Just baby steps today. We left Erldunda at 8.00 am and after a trip of just 191 kms arrived at the Big 4 caravan park just outside Alice Springs at about 10.30.
The scenery was just as good as on all our previous days driving through the desert. Still plenty of flat areas. But also a lot of hilly country through which the road wended and wound. We also crossed a number of dry water courses. It is hard to imagine what these dry, sandy creeks and rivers must be like when it rains out here, because when it does, they flood over their floodplains like you would not believe. In the good old days when they were first bringing cattle into this area, the cattlemen used to tell of having to ford rivers that were 100 miles across.
One of the first things we did after we arrived at Alice was to go to Bunnings. Not because we were desperate for a Bunnings fix, but because we had to by some fittings for our new drinking water hose. After we had set up the 'van on its site, discovered that no matter where we put the 'van we could not get the old hose to reach the water tap. So there was nothing for it but to drive into town to the camping shop to get a new, and longer one, and then on to Bunnings for the fittings.
The other thing we did was to go to Woollies to stock up the food cupboards. We had run fairly low after a week at King's Canyon trying to avoid the exorbitant prices being charged there at the general store such as $10.50 for a small bottle of dish washing detergent, $6.00 for a packet of plain biscuits or $100 for a slab of beer (which I did not buy). Other travellers had told us that we would have to expect high prices here at Alice. However, this could not have been further from the truth. We found that we were paying prices that were the same, if not cheaper, that what we would have paid in Canberra.
We haven't had a chance to have a good look at the caravan park, but what we have seen is very pleasing. We were helped onto our site by a staff member. The site is very wide and roomy with good shade. It is a very large park and provides a full range of facilities which are all of a very high quality. According to the information we were given at check-in, there is some kind of entertainment activity going on every evening. There are also free pancakes on Sunday morning which sounds pretty good.
We will begin to have a look around Alice tomorrow starting with the central business district. I hope to have some photos tomorrow.
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