Tuesday

We headed back to Alice Springs today. We have had such a great stay at the Outback Hotel it’s basic, the people who work here make it. The team in the restaurant who are all far away from their families, you can tell have created one here in Uluru we spoke with a lady from Nowra in NSW she’d been there 3 years a young lady from Adelaide in SA 2 years and a local Aboriginal lady from the NT who had been here a couple of years. They were so friendly and helpful and just seemed to love what they do and interested in you visit to Uluru. We also had a hilarious conversation with one man who was working outside, when I asked him how long he had been here he replied ‘ too bloody long, I only came for 6 months and that was 3 years ago’ he was from the coast and missing the ocean.

On the drive back I saw a dingo and yelled ‘FOX’ (brain did not engage before mouth) it was on the road about to step onto our lane. Ron slowed and the dingo looked at us and wandered past. It was very skinny and had a coat that matched the red sandy soil of the desert.

We passed a 4WD heading to Uluru, they had an upturned dinghy on their roof. I wanted to yell out ‘ Your bloody dreaming mate’

I drove from the Roadhouse to Alice about 200KM I was excited when I saw the 130KM speed sign!

I would love to return here one day, perhaps in Winter just to see what it’s like. They say only 5% of visitors ever get to see rain on Uluru so I Googled it, this clip was nice. Waterfalls on Uluru.

The Road to Alice.

Distance Traveled 566KM

Distance Walked 4KM

Wednesday

I woke up to a big surprise this morning..Via text:

“Greyhound Service GX849 has been cancelled due to floodwater closing the highway. You will need to reschedule your travel. Apologies for the inconvenience”

The challenge of travelling in a country of extremes. It’s the wet season in the North. There is only 1 bus a week from Alice to where I was going (Townsville) even if I waited a couple of days to see out the flooding there is no bus. If I wait till next week the highway may still be closed. What to do, go south go north perhaps fly some where? Thankfully Ron is still here with me so we talk it out and I call Greyhound to check my options (not many) so I am now catching the same bus but instead of going east to Townsville at Tennant Creek I’m going all the way to the top, Darwin! I am not upset by the change just step into organising mode cancelling bookings I had made down as far as Bundaberg in QLD and making new ones in Darwin. I have no choice but to fly from Darwin to Brisbane. I am very fortunate to have a friend from Darwin who’s given me a great list to see and do already and have managed to book some accommodation. The best thing is here in Alice it has rained all day and it is cool, it feels refreshing and renewing.

I visited the Royal Flying Doctor Centre where there is a museum and cafe and fascinating hologram movie to watch about the service and its history. The service is now not only helping communities in remote areas but even moving patients from urban areas to specialised hospitals in other states. What John Flynn did starting the service in the 1912 was amazing. In his letter to the then PM William Hughes he refers to the “men women and children of the never never” one of my first memories of the outback is from the movie We of the Never Never I was moved finding this reference in Flynn’s letter. They had a copy of the original novel the film is based in the museum shop so I bought a copy and look forward to reading it as I cross the never never.

First Published 1908.

The Greyhound station at Alice is not a station it’s a room on the side of a busy road there are a few chairs a counter and that’s it. It was painted white many years ago but now it’s kinda grey. There is no cooling. I sat and talked with an Aboriginal lady for a while she’d been flown to Alice from Tennant Creek a week ago she got out of hospital today. She talks to families as they walk past in language and interprets some of the yelling we can here across the street she points out some sculpture across the road in the park they are large up turned coolamon used to carry babies by their Aboriginal mothers. Her granddaughter comes and collects her after work, we still have two hours to wait. I have already visited the Anglican Church (no St James in Alice) it’s a modern build but always open so I pop inside for some peace and thank anyone who is listening for the welcomed rain. Back at the bus stop it’s just me and then slowly others arrive. We have been locked out of the office so now there is just the seats at the Burrito store next door. I find a young aboriginal family standing outside and tell them there are seats the young mother is carrying a small baby not much more than a week old. The young dad goes and gets food for them all. There is an older lady too with them they call here Mum. The baby slept the entire time we wait and the young Mum just held her absolutely silently. With the rain and all the groups of people moving around this area have me transfixed in my seat. I didn’t feel unsafe but but I did feel unsure of the place and the people. The lady from earlier returns and I chat with her and her granddaughter. There is a bizarre scene at the burrito shop, a customer going off about his order the team try to placate the angry man but it doesn’t work I watched with all the others in silence all looking at one another. Then the shop owner came out and gave away the customers five burrito we all laughed as someone said that’s going to be fun with all that chilli on the bus!

And so here I am in Tennant Creek 516KM North of Alice. It’s 2AM we are here till 3:00AM at the BP Roadhouse me and half a dozen visitors all the locals have departed. It’s stopped raining in front of me is a tow truck with a red cattle dog sitting in the driver’s seat eagerly waiting his owners return. There are young kids as young as 5 coming and going to buy coke and chips. We have been traveling for 6 hours. Darwin is another 10 hours away.

Distance Traveled 516KM

Distance Walked 5KM

Cost of a great burrito in Alice $16:00