Day 13, Saturday 9/7/2016, Glen Helen to Alice Springs (Temple Bar Caravan Park)

 I overheated again last night, waking to find that Col had thrown his half of the doona on me. It was such a warm day that we all ended up in shirts and thongs at Alice!

Davies and Morgans were ready by 0830hrs and beat us today as the kids couldn't find their hose for the air compressor. They had to wait for ours so that they could pump up their tires for the tar driving today.

The first stop was the beautiful Ormiston Gorge which never fails to impress!

Then Ellery Creek Big Hole. Leah, Peter and I walked around the right-hand side for the best colours of sunlight on the cliff.

Standley Chasm is a private property and they ask for $12 per adult. We timed it perfectly to have the midday sun shine into the slot.

"I enjoyed walking with Siân there and back.

We arrived at Alice Springs and parked next to the Todd River (which was dry) and wandered over to the mall for lunch. Unfortunately, I didn't get to sit next to Siân for lunch, but I did enjoy a delicious steak sandwich. An Aboriginal man asked Leah for her leftovers, but we couldn't find him again to give him ours, I was quite sad. 

After setting up camp (I was amazed at the speed that Siân set up her swag), we did a big food shop at Alice. Out of Jack, Leah and Siân who came with me, Siân was by FAR the most helpful!

We came back to camp for a shower and spag bol (perfectly cooked by Col) before relaxing next to Siân before bed - a perfect way to end the day!!

But before I could relax fully, I had to get out my camera, giant lens, tripod, extender and shutter release cable to get some gorgeous photos of the moon.

Excited to spend another gorgeous day with Siân tomorrow!" Written for me by Siân :) 

Thanks for doing the clothes washing today Jordan, and thanks for the photography motivation Gary.

Thursday 22/7/2010 Glen Helen to Alice Springs

(Glen Helen to Alice Springs)
Up at 0700hrs, ready by 0820hrs. A record!
Beautiful sunrise colours on Mount Sonder. A photographer's dream!

Off to Glen Helen to get some fuel and meet mum and dad.
Yay! Hugs all around... it feels funny to be running into peole all the way out here in the middle of Australia. Fancy our trips crossing over at Alice at the same time!!

It was lovely to have some extra company. You tend to feel a bit socially starved after a while.
Together we visited the scenic sites of Glen Helen Gorge, Ormiston Gorge,

Serpentine Gorge,

Ellery Creek Big Hole,

and Standley Chasm

...on our drive back in to Alice Springs.

It was a little overcast and windy to get perfect Gorge photos, but still beautiful regardless. Jordan had fun with her grandfather doing macro shots together.

We were booked into our motel by 1600hrs, had showers, edited photos and organised a mudmap to be faxed to the motel reception for our Aboriginal Dream Time tour tomorow.

Off to Ali and Han's house for dinner. Ali is Col's cousin. They have 2 daughters Allana 4yrs and Kiera 2yrs. We last saw Ali and Hans at their wedding here in 2002. Col's aunt and uncle, Chris and Trevor were also there and my parents Kay and Paul were invited.

Wow!! Boy did they go to an amazing effort! We were shocked at how much work they had gone to to put on dinner for us. It was amazing. I think there was enough food to feed several more families. It was delicious and we really appreciate the effort. So fantastic to see them again. Our outback family. We enjoyed a fantastic night listening to some funny and interesting stories.

Jordan and Jack had a great time bonding with their second cousins Allana and Kiera. Who were very sad to see us go.