Last night the rain stopped & we woke to a nice but cold day, the highest it got to was 16C degrees. I decided that I desperately needed shopping therapy so we headed into town.  We visited the big MBantua Fine Art & Cultural Museum, so many lovely things in there. After I made sure that we helped Alice Spring’s economy I could only window shop (there are so many Aboriginal Art shops). Alice Spring is the only place I’ve been to in Australia where they charge 50 cents to use the public toilets & that they actually have someone sitting there collecting (that’s an initiative for employment).

Alice Springs certainly has grown into a modern big city since 2002, our last visit here. The Todd River is still dry & red sand and rocks.  In the Northern Territory they have a strict “no alcohol in public places”, there is no more social gathering in the dry riverbed & drinking all day.  They have really cleaned up the town.

Unfortunately we had to go to Woolworths to stock up on the groceries – now Ron has found out what I have to suffer through on a regular basis & where all his hard earned money goes to.

Back from shopping & we decided to climb the MacDonnell range at the back of the caravan park.  We got a fair way up before the weather started to close in & rain threatened so we decided that discretion was the better part of valour & headed back down before we got caught in a rainstorm on the mountain.  The views from up there are spectacular, these ranges are majestic & the plant life is prolific, with everything in flower after so much rain.  It really is pretty, as well as a very rugged beauty with the gnarled trees struggling for a foothold amongst the rocks on the mountainside.  I accidentally stood on a red ant nest (who would do that deliberately) & ended up with ants in the pants while on the mountain & didn’t notice them until they started biting, by that time I had about a hundred on me, thankfully not all inside the jeans, most on the outside & on the top of the boots.

Back for the afternoon cheese & bikkies plus a warming coffee (not a red, that will be tonight). That’s why he hurried down the mountains not because of the weather!

When in mobile range it’s so good to catch up with friends & relatives, it gets a bit lonesome out here in the Never Never.