Alice Springs

We have spent the past week relaxing in Alice Springs, and several days after arriving, we met fellow Bushtracker owners Narelle and Gordon, who we met at Birdsville, camped next to us at the caravan park.

The following photos were taken from Anzac Hill, which overlooks Alice Springs and the MacDonnell Ranges. The gap in the centre of the picture is Heavitree Gap, marking the beginning of the East and West MacDonnell Ranges.

Our original plan was to travel across the Gary Junction Road to Marble Bar, which we did in 2007, but we have now decided to take the Great Central Road with Narelle and Gordon. The last time we crossed this route was from Yulara to Laverton in Western Australia in September 2013. The total distance is 1050 km of dirt track.

 

The Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal Council here in Alice Springs issues any permits needed to travel across Aboriginal lands, including WA, on the same day. 

 

 

Unbeknownst to us, the Henley-On-Todd River Regatta was held over the weekend during our stay. It is a series of boat races along the dry bed of the Todd River. This year marked the 56th running of the regatta.

 

Most of the events are team-based, but there are individual competitions like sand shovelling, where men must fill a 44-gallon drum with sand, and the' budgie smugglers' run for men and women. Organisers estimate attendance will be well over 4000 people. We bought our tickets days earlier from the information centre. We arrived at 10:30 to watch the parade, with the actual races starting around 11:30 and ending by about 4 pm. The events are numerous and varied, including

These two men are crossing the estimated 1100 sand dunes in the Simpson Desert to raise money for Beyond Blue. We were more than happy to donate some money to such a worthy cause.

They have four support vehicles arriving, and we were fortunate enough to see inside the smaller ones. The owner said there wasn't much change out of half a million dollars. The other two are much larger, so I'd hate to think what they might have been worth.