NEED TO ADD MOTOR CHANGE OVER CONTENT
Meanwhile: 19 AUG The things u do in the NT that you would never normally do.....just filmed in an advert for/with Michael Gunner MP, wait for it, leader of the NT Labour Party! Shock horror
2015 HARTS RANGE RACES
Harts Range is approximately 220km north of Alice Springs along the Plenty Highway. The race started as a bet in 1946 between station owners, stockmen and police as to who’s horse was fastest. It is now an annual event and includes local horse racing, bull riding, gymkhana and even lizard racing. We were volunteering in the canteen and had a great weekend out bush with friends. Pics show the local punters checking out the stock and police horses.
2015 OZ OUTBACK ODYSSEY
Oz Outback Odyssey Alice to Darwin car rally
2015 THE DONOR BUS
So we've bought another bus - a donor bus. From Adelaide, the same bus as ours (well close). So Lola is staying with Nan and Pa visiting, Brad and I a doing a superquick flight to Adelaide to pick up the bus and drive it back as quick as we can (over a weekend I think). It will then be used as a motor swap to get us up and running again.
Fly in 15 July and a quick shop up to stock up on the the grog we can't get in Alice. We have enough on board to get us through anything we may encounter.
16 July Pee stop at Spud's Roadhouse in Pimba. A smidge over 500kms today, donor bus going great and an early stop for a little R&R at Glendambo
17 July on the road before sunrise. It's bloody cold and wet down south. A roadside cuppa stop and watch the sunrise and onward to Coober Pedy. Hello and goodbye Coober Pedy. Please install a burger shop before next we meet. I'm starving and that veg pastie did not cut it. 9 hours on the road, so glad we decided to stop in Marla and were able to receive your call Cookie! The donor bus is ticking along great just as you will be as you head up the Stuart Highway with your donor ticker just in time for Xmas. Love you, go gettum, see ya soon xxxxxxx
18 July Back home at Ross River
All this talk of a donor bus and a motor transplant is actually representative of someone very near and dear to us who is finally undergoing a long awaited heart transplant. He and his wife and kids have had their lives on hold for a very long time, waiting, waiting, waiting. I urge all of our bookface friends out there to DO SOMETHING GREAT WITH YOUR LIFE and get yourself on the donor registry RIGHT NOW - http://www.humanservices.gov.au/…/australian-organ-donor-re… Someone special has sadly passed but they did something great with their life by giving life to others. So while we wait for news of the transplant process sending all of our love to a very special young man, we encourage everyone to make the next persons wait for a new life much shorter. Xxxxxxx
2015 ARLTUNGA DAY TRIP
Jan and Ken come to visit so joined by Scurry the Scottish backpacker we head off to visit Arltunga.
2015 TREPHINA TREK
A day out at Trephina Gorge with friends - Dan from work and a couple of backpackers April & Billy from Ross River.
Trephina Gorge is near the end of the Ross Highway, part of East MacDonnell Ranges
2015 CARNIVALS AND CIRCUSES
Just like Ross River, there is always something going on in Alice. We always try to get to town and bring a couple of backpackers in for the ride (they are otherwise pretty much stranded).
Recently, we had the Alice Springs Show and the Circus in town. Love the show, it's a mini version of the Melbourne Show with heaps of rides and side shows but without a single queue - no lining up here, love it.
2015 IT’S GONNA BE A CRACKA!
Being from Victoria, we haven't had cracker night for about 40 years so being in the NT on cracker day we seized the opportunity. So much fun.
WARNING: Explicit language used in video and don't try this at home kids - watch YouTube link
Oh and just for the record, the explicit language did not relate to the crackers so much as pointing the camera to the sky with red wine in hand thus pouring red wine in eyes while filming.
2015 BACKPACKERS LOVE A PARTY
It's not all red dirt dust out here in the desert. Work and play at Ross River is something new all the time.
Owner Jodie and her family have quickly become life long friends. Jodie works tirelessly to accommodate and endless variety of cabin stayers, campers, training groups and wild and whacky groups of car clubs, bike clubs, music events and more. She is supported by a colourful team of staff made up mostly of international backpackers extending their holiday visa's for another year by participating in 3 months remote work. And remote they are!
We are nearing the end of the second crew in our time here, but have fond memories of work and play, where we've also hosted the odd drunken bus party......there was the Face Paint Party, The Onsie Party, the Farewell Party….just to name a few.
2015 ROSS RIVER “RESORT”
Weclome to Ross River (no nothing to do with mosquitoes and viruses), North East of Alice Springs with a taste of the Australian outback pioneering history.
Introducing our new home for at least 6 months. Brad has committed to the role of Maintenance Manager and Lola and I have committed to the 90km daily drive to town for work and school - it's definitely worth it though, and a beautiful drive, different every day.
The resort formed around the original Loves Creek Homestead built in the 1890's, in 1901 supplying vegetables to the miners at Arltunga. Then from horses to cattle, the homestead is now an outback "resort" with 30ish cabins available, rustic bar and dining facilities as well as campgrounds in a beautifully natural red centre desert setting.
Meanwhile I’m off for a quick work trip to Darwin for a Regional IT Managers Conference - oh the humidity, will never ever be in Darwin in the wet season.
2015 EXPLORING NEW SURROUNDS
Brad's been issued with his new company car :). Lola and I took the day off today to explore our new home...we've just been on a little 4wd-ing adventure exploring some waterholes and rock carvings and got a little lost...We eventually made it back safe and sound ready for her to join the kids for school of the air art class at 1.30pm. I really must find myself a sense of direction somewhere!
Then an awesome afternoon touring the property and come across two of the best showers ever....and an old Bedford
2015 UH OH! WE’RE STUCK
So our recent explore down the Ross Highway, East MacDonnell Ranges turned into a new job for Brad at Ross River Resort.
Before moving down to Ross for an initial 3 months work, we decided we'd take a trip to Devil's Marbles......100km north I was driving along and the bus motor blew. 3 days on the side of the Stuart Highway and we loaded on a tow truck and arrived to our new home and employer - "Hi, we're here, and not going anywhere for a while".
Daisy instantly made a new friend of the resident Tiger, and we settled in only to have the Suzuki gearbox die. Sent it Adelaide and 4 weeks later they said they can't fix it, so 7 weeks later, waiting for a gearbox to be sent from Queensland. Well things were all going a little too smoothly I guess.
2015 HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND OUT AROUND TOWN
Happy Birthday Lola and Julie. Lola learns to play her didgeridoo with Andrew Langford and jammed with the group playing the drums too.
Just been to a new song launch by Michael Cafe. Heap of us in our cars in the middle of the speedway oval, radios all tuned in and pumped up for the launch of Micks new song Night Train. Go to Facebook page Michael Cafe Music to check him out
2015 LATE ARVO AT EMILY GAP & JESSIE GAP
Click to enlarge images
I've been dying to get out and explore the Ross Highway to Ross River. A much cooler, overcast day today (when I say cooler I mean low 30's) which in my Victorian life meant hot. So at about 4pm, decided to head down the highway for quick explore and see which places we should come back to and spend some time.
Started about 12 minutes down the road at Emily Gap - a dry creek/waterhole, with no water some Aboriginal paintings of the Three Caterpillars could be seen.
Emily Gap - (Anthwerrke) is an important traditional site - it is part of a storyline for the Three Caterpillars; Yeperenye, Ntyarlke and Utnerrengatye which are ancestral beings for the Alice Springs area. Arrente people conceived in Alice Springs consider themselves direct descendants of these Caterpillar ancestors (courtesy NTG signage). (Atherrke) is also associated with the Three Caterpillars storyline. The Emu storyline also has a relationship with this site. The white sand against the ridge to the east of this gap represents the emu fat.
While some may see these as just more dry river beds and rocks, even in our brief and rushed visit, these two places evoke feeling, emotion, soul. Swarming with beautiful butterflies, Lola was quick to make the association of the ancient Caterpillar story to the many magical butterflies dancing around us.
Stopping off for some pics along the way - a steep, narrow and bumpy 4wd track to the top of this hill had some amazing views. Unfortunately my phone had a smudged lens so all my pics are crap. Really must get a new camera.
2015 CORROBOREE ROCK, ROSS HWY
Estimated to be 800 million years old, Corroboree Rock is an eroded remnant of an ancient rock strata. Said to be the result of layers of silt deposit in shallow salty sea water in which algae grew. A pleasant 15 minute work around this amazing dinosaur reveals the true structure and beauty. A soulful experience, this place oozes something special in the inexplicable.
2015 WORKING IN THE CENTRAL DESERT
Drove 280km to work today, and drive another 280 home. Alice Springs to Yuendemu and back again. I was lucky to make it home - they told me the light on meant the second fuel tank was full. It doesn't, it means it's empty. There's not too many fuel stops on the Tanami and quite a freak effort that I made him home. Julie
At least I didn't have 86 tyres to change. And it was great to see a pink breast screening van at Tilmouth Well on the Tanami.
Oh and don't forget to shut the gate
2015 LOLA HANGIN' OUT
A home made bow & arrow that actually works (well sort of), Making crazy hats, Supporting the didg player attempts and a little domesticated effort on my part baking bread.
2015 NOT TOO MUCH WORK BEING DONE
Not a great deal of bus work is being done during our stranding, but a little bit every now and then. The latest, a muffler rework (I think). And in total contrast, a quick tour of the Vietnamese garden from Lola's eyes.
2015 THE CLAY PANS AND BOATING DESERT STYLE
Just down Ilparpa Road, near where we went camel riding, the scene is a little different than usual. No longer clay pans but a red clay lake bed, there is water for miles and miles providing a stunning scene here in the central desert.
While here checking out the pans, we discovered there was an upcoming boat race - make it your self people powered crafts, so we had to come back and check it out.
2015 WEST AGAIN
Christmas is over, Dad's gone home, back to work and feeling a little trapped. Committing to 12 months work is a fantastic way to really get to know somewhere new from a locals point of view, but having a house on wheels is far better when those wheels are turning. So took a few days off and headed west again. A little further this time, out to Glen Helen for a night then a night stop over on top of a hill in the centre of nowhere. It was soooooooo hot though, like stiflingly breathless so we cut the trip a little short.
Feels good to be on the road again, no matter how brief. Form more information on Glen Helen Homestead go to: http://www.glenhelen.com.au/. A bit of a hike to the Gorge but worth it for the beauty - a little eery swimming in this water hole though. The old meat house was built in 1905 and restored in 1988. Built from white cypress which apparently is white ant resistant and bundle of reads are tied to the timber with raw cow hide straps to stand the test of time in this incredibly harsh environment. Wish I'd got the story behind the boots and the old piano but sorry, no idea. Walking down the river Lola identified our first snake encounter - we think it was a brown snake.
Back on the road and a swim stop at Ormiston Gorge. What a difference to when we were here just a few weeks ago. Since the rain, we are now swimming where previously we were sitting on the dry rocks and paths. Daisy is not allowed here and it is sooooooo hot, we had to spark up the Geni to run the airconditioner for her waiting in the bus. As a lifetime Victorian, I am yet to tire of these magnificent gorges/waterholes. Especially here were it is so hot and no fear of crocs. Love the colours of the little critters but just too bloody hot, like 48+ degrees, going home to park by the pool and plug in the air con.