McCulloch Family Giant Leap: Captivated by Alice Springs

First stop for the day was the Devils Marbles and weren’t they impressive. We could have spent ages just walking around these rocks and if it had been cooler I think we would have camped there one night. Unfortunately the kids didn’t seem too impressed so we bundled them back in and continued to Wycliffe Wells for a coffee and another break.

The photos just don't show how big they really are.

Okay so we are a bit small in the family photo.

Kayla showing off some rocks.

Of course Hamish didn't want to miss out.

Yep they look like they belong out here.

Wycliffe Wells claim to fame is to be the UFO capital of Australia, so they had all these aliens and spaceships around. Now the kids loved this and the local resident dog so they were happy to stay and have a play around here for a while. Even as we were leaving the guy who runs it put on an alien mask and had a photo with Jason and the kids. They also have a caravan park here and it looks nice and green and shady, but it was way too soon for us to stop for the day.

Our two aliens.

Friendly look critter.

Family happy snap.

Pick the odd one out!

The plan had been to drive to Ti Tree and stop there for the night, but as we were on such a roll and we took the punt that Kayla will most likely fall asleep, we decided to just do the last 190km or so to Alice Springs. I am glad we chose to do it as Kayla did fall asleep and I even managed to pull out the laptop and type up a bit more on the latest blog I was working on. I am happy to report that the lady we met in Tennant Creek was wrong and the drive between there and Alice Springs is beautiful and there are heaps of different things to see. We even spotted the two camels in the yards with the cattle that Sandy and the lady had told us about. They did have a massive tank of water in there just as I had suspected!

Kayla entertaining herself in the car.

Beautiful cloud cover.

Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn again.

I don’t know what we expected of Alice Springs, but the moment you start driving into town you are just amazed at how it is built around the ranges and its size. Jason had told me the other night that it was actually bigger than Mt Isa which I found hard to believe until we arrived there. We drove straight through town as our caravan park was on the other side but I was captivated and couldn’t wait to get the van off and go exploring. As we booked in for a week we got upgraded to an ensuite site. Now I know that we don’t’ really need one, but Jason was smart as they had a bath tub on the ensuite site so we could break up the showers and offer the kids a bath. Also saves emptying our toilet so often when you have another one you can use that is so close.

The welcome sign.

Coming into Alice.

There were storms starting to build so we got in a quick swim before retreating to the van to wait it out. Wait we did but nothing really eventuated so we just had dinner and went out for a drive around at night. Not that you can see a lot at night but we were really impressed with what we did see and just the pure size of the place. It really made us excited to get out and explore the place.

I was up early as per usual but of course my sleepy heads were out to it. Though it is a good thing as it allowed me to type up another blog entry and catch up on the emails. Our first port of call was the information centre which is located in the mall. Jason wanted to ask about a few of the places that he wanted to see that were out of town. I decided to take the kids across the road to the little shopping centre to entertain them as they were getting into everything in the information centre.

Hamish made a new friend.

When Jason met up with us again and showed me some of the driving times they had written down to visit these places I was a little turned off. Whilst I wanted to see some of these places the thought of more big days of driving to see them dropped my enthusiasm as I was looking forward to 7 days of relaxing and don’t’ want to make the kids any more over travelling then what they are already. Most of all I was worried about Palm Valley as the last 21km was going to take up to 1 ½ hours to do, making me question the state of the road.

Random bogged car in the Todd River.

Still we weren’t going to do them today so instead we went out towards the East MacDonnell’s Ranges to check out the Emily and Jessie Gaps. These are where there are breaks in the big mountain ranges and have a creek flowing through them. It is quite amazing to see but it was hot when we got out there and Kayla had fallen asleep so we took it in turns to get out and walk in to see them. There were aboriginal paintings in each of the gaps too along with information boards that told the story behind them.

Emily's Gap

Someone doesn't look too impressed.

Jessie's Gap

The East MacDonnells Ranges.

We decided to hot foot it back into town so we could have a rest whilst Kayla was still asleep. This didn’t happen as she woke up on the way back into town. It is like she has a sixth sense for as soon as we get a sniff of time out she will wake up. Instead we decided to go to the Reptile Centre which was in town which turned out to be a fantastic idea. The price to get in wasn’t through the roof and we didn’t have to pay for the kids. They had heaps of snakes and lizards on display along with a pig nosed turtle and crocodile.

So glad he was in a glass box.

Just chilling out.

They were very interested.

Of course he loved the crocodile.

The highlight though was when they did their talk on the animals as they bring out a few different ones. I thought that was great and that we might get to touch them, but no, we actually got to hold them and take our photos with them. Most places charge you extra to be able to hold the animals and get your photo taken with a massive snake, but here it was just included. I couldn’t convince Hamish to hold the snake but he was happy to have a go at the lizards. Not that I could blame him, I wasn’t going to hold the snake and well Kayla didn’t even want to touch the lizards. Jason did however hold the snake though secretly I don’t think he looked too comfortable about it, especially when it started to move its tail end up his shorts. I don’t know who was more embarrassed, Jason or the poor guide who had to unravel the snake.

Kayla didn't look too keen.

Hamish loved it.

He was pretty relaxed.

My new friend.

Jason's new friend.

Not so sure about this one.

Kayla would touch them from the safety of my arms.

Ahhh Sunday, the day of rest. Well maybe for some but not for us. Though we were very slow getting going this morning as we got chatting to the family staying in the van behind us. They had so many great tips on what to do and see around Alice but also just in future locations to google and see what free activities the council might be running. They had also sold up their home and were having 6 months off to travel, but only 3 months in Australia. They had also spent a few weeks in America visiting his family.

So first stop on the agenda today was actually in the caravan park, they do a free pancake breakfast on Sunday mornings. Mind you it doesn’t start until 8:30am so for our family it is more like morning tea but all the same we lined you for some delicious food. The family we were talking to were leaving that day so the wife and three kids joined us whilst the husband packed up the Jayco pop-top. Yep we are so glad we don’t have to do that anymore. Yes we have still got to set up the outdoor area, but you don’t have to do it straight away. If anything we can just plug in the power and water and retreat into the air-conditioning until we are ready to do it.

Next we went to check out the markets in the Todd Mall and finish off the last of our Christmas shopping. They were great markets and we picked up a bit of food and finished off all our Christmas shopping, now just to wrap them and get them in the mail. In the afternoon we headed out to the Transport museum where they had a massive collection of trucks and lots about the history of transport in the area. To put it into perspective for my family, it is a place where you would drop Dad off in the morning as it opens and pick him up at closing time. I was even impressed but I knew at first glance it wasn’t going to keep out kids too entertained. Still I was impressed with what we did manage to get to see and read and it is hard to believe that it used to be dirt roads into the Alice. Certainly would have made it hard to visit with our caravan.