Alice Springs & North

I keep referring to it as Port Alice and Dalton keeps reminding me that it is a long way from Port Alice.  However, the natives are still plentiful.  Next to the small places we have been driving through, and there aren't that many, Alice Springs is quite big.  We stayed at the MacDonnell Rangers Holiday Park and had an Ensuite Site, never even heard of one before.  It is a site with your own bathroom and shower, very handy.  We spent two nights there as a treat, they have 2 beautiful pools.  You really feel like a swim after driving for several hours.  We have air conditioning but when you get out into the 35 degree heat it is really something.   We spent an entire morning cleaning the van, Dalton's arms were like rubber when he got finished with the outside.  We should have taken a before and after picture.   The bugs are terrible and the birds keep flying at us as well.  We are driving a real "murder machine" at least it looked that way before we washed it.

After cleaning the van, we wandered around Alice for awhile, checking out the art works, jewellery, etc.  We also checked out the golf course, it was really nice but there was no one on it and there wasn't going to be either so as Dalton didn't want to play alone and we had planned on leaving the next morning, we gave it a miss.

We had lunch at the Casino and lost a few bucks in the bargain.  Spent the evening sitting around with the people we met a Coober Pedy and another couple from Adelaide who were on their way to visit their kids in Darwin.

We left Alice early in morning and headed up the Stuart Highway to Wycliff Wells, the UFO Capital of Australia.  Apparently people from all over the world come here, it has been written up in the paper and everything.  We were the only ones in the campground and when we went to bed the people in the restaurant there (the owner and staff) said they hoped we would still be there in the morning.  Well, I have to say, I did have an encounter with a UFF - an unwanted flying frog, I thought a grasshopper had gotten into our van but it was a tree frog.  I squealed and made Dalton get up and get it out of the bed.  Next morning, I had to share my shower with two of the little buggers.

This picture and the next are to show what we have been looking at for hundreds of km.  They are termite mounds.  Since these pictures were taken we have seen some that are 3m tall.  It is hard to imagine what they would do if they got into a city.  This picture looks like there is a UFO in it....ha ha ha...

These were taken at the same place, on on either side of the road.  I was just fascinated with them, I am not kidding, they were on both sides of the road for hundreds of km.

We also passed the Tropic of Capricorn so now we are suffering from the humidity as well as the heat.  It is unbelievably hot.  You can shower and you never really dry off.