Another adventure begins

Wow – what a huge 8 days since I’ve last written. As always when a big event is about to get underway the pressures start to build, the anxiety increases and the sleep seems to slip away and then the event starts and memories are made. The memory making started when shared an evening meal with friends from back home, Jen and Wes. I started teaching with Jen something like 22 years ago so it was lovely to catch up with them. We went to the Gillen Club for a quiet dinner on the Tuesday night and caught up again on the Thursday night at the Alice Springs Brewery, famous for its pizzas. This year I shared my birthday with Fish Creek, Birdsville and Alice friends, which was special. Monday through to Thursday is a bit of a blur – along with all the other volunteers we moved trucks (just Bill, not me), lots of cleaning, wiping of 350 chairs, pressure washing, finalising stories, checking and triple checking the order of certificates, medallions and frames.  Friday I started at 6.30am...

Some days I'm not quite sure what our 'category' is - we aren't locals, we aren't grey nomads, we aren't employed, we aren't retired, we aren't really tourists because we aren't moving, we aren't locals - I'm just not sure what our category is.   We often do what we did at home - just here, in our smaller home. Lots of things are the same but just a little different. We still cook dinner, but we cook outside, mostly bbq-ing, in the mild evening air. We still have to do the dishes, but we boil the kettle and wash in the plastic tub. We do the washing, it dries in half a day and gets put away, mostly that night, because when 4 things are out of place the 'house' is messy. Monday to Friday we head off to 'work', volunteer doing whatever is needed. Today, it was moving dirt and filling pot holes for Bill, for me it was trimming back shrubs and cleaning plaques. Other days I pop off and 'work' - like real work, with pay and...

  Bill and I travelled to Uluru in 2015 but it was just one of those trips that didn’t go as planned. We arrived after dark, the peaceful walk around Uluru was not so peaceful thanks to a grumpy guide and so on and so on. Going back has always been on my to do list, but not Bill’s. So, when his sister Val offered me a ride in her hire van with her daughter Ash, it was an easy decision to make. Let’s go, let’s do a girl’s road trip! It’s amazing how much quicker you get somewhere when you aren’t towing and therefore aren’t restricted to 100km an hour. Before I knew it we were at Erldunda Road House, fuelling up and getting reading to turn onto Lasseter Highway for our 245km run to the Ayers Rock Resort at Yalara which is about 15km from Uluru. Our campfire mates, Jim and Louise, had told us about a salt-lake you can see if you walk up a hill opposite the lookout to Mt Conner. Many people apparently, mistake Mt Conner for Uluru, it is huge and spectacular and it looks even better...

  Over the last few days, we’ve had the fun of being the tour guide for Bill’s sister Val and as of late today, our niece, Ash. It’s been lovely to look at Alice Springs with fresh eyes again. Somethings you never take for granted – the beauty of the Gap, the majestic-ness of the East and West McDonald range or the sheer size of the dry Todd River. Other things become your new norm so you forget about it – sorry, no bottle shops open Sunday, forgot your driver’s licence – can’t go into a bottle shop, want spray deodorant -it’s in a locked cabinet, English Muffins for breakfast tomorrow – they’re in the frozen bread section. Friday Val and I spent the day looking around the Todd Mall, having coffee and going to the botanical gardens, after getting side-tracked with taking shots of the Todd River. Saturday Val set off to explore the West McDonald ranges while I worked and Bill went for a motorbike ride. When I knocked off Bill and I explored the flats out the back on our push...