Wednesday 29th April - Alice Springs
This is the 47th day since I left home, which now seems so long ago. So far I have journeyed just over 14,000 km, and I am very conscious that my great adventure will be soon drawing to a close. Today was a day to catch up on some much needed jobs. I did some washing, cleaned the bike, bought some groceries and spent several hours exploring the Alice Springs Desert Park. This is an amazing place, which was set up about 13 years ago. It has woodland, sandhill and desert river habitats, and exhibits plants and animals from those regions. I'm keen to resume my travelling again, and tomorow head for Yalara for a couple of nights. Other travellers tell me that costs for accomodation and food are quite high, and that the park entry fee is now $25 for each person, rather than about $36 for a car as it was a couple of years ago. I'm now timing my run south so that I will meet Chris at Coober Pedy on Saturday night, as she heads north with the group from the Church going to Fregon for a few days. While I have not been alone on this trip, I have certainly missed having my family around me and look forward to seeing Chris again.
Tuesday 28th April - Alice Springs
I decided to ride back to Aileron which is 130 km north of Alice Springs. On the ride south I missed seeing the 8-9 meter high statue of an aboriginal man on the hillside overlooking the roadhouse. 260 km is quite a diversion for a photograph!! The statue was a very spectacular sight, with the man holding a spear and looking like a sentinal watching over the land. The roadhouse costs were pure exploitation and it cost me $11 for a drink and a bannana. Fuel was $1.80 per litre, just five cents short of Barkly Roadhouse. In the afternoon I visited the grave of Harold Bell Lasseter, who claimed to have found a massive gold reef in the desert beyond the Peterman Ranges. He died in about 1931 while apparently trying to find it again. There is now modern evidence that he may have been a fraud and that the reef does not exist. Analysis of the gold samples that he claimed came from "his" reef came from Kalgoorlie in WA. I like the story of the "Lost Gold of Lassiter" much better.
Monday 27th April - Alice Springs
I lef the bike at the Honda dealer for a service at 7.45 and picked it up again at 11.00. In the meantime I wandered about the Alice Springs CBD. The dealer found that the top box (a storage box on the back) had been poorly installed and one bolt had come completely undone, with the nut getting lodged somewhere around the engine. They found the nut and have fixed the problem. Cairns to Alice Springs via Darwin with the box only just being held in place and a full load could have turned out badly. I rode out to Ross River where I met Pete and Marg R. and their daughter Josie for lunch. The cook was gone for the day, the kitchen closed and no cooked food available. The manager said that the Vietnam Veterans Bike Club had been out ther ethe day before and cleaned his out of food and grog. We managed to get him to round up some pies and cold drinks, so we didn't starve. The East Mac Ranges are spectacular, with lots to see, so long as you have a 4WD. Back at camp in the evening I met Jim and his wife Sid. Jim has retired from being the winemaker at Wirra Wirra near McLaren Vale.
This is the 47th day since I left home, which now seems so long ago. So far I have journeyed just over 14,000 km, and I am very conscious that my great adventure will be soon drawing to a close. Today was a day to catch up on some much needed jobs. I did some washing, cleaned the bike, bought some groceries and spent several hours exploring the Alice Springs Desert Park. This is an amazing place, which was set up about 13 years ago. It has woodland, sandhill and desert river habitats, and exhibits plants and animals from those regions. I'm keen to resume my travelling again, and tomorow head for Yalara for a couple of nights. Other travellers tell me that costs for accomodation and food are quite high, and that the park entry fee is now $25 for each person, rather than about $36 for a car as it was a couple of years ago. I'm now timing my run south so that I will meet Chris at Coober Pedy on Saturday night, as she heads north with the group from the Church going to Fregon for a few days. While I have not been alone on this trip, I have certainly missed having my family around me and look forward to seeing Chris again.
Tuesday 28th April - Alice Springs
I decided to ride back to Aileron which is 130 km north of Alice Springs. On the ride south I missed seeing the 8-9 meter high statue of an aboriginal man on the hillside overlooking the roadhouse. 260 km is quite a diversion for a photograph!! The statue was a very spectacular sight, with the man holding a spear and looking like a sentinal watching over the land. The roadhouse costs were pure exploitation and it cost me $11 for a drink and a bannana. Fuel was $1.80 per litre, just five cents short of Barkly Roadhouse. In the afternoon I visited the grave of Harold Bell Lasseter, who claimed to have found a massive gold reef in the desert beyond the Peterman Ranges. He died in about 1931 while apparently trying to find it again. There is now modern evidence that he may have been a fraud and that the reef does not exist. Analysis of the gold samples that he claimed came from "his" reef came from Kalgoorlie in WA. I like the story of the "Lost Gold of Lassiter" much better.Monday 27th April - Alice Springs
I lef the bike at the Honda dealer for a service at 7.45 and picked it up again at 11.00. In the meantime I wandered about the Alice Springs CBD. The dealer found that the top box (a storage box on the back) had been poorly installed and one bolt had come completely undone, with the nut getting lodged somewhere around the engine. They found the nut and have fixed the problem. Cairns to Alice Springs via Darwin with the box only just being held in place and a full load could have turned out badly. I rode out to Ross River where I met Pete and Marg R. and their daughter Josie for lunch. The cook was gone for the day, the kitchen closed and no cooked food available. The manager said that the Vietnam Veterans Bike Club had been out ther ethe day before and cleaned his out of food and grog. We managed to get him to round up some pies and cold drinks, so we didn't starve. The East Mac Ranges are spectacular, with lots to see, so long as you have a 4WD. Back at camp in the evening I met Jim and his wife Sid. Jim has retired from being the winemaker at Wirra Wirra near McLaren Vale.
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