DAY 18 – ALICE SPRINGS TO GLEN HELEN GORGE Wednesday, 20th July
We were able to have everyone fed and dressed and the entire van packed up including annexe and tent by 8:40 this morning which I think is a new record for packing up everything!! Off to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base in Alice Springs first, with the kids all laughing at Mum during the movie of the premature babies being flown through the outback!! What an amazing job they do!! They do not get any government assistance for capital investment. Each plane costs $6m and need to be replaced every 10 -15 years. They currently have 40 planes and 940 staff. They do such an amazing job with the help of many volunteers. The kids were really interested in the pedal radio which revolutionised emergency calls as well as simple communication, especially for women isolated on remote stations in the 1930s.
From there we experienced a few disappointing “geocaching moments” – the Gordons will know what we mean – along the road to Glen Helen which did slow us down a bit. My hubby just loves getting his family all scratched up on spinifex in the name of Geocaching!!! We did stop at the Ochre Pits where the Aborigines collected and then traded different coloured ochre, some of which are used in women’s ceremonies and some in men’s ceremonies.
My beautiful husband really wanted to come out to Glen Helen Gorge because this is also where he worked “all those years ago” with the Northern Territory Conservation Commission. Well, you would think that he would know his wife a little better… Glen Helen Resort – in the words of The Princess Bride “I do not think it means what you think it means”!! Hardly a resort!! Pretty basic. No bread or milk. VERY average amenities. Bridget decided that she could do some Aboriginal drumming with a stick on a rock and put out a ring of stones saying “money”. We didn’t really think that this was a great place for successful busking, but you have to admire her persistence! Despite it all, it was stunning going to the clothes line at 9pm and seeing the gorge rising up before us, with the beautiful star-filled sky behind it!
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