heardaboutaustralia: Alice (another retrospective)

Gary was keen to cover both the West and East MacDonnell Ranges. On the Sunday we hiked and looked at gorges ad nauseum all over the West MacDonnell Ranges and the kids and I were seriously gorged out. ABC in Europe – this was ABG!!!!! On Monday morning the kids and I are still wallowing in bed like CFS sufferers whilst Gary’s bouncing around the van like he’s stoked up on Eveready batteries singing “East MacDonnell had a gorge EIEIO”. I won’t even print the responses he got. Finally we dragged ourselves out of bed on the assurance that the hikes today were short ones!!!

(Trephina Gorge)

Since we left Alice Springs we have camped a few nights in the scrub without power, where we encountered another set of people, who seem on the whole a lot more environmentally aware and have a much finer appreciation of the silence and unique sounds that the Australian bush offers. At the moment we are back in a caravan park only out of necessity to charge up a few lights etc. We are missing the sense of isolation which comes with bush camping. Since Tilmouth Well, even in the "cold" conditions, we have slept with the canvas windows open, which helps take away the feeling of sleeping in a coffin. This can only be a good thing.