DAY 4 Kulgera To Alice Springs
We awoke the next day to a cool crisp morning, had a shower and then a bit of breakfast, packed the car up again, as we still had 200km to go to get to ALICE SPRINGS, where we hoped to change my sleeping bag at K-MART.
But first
we had to go and find LORRAINE to pay for the overnight stay in the cabin and
to also find out how things went for the injured guys last night.
She told us
that once the FLYING DOC, gave them an injection of morphine, they were as
happy as �Larry� and that they were in no pain, the one with the injured foot,
well unfortunately he had come off worse than what we all thought, we figured
that he had a broken foot and that with treatment he would be ok, once his foot
was mended, sadly it was discovered that his foot had been crushed and that his
nerves in his foot had been badly damaged, as such he would probably never be
able to walk properly again.
The
other two were patched up, and the one with the injured arm would probably have
some use of his arm lost and a nasty scar to boot, the other guy with back and
chest soreness would be ok after treatment and rest, They were all flown to
ALICE SPRINGS BASE HOSPITAL, were they would undergo surgery for their
injuries, how long they would remain there we don�t know, We assume that their
relatives back in HONG KONG would be notified as soon as possible, and
arrangements made for someone to fly out to see them.
We
asked LORRAINE how much we owed her for the use of the cabin overnight, she
said NO CHARGE, as a thank you for the assistance we gave the previous night,
We said we were glad to be of any help that we could and thank you for the free
cabin overnight, and that we hope that the boys would all be ok.
We
said goodbye and then hit the road again, this time hoping to get to ALICE
SPRINGS without any more trouble, But first we decided to have a quick look at
the wreckage from the night before in daylight, and after looking at the scene
we were even more amazed that anybody got out of that car alive, there were
bits and pieces scattered all over the place, the engine was about 10mtr away,
the gear box was even further away and bits of the car everywhere, needless to
say all their belongings had been burnt and there was nothing left.
So we continued on again, for awhile, stopping at ERLDUNDA, for fuel and
getting something to eat, I noticed that if you wanted a steak sandwich with
the lot it would set you back $9.80.
I was too scared to
look at other prices incase they charged you for looking.
TOM had said to me that the country side up here would be very barren
and dead looking, (that is usually the view you get from T.V ALSO) But it was
anything but dead, it was so green you could easily have believed you where
back along the coast were things are always green. I said to him (are you sure
you haven�t taken a wrong turn and we are back in VICTORIA again), I did not
expect to see the countryside like this at all.
We arrived in ALICE SPRINGS at about 12.30pm, and booked in to a nice
place that caters for all kind of people, caravans and people, who want to have
a cabin or even MOTEL kind of units.
We agreed to stay here for a few days and do some day tripping from
here, including having a look around THE ALICE, but the first thing we planned
to do was to go and change my mattress at last.
Mission accomplished, I now have a new
mattress, the people at K-MART were very nice and we had no trouble with the
exchange.
ALICE SPRINGS is a nice place, but all the main streets in the town
center are very narrow, it is not a very big place (but maybe I�m used to the
big city places) .it is pretty busy though, most people drive 4wd up here, some
sedans but mostly 4wd,s.
There were lots of aborigines here they were everywhere you
look (I suppose that is to be expected up here) Tom suggested that we have a
look at old ALICE SPRINGS (I did not know there was one), and that was nice,
lots of parks and well kept gardens, then we went to a lookout where you can
have a good view of most of the city, as you would expect it was busy also,
quit a lot of tourist busses. We saw the old ALICE SPRINGS TELEGRAPH OFFICE,
which is extremely well looked after, and we even went to have aloof at the
spring where this place got its name.
We then went and did some shopping, we had run out of our
little containers of drinks that we had stocked up on before we left home, even
our BIG M, s had run out. So we bought some drinks and then went shopping for
things for the loved ones back home.
I spied a little gift shop that had some cute little teddy bear
ornaments in the window with little sayings on them so I thought that they
would be a nice little gift to take back, (it was a time when I was missing
them all).
We went back to our cabin and had a look at some of the tapes that we
had done so far (the Leyland bros need have no fear of us) and then we watched
a bit of T.V, there is not much to watch though.
TOM told me that at about 7.00pm, some ROCK WALLABIES come down from the
rocks (the resort is nestled up against some high rocks) and you can hand feed
them, they are very tame, so I thought I must have a go at this, you can buy
small bags of food from the kiosk here and then you can feed the WALLABIES.
Well, a couple of dozen or so of them come down to feed, and if you hold
you hand out with some food in it, they will come and hold on to your hand and
eat the food out of it. They jump and bound off at any sudden movement, but
they soon come back again if you are still, at times I had 3 eating out of my
hand at one time, it was a wonderful experience, it was something that I wished
that MARGO and JOANNE and MARIA could have done, the WALLABIES are so small,
not what I expected them to be at all.
Me Feeding wallabies - Heavitree Gap Stuart Highway - Alice Springs
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