Rainbow Valley

Rainbow Valley

Well the weather has been for lack of a better word, extreme. While it rained so much when we first arrived that I actually saw the Todd River flow, there has now been no rain for over 150 days – we just beat the all time record for days with no rain.  I keep hearing different things from the locals, but so far no rain could mean either more or fewer snakes in summer, and not sure what it means for flies – either way, no rain means more wild fires so not good!  Spring started a few weeks ago and we have gone from the most beautiful weather to a few days at 100F degrees, spring apparently lasts a week here!  Yesterday was absolutely beautiful with a high of only 81F and because the morning was so nice and cool we had the doors open around the house; that of course would be when the wind picked up and created a quick red sand storm – within minutes all the floors and furniture were covered in a layer of red sand!  Like I said, extreme!

Class 2 getting ready to sing.

The boys have just entered a two week break from school, with their term ending with a spring festival at school.  The school backs up to the mountain range, which provided a beautiful backdrop for our picnic sunset.  Each class performed for the parents and we were treated to string instruments, recorders, singing and dancing.  The boys have been so happy at their new school, they love it.

The "posers" at Rainbow Valley

We were scheduled to go camping this weekend with our neighbors, my first time, but plans changed when Dillon became sick on Friday night.  Our wonderful Aussie neighbors decided we could have a camp out on our front patio Saturday night instead, so we cooked ribs and potatoes over the fire so we could all get the feeling of “camp food” – our own little version of “camping light”.  We then of course headed inside to sleep in our nice cozy beds.

On Sunday, with everyone feeling better we decided to drive out to Rainbow Valley – an 80k drive.  Rainbow Valley is part of the James Range Mountains; the area is comprised of scenic sandstone bluffs and cliffs surrounded by the beautiful, very soft, red sand.  They have a unique shape that was created by weathering and erosion.  The scenery was amazing and the kids loved running and climbing over all the rocks.  We took the walk to Mushroom rock, the rock with the big hole, a beautiful sight!  On the drive into Rainbow Valley there were fields of a wild blue flower, we could not help but be reminded of the beautiful Texas bluebonnets.

My Sam Moon hat has come in handy here!

Jake loves to climb and then pose for the picture.

The blue wild flowers.

Mushroom Rock

Golf anyone?

The kids playing while I shop for art.

A few items I purchased.

I was very excited to see that there was going to be an art show in town, there would be about 20 of the regions art centers that would be represented there.  Throughout the outback you will find art centers where the artists from that area go to complete their projects.  Each center appears to have a distinctive style when it comes to Aboriginal art.  I could not believe the amount of art I was able to look through!  There was one table that really caught my eye, the art center was from the Santa Teresa area, about an hour out of Alice Springs - of all the styles of artwork I have seen to date this seems to be what I am most attracted to.  The bowl and small plate represent artwork from this area and now that I know where to go, I think we will pay a visit to the gallery in Santa Teresa!

Jessie's Gap

Climbing up the rocks.

After the art show we headed to Jessie’s Gap for a picnic with friends.  A beautiful day for a picnic but I honestly believe there is a direct correlation between the distance away from Alice and the amount of flies around. Now that the boys have become true “outback” kids, being outside means climbing as high as you can on the rocks until your mother can no longer take it and yells for you to come down, and be careful!

Team Doc in the Box and are winning buggys.

The costumes for the tournament were hilarious!

One of the best things I have done since arriving here was the golf day on Friday, I was lucky enough to be asked to play with an amazing group of ladies.  Please keep in mind when I say golf tournament I really mean drinking, laughing and hitting the ball a few times.  The buggy was decorated to represent team "Docs in the Box" and I am happy to report we won for most creative decorations. We played the front nine which was perfect  because one of our group lives between holes 3 and 4.  We very smartly used our arrival on that hole as an opportunity for a bathroom break, a quick picnic and one or two tequila shots.  Another hole had a group of men with shots and a dartboard, if you missed the board you had to do a shot, if you hit the board the number you landed on decided what club to use for the tee off – I think we had to use the putter!  If all the shots were not bad enough, the drink cart made its rounds offering free beer and vodka cruisers.  JD was pleasantly surprised at our condition upon his arrival at the golf club, I am pretty sure the fireman’s sausage sizzle is what helped to soak up the tequila!  All money raised for this event went to a local charity that helps Alice Springs families with cancer – we were happy to help!

This would be after the tequila.

Saturday night was a picnic event for families; they had a bounce house and swings for the 30 plus kids that were there.  I think the boys would say that the highlight of the evening would be watching a movie outside under the stars but for me it was the visit from Rex the snake guy.  Rex shows up at various events and talks with everyone about the snakes and reptiles in the area.  I guess now that I have seen Rex about 6 times I put my “brave badge” on this time and I held a snake – yes you read that correctly – I had a giant boa constrictor wrapped around my neck.  Just so that you know I have not completely flipped my lid, Rex was right next to me holding the other half – just in case I had a freak out.  In the outback for 8 months and I held a snake, let’s just say I am proud of myself!

Rex and I, and that big snake!

Spring has sprung

We did not take this trail! Keep walking little ones...

Entering the chasm.

Today is the Australian Father’s day so we celebrated by going for a nice walk this morning with another American family.  We headed out to Stanley’s Chasm again, though this time the weather was perfect – we have just entered the spring season here and the weather is incredible.  If you follow the blog you might remember this was where I swallowed my first fly, so thank you Heather for bringing fly repellent – worked like a charm.  We had seen recently in a local Chinese restaurant that the boys were born in the year of the monkey and they have really taken that to heart, they now think they need to climb every tree and large rock formation they see.

The climbing monkeys.

The Burlesque show.

Last night we had a wonderful date night and went to see a show at the local arts theater called Caravan Burlesque.  We honestly were not quite sure what to expect but when the opening act was what we thought to be a man doing a striptease only to be surprised by the naked breasts, we knew we were in for a show.  You could not help but think that this show would have never taken place back in the USA due to the extreme amount of full frontal nudity.  The show ended with 2 Abba songs and the entire audience of 500 on their feet, dancing. Great Night.

Straight hair.

As I mentioned earlier we are in the first few days of spring here, we are hoping the spring season will bring us some much needed rain – it has not rained here in 4 months!  For the last 2 months I have been wearing my hair straight due to the complete lack of humidity, not the best weather for those of us with natural curly hair!  The funny thing is Friday night JD and I were both awakened from the sound of rain on the roof, but as we mentioned it to others throughout the day no one else was aware of any rain.  I had begun to get that, “I must be nuts” feeling, but then Dillon said he had heard it also.  Saturday night we heard the same noise so I jumped up to see for myself if it was raining, turns out a sprinkler head had broken and the water was shooting on to the roof – so still no rain, and none in the forecast!

This weekend was also the end of the soccer season; the boys have played very well in spite of playing on a team with mostly 3^rd graders.  They have enjoyed it but we are glad to be moving on to the next sport, basketball.

The Drinking, not Sinking crew

Last weekend there was a golf tournament put on by the Rec. Association for J.D.’s work, J.D, played on a team called “Drinking, not Sinking” and they lived up to their name.  I volunteered and worked selling raffle tickets on a par 3 hole, with 23 teams of mostly blokes coming through it made for a fun day.  It was our first time on the golf course, we are hoping to get out there more often.  J.D.  was very lucky during the raffle, he won a family membership to the local tennis club and a gift certificate to the local video store – if you are wondering I had nothing to do with the raffle, I just sold tickets.

Swags by the fire

This what he looked like day 2

A few weeks ago the boys went on their first camping trip, it was a school class trip and they spent 2 nights out at Simpson’s Gap.  J.D. joined them for the first night just to be sure they would be OK with camping, the kids all slept in swags (a swag is defined as an Australian bedroll, it is canvas sewn together with a foam insert, you can put either a sleeping bag or bedding inside, then there is a flap on the top end to fold over your face while you are sleeping).  It was a very cold night at 26 degrees F., but between the fire and the layers of clothes they did great.  On the camp there was a talk by a local ranger showing them how to track the wildlife, they were also visited by a group of aboriginal women who taught them traditional crafts and cooked up a “bush” lunch that included kangaroo tail.  Dillon said he spit his out behind a tree!  The boys loved camping and after 3 days I picked up two of the dirtiest boys I had ever seen from school, they were smiling from ear to ear.

Learning how to track wild animals.

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