Kakadu to Alice

We had another family stop over on our way down South to Alice Springs - seeing people you know and sitting on a real lounge while you watch TV never feels as good as when you've been travelling for a while. Here are the other highlights from this 1000km trek to make it to Alice Springs.

1. Mataranka

This place looks like heaven in the brochures and the thermal springs in Elsey National Park are lovely, but we were a little disappointed by our visit to Mataranka. First up, the caravan park that is really close to the springs (the Mataranka Homestead) had the most filthy toilets and showers that we had seen on our entire trip so far. Not good considering we have stayed at... oh, around 1000 caravan parks in the last few weeks! Also a dip in the thermal springs was more like a visit to the local swimming pool in a suburb of Sydney on a really hot day. In other words, it was packed and the warm 34 degree waters was playing on my mind with all these bodies crammed together. Ewww.

2. The Stuart Highway

Long, straight with red sand on either side. There's not a whole lot to keep you entertained while driving in these parts - except trying to spot abandoned car wrecks in the bush, cows thinking about crossing the busy highway and counting down until the next roadhouse. Plus our Navman is a little sick at present and won't recharge it's own batteries, so we can't even see how many hundred kilometres we have to go. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

3. The Devils Marbles

These aren't just rocks in the middle of nowhere. They're really cool rocks... in the middle of nowhere. Well, not totally, just south of Tennant Creek actually. You can walk on them, go for bush walks around them and take some pretty fun photos.

4. Wild Dogs

There are a bunch of road houses along the way between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs and we decided to stop at the bigger one called Ti Tree for lunch. We'd barely opened the door of the kombi to make our sandwiches, when we became surrounded by dogs. And not just any dogs. These poor pups were skin and bone and a little on the wild side and definitely not what you'd call 'pure breeds.' They kept looking up at us with these sad hungry eyes and Luke was so scared of them licking their lips that he wouldn't even get out of the van, in fear that they may latch onto his leg and not let go! At one point there were 12 dogs outside our van. Yikes! The poor dogs had come from the nearby Aboriginal community where there were too many pups to count. And then after we left, the dogs simply moved on to the next car.

Yours a tad sick of 7 hour days in the car,

Odette