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| Ormiston Gorge |
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| Jake getting ready for one of his races |
On Friday, the boys had sports day at school – it is similar
to Field Day in the U.S. but this one happens mid-year. The school is divided into 3 houses, the kids
from each house earn points throughout the year for good behavior and the
winner is announced each week at the school assembly – very competitive. On the actual sports day the kids come to
school in their house colors, the older kids really got into the costumes,
wearing capes, face paint and crazy hair.
Dillon had the fastest sprint time in his class (see video) and Jake came in second
in his race, I am sorry to say their house, Flynn, did not win for the day- but
came in second.
Saturday began at a school carnival at one of the local primary
schools, I was very surprised when the boys asked if they could go on a camel
ride – surprised for 2 reasons, 1 that they were camel rides available and 2
that they had the courage to do it. When
done, they were quite pleased with themselves.
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| Glen Helen Resort |
After the carnival and following our soccer game we headed out of town to the Glen Helen Resort with some friends of ours, it is about an hour and a half west of Alice Springs. Please keep in mind that when I say “resort”, in the
outback that apparently means motel - not quite as nice as a Motel 6. I could not help but think that if JD had
pulled up at the same exact motel in America we would have kept on driving –
but here the alternative would be camping, so when faced with sleeping in a
tent on the ground or in a concrete block room with beds and a toilet, I chose
the latter. Once we got over the initial
shock, even the boys said, “are we staying here”, everything was perfect! The resort has Glen Helen Gorge in its
backyard, which was beautiful. It was
even more beautiful at sunset as the color of the mountain changed from a paler
red to a very striking deep red, we were able to sit on the patio with a cold
beer and really enjoy it.
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| Glen Helen at sunset |
One of the funniest parts of the weekend was the looks and
laughs that came our way everywhere we went. Our friend
Heather’s husband had to rush back to America due to a death in the family, but we decided to
still go on our trip. So when we pulled
up, the tour group out front saw JD, 2 women with wedding rings and 5 boys pile
out – we laughed as we realized that Heather and I looked like sister wives
with JD at the head of the household. If
we were not already getting enough looks, one of Heather’s twins who is 23
months old calls everyone mama, so him calling the two of us mama all weekend
did not help.
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| Glen Helen Gorge |
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| Dillon loving it! |
On Sunday morning JD decided to take the boys on a
helicopter ride, it was an open air copter and they took a tour of Glen Helen
Gorge, Ormiston Gorge and the Finke River.
This time it was me that chickened out, which Jake promptly told me,
“You better go next time or you will be disappointed in yourself”, I wonder
where he has heard that! Dillon had so
much fun that when Heather’s son got nervous and decided not to go, he went a
second time – I think he was even more excited the second time around. We might have a future helicopter pilot on
our hands. I am amazed that just 2 short
years ago they were afraid to go on so many of the rides at Disney, now they
are riding in a helicopter without a door.
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| Getting ready for the flight |
We left Glen Helen and went to Ormiston Gorge on the way
back to Alice. Ormiston Gorge is
featured in my Australia’s Amazing Places book. I wish my pictures could show
how beautiful it really was, when we arrived the sunlight was shimmering on the
water – it was amazing. We had a picnic
and let the boys play for a while, it was wonderful to have a spot where the
kids could play so freely. The next few
hours consisted of throwing rocks in the water, running in the sand and
climbing on the enormous rocks. We
actually thought we did pretty well that only 2 of the 5 boys fell in the
freezing water! They were so wiped out
my boys actually fell asleep on the drive home. I am really looking forward to more getaways like this, this country is so beautiful I want to see as much of it as I can!
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| The mountains are over 300 meters high, just beautiful! |
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| Yes, those specs are the boys on the rocks |
