Alice Springs to Mataranka: hits and misses

We set off for Alice Springs from Kings Canyon, expecting a 300km journey because there is a short cut along a dirt road that cuts 140km off the main route.......... but when we asked advice along the way we were told categorically not to even think about taking the caravan along it - so that added another two hours' driving time! At least we had a booking, so we weren't worried about getting a place in the caravan park. When we finally arrived and had spoken to a few people, we discovered that the people who drove to Alice the previous day had been held up for five hours just outside of Erldunda because there was water over the road - and some I overheard talking about the dirt road we had been contemplating and saying it had been absolutely terrible. So that was two lucky misses!

Our first morning in Alice was a bit of a dead loss - chasing around looking for a small irrigation joiner that had split on the caravan, leaving us with no hot water for a few days. We had never specifically thought we needed to have the hot water system - it just came with the van, but boy did we miss it when it wasn't working! Especially as we only had a small "two cup" kettle with which to boil water for washing up. We also did the grocery shopping and it might be boring and mundane, but it was really nice to find a Coles supermarket with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables at normal prices! In the afternoon we planned to check out a few places in town, but only really managed one: a "reptile centre" where you could hold lizards and a snake and there were other reptiles in the usual glass cages, and a crocodile that could have been dead for all the action we saw. The next day we found the "Desert Park" and then were even sorrier that we had wasted time on the Reptile Centre. This was the Real Thing. If you are ever within 100km of Alice, I really recommend that you check out this place. It is fantastic. There's a self-guided audio tour around the property, which has three different desert habitats, lots of native birds and all the interpretive information - both aboriginal/cultural and botanical. There was a raptor display that was pretty impressive, and an amazing nocturnal house that really was dark and all the night creatures were out and about. We ended up there nearly all day, so we never got very far into the MacDonnell Ranges - but we did go out to Simpson's Gap, which was very scenic - especially as it was nearly sunset when we got there.

From Alice we had another long haul to Wycliffe Well, where we were booked into a Big 4 called the Desert Oasis or something like that, and claims to be the centre of UFO sightings in Australia. What a heap that place was! Everything was there, but run down and trashy. The girls rode on a little train that ran around the park, and it was so bad they got off and walked back! There was a lake that was only 1/4 full, with rickety bridges and a couple of forlorn-looking wheelbarrows in the dry side, and a 300 seat restaurant/auditorium that looked like an old tin shed and was deserted. Then the next morning, we left early and stopped at the Devil's Marbles about 30km down the road, which turned out to have a lovely free camp site hidden in behind the rocks. That would have been SO much better! If only you could know these things in advance.

Another long day on the road....... we went through Tennant Creek, where Andrew was amazed at the transformation from the last time he had been there (admittedly about 25 years ago!) and stopped at an Aboriginal Cultural Centre where for some reason the message really hit me about just how devastating the arrival of white people was for the Aborigines in so many ways. Forget rabbits, cats, camels, buffal grass, cane toads......... white people are the real feral pest here.

Just outside of Tennant Creek we found a recreation area with a lovely dam, and Kirralee, Tahlia and I swam - despite it being VERY cold. Kendall squealed and sooked but finally got wet (with a bit of help from me) but Andrew completely piked out. He was holding out for the warmer weather and water.

We were aiming for a bush camp listed in our Camps 5 book, but when we got there it was literally wall-to-wall caravans - all by the side of the main road with one bush toilet, how ridiculous! Luckily, Andrew had spotted a camper off on a side road a couple of ks back, so we turned around and went back there, just as the sun was setting, to find a fantastic clearing off the road, with a camp fire site, some wood lying around (not big, admittedly but hey) and only one other group of campers. Now that was a hit (or a near miss, if you prefer). It was a lovely night, too - the first where we could comfortably sit outside. Yes, we are definitely getting further north!

The next day was again a long haul in the car (the girls have been so good!) but by mid-afternoon we were in Mataranka - 100km south of Katherine. Now it was REALLY hot (well - we thought so at the time, but we hadn't experienced Darwin yet!) so the first thing we did was put the bathers on and head for the thermal pool. More about that in the next blog. Hope you are all keeping warm..............!

Captions for photos

- Go-karting in the caravan park

- Lizard cuddling at the Reptile Centre (girls say I gave this an unfairly poor review)

- Brown hawk in raptor display at Desert Park. We can now identify brown hawks, black kites and whistling kites (and we've seen plenty on the road)

- Simpson's Gap in MacDonnell Ranges. Lots of water around!

- Devil's Marbles

- Oops - putting one back that we knocked over

- First swim of the trip