Alice Springs

It turned out to be almost exactly the 9 hours predicted - the headwind slowed us down, Erldunda was a madhouse with nearly 50 caravans and buses either stopping for lunch or needing to buy extremely expensive fuel, plus our own stops saw us arrive at around 4:30. Check in took another 20 minutes thanks to only 2 staff with an outdated booking system and about 30  arrivals, most of which had prebooked and another few cranky ones that were turned away
This park has really big sites and feels spacious - and safe. Lots of activities for the kids for those few hours we are at the park. 

The kids were off to the pool as soon as we allowed them into the van to get to their bathers. 

It was still a balmy 27 degrees but we later found out this was a very unique day and we were to expect closer to 20 for the next few days... and checking the weather app also highlighted the -1 degree nights ahead. 

Tomorrow we are going to the Alice Springs Show. This is just a much smaller version of the bigger Royal Shows we have back home, with the same over inflated prices for over cooked food and cleverly marketed pricing for show bags worth half their marked “special” prices. 

It didn’t take long for the kids to spend their money on rides and show bags, which meant we were out by 12:30  (Yippee)

Next stop was the Anzac Hill lookout where there was some good views and lots of information on the town. 

The kids were busting for a swim again, so we went back for an hour or so and let the magic washing machine do it’s stuff. Sure enough, by the time the kids and I got back from the pool, the washing was in neat folded piles on the table all clean and waiting to be put away. 

We then piled back in the car and headed out to see the School of the Air where we learnt all about how remote kids all over Northern Australia get their schooling without leaving home. 

Lastly, we went to visit some friends who had recently moved here from The Adelaide Hills. Our two boys took off on bikes with their two boys, while Kayla did some other stuff with their daughter, leaving us to catch up over coffee and biscuits. 

Getting back to the van after dark meant cooking sausages in the dark, but thanks to my infatuation with timing the cooking and the wonderfulness of the Weber, they were cooked perfectly.