Henley on Todd

Yesterday was the Henley on Todd, it is a dry river bed race that has been running here in Alice for over 50 years.  We actually have pictures of JD at this event in the early 70’s. I heard on the radio that this event is attended by about 4000 people, that is certainly a large crowd in a town of only 25,000 people.  JD was lucky enough to win a VIP pass to the event through work which meant free beer for the day!

Bathtub races

Only in Australia would this sign be next to a dry river bed

When we first arrived they were having the ski races, a team of 4 people walking through the sandy river bed on a set of skis – there were single kayak races, team kayak races, bathtub races (4 people carrying a bathtub with someone inside it) and even sled races.  Imagine all of these are run in the dry river bed of the Todd River, the sand is extremely soft which makes all of these races challenging. So when you think of a dry river bed race, the best way to describe it would be Flinstone style.  One of my favorite races for the day was the rolling cage race, it was pretty much like running in a hamster wheel!

The prize helmet!

Halfway through the event it was announced that they would have a Viking yell contest and the top 12 winners would get free Viking helmets, Jake and Dillon were desperate for helmets so we entered them in the contest.  As the group gathered for the yells, Jake, Dillon and JD all gave a good yell and then at the last minute I was asked to yell as well – we only won 1 helmet and I will let you guess who the winner was out of our family!

Aussie vs. America

One of the last races is the JFDPG American vs. Australia race.  I am sad to report that the American team lost this year after putting in a great effort.  There was a team of Americans in the tug of war challenge though that took home the medal.  It was fun cheering on teams of our friends!

The big finale was the battle of the boats between the Vikings, Navy and Pirates.  The teams from each of these boats travel through the crowd during the entire event to build support for their teams.  The last event is a wild water fight between these three teams, with smoke bombs and cannons as well until a winner is declared by the audience – the Vikings who were hilarious all day were the big winners. 

Vikings

Camel Races

Lining up getting ready for the race to start

Kneeling down for the start

The Camel Cup, an event that has been going on here in Alice since 1970 was this Saturday and what a sight it was!  I think honestly it is more of a social scene than anything else, but the races were hilarious.  There were about 9 races in all and the jockeys were basically anyone who wanted to do it and had on the right kind of shoes (boots).  Each race had at least one camel that would either not line up at the start or would not run the race at all.  We saw camels running in the wrong direction as well as camels that threw their riders to the ground.  One of the highlights was the bride/groom race, the groom had to ride halfway around the track and then pick up his bride, you can imagine getting the camels to stop mid track and kneel down to pick up another rider was rather comical!  There were rickshaw races and kids races on a wooden stick camel between the camel races.

Between 2 of the races they brought out 2 of the floats they use during the Henley on Todd festival (a boat race in a dry river bed) in August, it was Navy versus Vikings in a water fight - this was a highlight for Jake and Dillon.  Dillon swears that the Navy won this water challenge.

We read in the program that in 1987, Camel races began in Virginia City, Nevada after a group of Americans came to Alice to check out the races here.  I understand their camel races also include emu racing as well as bull racing.  For the next 23 years there was a friendly Australia versus America competition at each of the races.

Vacation in the top end!

Mindel Beach sunset

Hotel pool in Darwin

Well it was time for our first vacation so we decided to take advantage of the winter weather and drive north to the top end of Australia. Hard to imagine what the weather would be like in summer considering the temps were in the high 80's with high humidity everyday.

Fountains at outdoor mall

When we first arrived in Darwin I wanted to scream I was so excited, it was a city!!!! After being land locked in a small desert town it was great to see tall buildings and the ocean. While most of our stops on this trip we would be staying in cabins in a caravan park, here we were staying in a hotel with the ocean on one side and a busy street full of shops, bars and restaurants behind us. The first night we went to the Mindel markets at Mindel beach, this is an outdoor market with arts and crafts and about 30 food booths. We were able to take a walk on the beach and then enjoy the beautiful sunset. We were not the only ones enjoying the sunset though, there had to be a 1000 people on the beach that evening. Funny thing is they put out flags each day, they say you can swim between the flags and avoid the crocs, but they also tell you they catch a wild croc a day in the water- no thank you!

This flag meant no crocs!

Crocosaurus Cove was one of our many stops in Darwin, it was a mix of Aquarium and croc exhibits. There was even a pool where you could throw on your bathers and swim with the crocs with only plexi between you- no one on our family wanted to jump in! Dillon did want to hold a baby croc though, he even pretended to eat it for the picture. When I went to pet the croc he jerked his body so fast that he scared the hell out of me and Jake.

  On the way back towards Alice Springs we took the Spectacular Jumping Crocodile cruise on the Adelaide river. It was a 2 level boat with glass windows on the bottom and open on top. We saw about 15 wild crocs on the cruise, 2 of the largest males swam up to the boat for a chance at a rack of ribs. They hold it over the side and eventually the croc will jump out of the water to get it, very impressive! I could not help but think that they had managed to train an 80 year old wild croc to jump for the ribs yet I could not teach a rat terroir dog to stop running away from her only food source!

This is a replica of the largest crocodile they caught in the river

A jumping croc!

Cutta Cutta caves

Another stop was the Cutta Cutta caves, a national park tour through a group of limestone caves. The boys were impressed with the caves and were hoping to see the bats, but unfortunately we only got to see and smell the bat poo! The guide showed us limestone formations in the shape of a face, a dog with a bone, a kangaroo and then lastly one in the shape of Elvis, I guess it is true- Elvis is everywhere!

Through out the entire drive there were termite mounds everywhere, we saw some as large as 10 feet high and 4 feet in diameter. We stopped at a field of them to get this shot, I am not sure how there is any wood left here in the outback!

Termite mounds

Thermal pool

Mataranka was one of our favorite stops, right after we checked in we heard someone yell Combest family as we were walking to our car- it was our next door neighbors from Alice camping out, hard to believe you could drive a 1000k and run into someone you know. We had a wonderful evening hanging out at their campfire sharing a bottle of wine while the kids played flashlight tag. We stayed at the Mataranka Homestead which is right next to the Thermal springs, imagine a crystal clear, natural spring with water at a temp of 80-85 degrees, surrounded by palm trees- needless to say we had a great swim. All around our cabin we saw peacocks, kangaroos and wallabies. There was a restaurant where the food was actually pretty good and live music every night. Dillon actually wanted to stay here longer.

Right outside our cabin

We had to make a stop at Devil's Marbles National park, particularly since we have a pen and ink drawing of it in our family room. JD inherited four sketches when his dad passed away that were purchased in Alice Springs in 1972. There are enormous boulders after enormous boulders stacked on top of each other for as far as you can see, it makes no sense that they could remain that way for thousands of years. I wish we would of had more time here.

Devil's Marbles

Dinner on the Dunes

Last week we were invited to a potluck dinner party on top of a sand dune, it has to be one of my favorite things I have done here.  We drove about 30 kilometers out of town, most of that on a dirt road to a large sand dune.  Our car is a 4 wheel drive so we were able to drive to the top but there were many who just parked at the bottom and walked up.  The sand is a reddish orange color and it has the texture of the white sand in Destin, Florida.  From the top of the dune all you could see was open space and mountains off in the distance.  There were about 20 kids for the boys to play with, so they spent a few hours running up and down the dune, if they were not running down – they were rolling down!  To say they were covered in red sand would not really be describing it, I vacuumed sand up in the house for about 4 days.  Once the sun set we got a fire going, one of the families had brought smore supplies (shipped in from the U.S.) – I think Dillon said he had 4.  

Dillon using beer bottles to help him up a steep hill.

I think the most amazing sight was the night sky, when you moved away from the fire all you could see were stars.  We had a perfect view of the Southern Cross and the Milky Way – there were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen.  Dillon’s teacher told me that the reason the stars are so plentiful here is because there is no pollution.  We are an 18 hour drive away in any direction from any of the big cities.  She also said that is why the sky is so blue here!

One of the many rows of beanies!

Proudly wearing our new beanies!

This weekend the big event in town was the beanie festival – 4 days of beanie shopping and crafts.  We were able to score some VIP tickets that allowed us the shop Friday morning before the festival opened to the masses.  The boys picked out 2 each, Dillon went for a pirate and a raccoon beanie while Jake selected an Angry Birds beanie as well as a black/red striped one.  I of course tried on about 200 and finally decided on a turquoise beret, an orange and brown hood/scarf and my favorite a black dazzler with emu feathers on top!  JD will neither confirm nor deny if he likes the black one!  We went to the opening event on Friday night (me wearing my black beanie), there were bands and food and everyone was proudly wearing their favorite crazy beanies!  We checked out the prize beanies that had been entered into the competitions, they were incredible.

What an amazing weekend!

Ormiston Gorge

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. 

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. 

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.

Glen Helen Gorge

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.

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!

The mountains are over 300 meters high, just beautiful!

Yes, those specs are the boys on the rocks