Like we mentioned in the last blog we had trouble with the trailer where the shock absorber broke and a coil spring almost jumped completely out of it's mount.
 |
| Coil spring living on the edge |
The coil spring was easy enough to get back in but after searching all over Alice Springs there wasn't the right shock absorber in the whole town! We had to get two sent by air from NSW so we ditched the expensive caravan park and limped the trailer out to the West MacDonnell Ranges where we spent a few days waiting for the parts.
Before we left Alice it rained heavily for a short while and the Todd River briefly filled. The locals and tourists flocked down there as it not often has water in it. Apparently it hailed very heavily a few days before and one local showed me photos of him shovelling thick hail off his roof and it looked like snow.
 |
| Todd River flowing in Alice. |
We're glad we had the chance to spend so much time in the West Macs (that's local lingo) as there is so much to see. The only problem was the water was extremely cold in the gorges to the point where it feels like it's burning your skin! We did swim though, even with the horrified stares of tourists. We told them we're acclimatising ourselves for our return to Victoria.
 |
| Serpentine Gorge at sunset |
 |
| Ellery's Big Hole. We camped here while waiting for the trailer parts. |
 |
| The Ochre Pits, a place where aborigines sourced their ochre for ceremonies. |
 |
| Ormiston Gorge |
 |
| Simpson's Gap |
 |
| White-plumed Honeyeater |
 |
| White-necked Heron |
After picking up the shockys and fitting them in the car park of the Alice Springs Beanie Festival (yes, they have a beanie festival!) we all browsed through the selection of beanies on display from all over Australia.
 |
| Beanie bandits |
 |
| So many beanies, so little time! |
Next we headed for Kings Canyon, apparently the Grand Canyon of Australia. While it was impressive we only spent a little bit of time here as it was too hot to do the 6km walk around the rim.
 |
| Doing their diaries on top of Kings Canyon. |
 |
| Military Dragon Ctenophorus isolepis |
 |
| Peaceful Dove |
Ayres Rock! The girls had been talking about this from the start of the holiday so they were pretty excited. Belinda had been there 3 times already and Craig 2 times but it is still an awesome sight to see. We decided to do the climb to the top which took just over an hour. The girls did it surprisingly well and everyone was commenting how well they were going, especially Sophie who we suspect may be half mountain goat.
 |
| Made it! |
There were a lot of pools of water on top of the rock and in some were Shield Shrimps, a primitive crustacean adapted to living in harsh environments. The eggs are usually spead by sticking to bird's feet.
 |
| Shield Shrimp Triops australiensis |
 |
| A non-touristy view of Uluru |
We bush camped not far from Yulara and had our own personal view of Uluru from our tent (albeit the the top of it poking out above the trees).
 |
| Emu at Erldunda |
 |
| Kulgera yobbos |
We are now in a small town called Marla on the Stuart Hwy and are about to tackle the Oodnadatta Track. We'll also cut across to Coober Pedy as the girls are excited about hunting for opals, then we'll get back on the Oodnadatta track.
The Boasies
