Lots of Driving Later.....

Hi there, well so much has happened in the last fortnight that i don't know where to begin. When we left Mt Isa we kept driving west and eventually hit the Northern Territiry border, yay! my first time in the territory (Scotty had been 20 years ago on his year 10 school trip, i know, how old does that sound!!!). So that in itself was exciting, we finally made it out of Qld! Our first stop was Tennant Creek where we had a lovely night stay at a friends place. Alan, a naturopath I used to work with in my first clinic in Woolloongabba, Herbal Nature, now lives there due to his new job teaching nutrition to the aboriginal communities in the area. It was great to catch up and hear all his stories and he cooked us a very yummy chicken curry, so a nice meal, wine, chats and a stay in a house was very lovely indeed.

After that stay we started travelling south and saw the devils marbles (large boulders clumped together in the desert) on the way to Alice Springs. Once in Alice we stayed in a caravan park for a couple of days and waited for the water that was blocking the southern part of the Stuart highway to recede. There had been massive storms (not as bad as our poor Brissie copped) and the Todd river was once again flowing. It was fun watching all the excited aboriginal kids running around in the water fully clothed. I think it had been a good while since that much water had flown through Alice. After leaving Alice it was time for the big guns of the desert - Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olga's) and Kings Canyon (Kings Canyon!). They were all so amazing, I think I was most blown away by Uluru followed closely by Kings Canyon. Our first night we indulged in the 'Sounds of Silence' dinner. You are taken in a bus into the desert where you watch the sun set from a dune with Uluru (Scotty kept calling it 'big fella' which I quite liked) on one side and Kata Tjuta (means many heads) on the other while you sip champers and eat Australian themed canapes. Vegetarians might want to skip the next few lines. Kangaroo blinis with mango mousse and crocodile pastry cups and smoked salmon rolls to name a few. Then we were led down to an area where tables with white linen tablecloths and candles waited for us and we dined on a yummy buffet and lots of good Aussie wine. Sorry vegetarians, same deal for the next few lines...crocodile caeser salad, kangaroo skewers, wild barramundi, chicken sausages, lamb cutlets and lots more!!! We had a man on the didgeridoo during mains and after dessert all the candles were blown out and oh my god, the stars. Never seen anything like it. An astronomer did a star talk for us (using massive spotlight to highlight), explaining constellations and telling us the aboriginal stories that went with some. It was incredible. Then the night ended so brilliantly, as an irish tour group were at one of the tables (15 of them all up, and our wine glasses that night were bottomless) and they started to sing with amazing voices and all in harmony (of course, they were Irish) and sang a few Irish ballads. We were all so silent afterwards and i got the meaning of the name of the dinner finally. It was magic. The next day, we explored the rock, walked around the base and stuff and then explored Kata Tjuta. The next day we drove another 3ookm or so to Kings Canyon. We did the canyon rim walk and that also turned me into a frantic japanese person with their camera. Spectacular. We were really hot after the walk, the beginning was pretty vertical and although we had left at 8am, once we had finished a few hours later it had been 40 degrees for a while. So then, a long drive south to Coober Pedy in South Australia. O.k. so now I was yet again in another state I had never been in and I was excited as I had always wanted to visit Coober Pedy (Scott had been saying I would be disappointed but I wasn't). Sure, it is in the middle of the desert with nothing else around but my fascination with underground dwelling could not be quelled. So Coober Pedy (this is mostly for you Gillie) is the world's largest opal mine and everyone who lives there has something to do with the mining or selling of opals. The name Coober Pedy comes from the aboriginal words of Kupa (white fella) and Piti (holes). Due to the extreme temperatures, most of it is an underground community. Most houses, underground, are called dug-outs, there are 4 underground churches, underground cafes, bookstores and hospital!!! We stayed in an underground motel (I was so excited, felt like Wilma Flinstone getting dinner ready in our kitchen) and the next day went on an old opal mine tour and saw demo's of the machines and opals in the sandstone walls and stuff. Our guide was a miner (he did tours part time) and had been for 30 years, he was a very interesting character.

Then we were off again, still driving South and yesterday afternoon reached Port Augusta on the coast of South Australia. Even though we had only been inland for 3 weeks, my relief at seeing the ocean again was huge. It will be so nice to be able to drive for 1 hour between destinations instead of 6-8 hours. So now we will slowly meander along the coastline, heading West along the Eyre peninsula until we cross the Nullaboor plain and get into western Oz. Morrie, our van, has done so well with not a single problem (touch wood) and today is being rewarded with a service and tune-up here in Port Augusta. I like this state already as we have free wifi internet at all libraries across South Australia, hence this very long blog and well done to you if you have read this far! Tomorrow we are off to some national parks in the Flinders Ranges to do some walks as it's only 2 hours drive from here. So that's it for now but I will leave you with some of our terminology we use on long desert drives:

1. Road Trains - These are massive trucks that are about 50-60 metres long. They are like trains with wheels and use these outback highways to transport petrol, stock and god knows what else. On narrow one lane highways such as the Kennedy highway, you have to pull off the road when you see one coming to let it pass you. Morrie shakes like anything as they thunder past.

2. One finger Salute - You need to wave at any oncoming vehicle to show comraderie out here. This is is the most common wave. It is where one finger is lifted casually off the steering wheel in acknowledgement at the other driver. This wave and the waves below are only allowed by the driver and not the passenger.

3. Whole Hand Job - This wave is less common and occurs for a few reasons. If the driver feels suddenly energetic, or hasn't seen another vehicle in a while or the approaching vehicle is a high top van like Morrie, then the whole hand comes off the steering wheel in a wave.

4. Big Excitement - This wave is very rare. It is when the hand actually leaves the vehicle and waves out the window. It has only happened twice. Once by me when I hadn't seen any other cars for a whole day and once by Scotty as he noticed the oncoming driver was wearing driving gloves and this apparently warrants a big excitement. This wave is not to be used carelessly.

5. Wasaroo - Unfortunately quite common. It is the deader version of a kangaroo.

6. Rock Shower - When stray stones are flicked up on the windscreen by road trains passing. We now have 3 small star shaped patterns on our windscreen.

7. Botticelli - Game to pass the time that Soph and Lin taught me on the Camino. One person says the initials of a famous person, alive or dead, and the other person has to guess who it is by asking questions that can only be answered with a yes or a no.

8. This game does not have a name yet and we are open to suggestions. One person has to say any word and the other person has to sing a line of a song that contains that word. Very Fun and sometimes very hard. If anyone knows a song where the word 'pantaloons' is featured, I'd be most grateful.
Well, thats it for now, stay safe, Love Leash and Scotty xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx