Day 112 - 116 14th to18th July; Alice Springs

Have used the time in Alice Springs to do some repairs and maintenance to the camper as well as buy some equipment that will make life easier for us, such as a 12 / 240 volt fluoro lamp to hang in the kitchen, a ground sheet to lay under the camper floor to stop stones piercing it. Refilled gas bottles, new batteries for torches etc, as well as the never-ending battle to keep 4 kids fed and happy and generally just preparing for our next foray down to Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
Alice we found to be a great spot with plenty to see and do and has a very pleasant climate at this time of the year. The days were about 20 – 25 degrees although the nights dropped to about 1 – 2 degrees, which was a bit of a shock for us.
MacDonnell Ranges C.P. is very good. Well kept and neat with clean amenities and communal living / cooking areas.
The older girls took the time to catch up on some schoolwork, which is really only something that they can do when we stop at a spot for an extended period of time.
Jas & Daisy are pretty tired and really need a bit of quiet catch up time. So this being the case we took it pretty easy and kept the sightseeing to a minimum. We did however still manage to visit the Old Telegraph Station, Anzac Hill, School of the Air, as well as the obligatory visits into town to have coffee and take in some of the numerous art galleries that display Indigenous art. As I said earlier we found Alice to be really pleasant with a great town centre and mall area (Todd Mall).
I had hoped to spend some good blocks of time to catch up on “the blog”, seeing as though internet access was going to be possible. However my computer power pack decided to *@#! itself and so I could not run my computer once the battery had expired. Consequently I had to arrange for a part to be sent from Sydney, which would take at least 5 days.
It’s really cold at night here and the girls are going to bed with layers and layers of clothing on, which is quite a change from the bathers and shorts of a few days ago.
By Thursday night we were ready to take off for Uluru, which is almost a full days drive for us (480 km). We are planning on spending about a week away from Alice, visiting the Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, Palm Valley and the West MacDonnell Ranges.