Alice Springs and the Western McDonell Range

We stopped in Alice Springs for a couple of days after our 2 long days of driving to get to the ' red center' of Oz. It was hot, hot, hot once again. We spent the first day getting acclimated to the area and spent sunset at a nice overlook of the valley Alice sits in.

The second day was spent on the go. We went to the Desert Museum very early and enjoyed it very much, especially the birds of prey exhibition/demonstration. One type of vulture instinctively knew how to use a small rock to crack open emu eggs. That was great fun to watch. We learned more than we thought possible about termites and loved watching the Thorny Devils lap up the ants. From there we went to Standley Chasm and hiked way up the gorge and took tons of photos (surprise, surprise...) and then we found this great

waterhole with amazingly cold water, which was nice, considering it was 38 degrees once again.

We found out about this place that had these little rock wallabies who would come down out of the bush every night at sunset to feed. Jake and Mariah particularly enjoyed feeding them. From there we hit the road the Uluru which was still 475 kilometers south and west. The speed limit in the Northern Territory is 130 kph which is cruising along pretty good (almost 80 miles per hour). We'd typically go between 130 and 140. Up until 5 years ago they had no limit. It reminded us of Eastern Washington in places and of Southern Utah in others. The colors were pretty vibrant, especially if you were out and about at sunrise and sunset, which we were. If you ever get out this way bring big hats, bug nets, your swimmers, some good hiking boots and your camera.

The kids were good troopers for the most part. Jake got pretty tired and grumpy at times due to the lack of much sleep (up at sunrise day after day and still awake late at night because we would be sweating in our tents laying on top of our bags without shirts.) We just kept dragging them around on forced march after forced march. They're pretty experienced hikers by now. They've all summited Mt. St. Helens and now Uluru! Pretty different climbs, those. (as Aussies would say)

They love to say things like,"She's smart as..." or " He's fast as..." I always want to ask, "Fast as what? They'd just say, "Oh, I can't be bothered finishing a sentence." Of course, they probably call sentence 'sentos' or something of that sort. Everyone's names have an 'o' or 'y' added. I'm Steeno or Steeny. They throw 'brekky on the 'barby' in the 'arvo'. Everything is in code. Nearly everything is shortened like 'rellies' for relatives, or 'arvo' for afternoon, but sometimes they strangely lengthen terms. A bike is called a 'push bike'. Don't ask me why. I can't be bothered to explain any more......I'm sure that our kids,especially, will sound different to all of you when we return. I hear it in their intonation and pronunciation all the time. I don't hear it in myself, but I suppose it's there, too. We all look forward to coming home. We love it here, but love it at home as well. We have to come home so we can attempt to pay off our debt. I think it's currently close to the U.S.'s debt. Nearing a trillion dollars, I believe...