Apr 30, The MacDonalds , Alice Springs and north

We drove the the East MacDonald Range and went to Emily Gap and Jessie Gap. There were Aboriginal cave drawings in both of those places. These were stories of the Caterpillar people. Then we drove to the West MacDonald Range and out to Simpsons Gap. Down a trail by a dry river we came to a pool of water under towering rock sides. It was so peaceful. A colony of wallabies lived in the rocks, but they were asleep.

Back in Alice, we got groceries and tried not to faint from the prices. $6.98 for a kilo of broccoli, $2 for a cucumber, $5.98 for a dozen eggs, $6.50 for a package of Tim Tams (cookies that we bought for $3 in Adelaide).

On the way out of town we stopped at the old telegraph station. It was one of 15 stations from Darwin to Adelaide that carried telegraph signals from the intercontinental undersea cable and connected Australia with the rest of the world. Built in the 1872.

The Todd River runs through the center of Alice. It's an upside down river. The sand is on top and there is water underneath it. They have a race here, Henley on Todd and the cardboard 'boats' are carried down the river.

North of Alice we went over the Tropic of Capricorn and stopped at the marker for it. North of there a town called Ti Tree is at the geographical center of Australia.

We drove several hours. It got hot, up to 90, but felt hotter in our motorhome with the sun beating down. We drove past Wycliffe Wells, where there have been numerous UFO sightings. At sunset we found a campsite at Karlu Karlu. The Europeans call the rounded boulders scattered across the country, the Devil's Marbles. But to the Aborigines they are the eggs laid by the Rainbow Serpent. We hope we're up in time to see the sunrise on them.

Pictures - Caterpillar Stories, Samson at Simpsons Gap, Samson at Telegraph Station, Jeanne at Tropic of Capricorn, Roadhouse