.
In keeping with previous stays in major towns,we had further maintenance required on the car and van! The air-con in the van had a leak and needed regassing and the mechanics in Darwin had left out a washer when doing the bearings. As a result, we are lucky a wheel didn't go flying off down the highway at speed. Unless you are a local, repairs in Alice can take weeks. Our thanks to Ben for pulling a few strings and expediting the repairs.
4WDS - boats - same same, fix and repair all the time! desert/ ocean, they are tough environments - we seem to have 'fixed' our way back to Darwin. Hope your little glitches haven't been too stressful! It's a tough country on man-made vehicles, but worth it!
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