16th – 24th June, 2009
Made it to Alice Springs. We’ll be spending heaps of time here as it will be our last resort-style stop until after crossing the Simpson (which by the way, still has our heart racing). Also, we’ll wait here until we can catch up with Steve’s brother Dale again. It’s not often we’re in the same country, let alone state or city, so we’ll make the most of it while we can. We’re staying at the MacDonnell Range Big 4, and it is one of the best parks I’ve ever seen. This morning we had free pancakes at the camp kitchen while meeting some of the other locals. There’s a jumping pillow that keeps the boys occupied from breakfast to dinner with a few snack visits in between. I’m constantly amazed at the capacity children have for saying goodbye to “friends” and then instantly making new ones.

The rear springs are fixed and the old Paj is looking much better in the arse, so we’re comfortable about that. Have to take it back on Monday though as they accidentally pinched one of the hoses to the rear poly bags making it hard to inflate. No worries they said, we’ll fix that up for you. I even went so far as to wash the car today. That Lake Eyre mud wasn’t looking too flash.

We also took the boys to the Monster Trucks at Arunga Park. Although Dan thought it was the best thing he’s ever seen, it was an almighty rip-off. It cost us $120 for the family, and we thought we’d see monster trucks. Well, we did – for about a total of 10 minutes. The rest of the show was little pee-wees on trail bikes doing fill ins while the trucks got ready. That’s an adults view, and Dan took what he got and cheered and shouted out for his favourites like a diehard. He loved it. Cam and Dan also got to see their first live fireworks display and it was great. Cheered along by the drunken crowd of lads behind us, they were enthralled and the oohs and aahs were abundant. After Dan had had enough of fist pumping the air in excitement, it was time to go home. We left a bit early and found that we had been parked in this paddock and had to squeeze through this tiny little gap. We got through but then found all the entry and exits had been blocked in also. The only way out was through this dried up river bed. Half way through we found it was pretty deep and we were in pitch black except for the spotties. We reversed out, pumped up the air lockers, and presto, out of that spot in a jiffy. Little did we think that the first time we used our air lockers would be to get us out of a car park in Alice Springs. But there you go - job done!

We also went for a walk around the Desert Park. This is a fabulous attraction. When you enter you are given a recorder with headphones. Each significant spot is numbered and you key that number into the recorder and a message plays with information relating to that spot. Really cool. There are a number of enclosures of native birds, nocturnal animals etc. It appeared to be mating season for the local ducks and thorny devils so the boys got sex education at the same time. Bargain!

Also, we bought ourselves a Cobb Cooker. You’ve got to put this on your camping shopping list. With the amount of places restricting fire places and such, we were really craving a roast meal. We tried a roast cooked on a Cobb by traveling friends John and Kaye at Lake Eyre and it was so tender and juicy! We’ve cooked a curry and roast sausages so far and it is really worth the money.

Alice Springs is also proving to be one of those places that makes you question that old “indigenous” issue. From Coober Pedy to Uluru to Alice Springs you are constantly confronted with the issue under differing guises. In Uluru you are taught about custom, culture, the meaning of tribe and being with family support and friendship. Which sounds great, but it’s white fellas telling us about all this. You go for the didgeridoo lessons, and it’s white fellas giving them. Yet along the way you are faced with the grim reality that the Tribe has a lot of strays out there that are not really keeping their part of the bargain. Off-license liquor shops don’t open until 2:00pm which means the line up to these places starts at around 12:30. Reluctant to give up their place in line, people are urinating along the shopfronts and generally being out of order waiting to buy their six pack of beer (that’s all they’re allowed to buy). As white people, we have to show our identification and address to prove we will not sell our alcohol to the local missions. You walk down the main shopping malls and see the indigenous in the parks or along the arcades and nobody will look at them or even acknowledge their existence. The store fronts are full of Indigenous Art, but it’s all been whitewashed into what the overseas market wants and expects. What’s going wrong here? Are the tribes letting their own people down or is the white fella really to blame here? What effect has the “sorry speech” really had? I’ve always thought we must make up for our sins (even though it was not our generation’s or the last generation’s sins) and do good. But you walk around here, and I fear it is all for nothing. My thoughts and attitudes are in turmoil, and I must travel on to work out my ultimate feelings. I must admit right now however, that I’m disappointed and shocked at what I’m seeing.