Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd July, 2024
All the things that we wanted to do yesterday got done, including the therapty planning meeting with Matt. He greated me as soon as I came on screen and mostly stayed focused during the 45 minutes. He answered questions and showed his various ways of communicating to Abby. He often finds meetings boring and drifts off, so I felt proud of him.
After the meeting we drove over to Uluru to the Cultural Centre, thinking of having lunch there. But, they didn’t have much food left. I had soup whilst we were having coffee at the Yalara Village shortly before the therapy meeting, but Stephen hadn’t eaten at all. We went back to the Sherwood and Stephen made his own lunch, whilst I had a muffin and we shared a lime tart from the cafe.
Early in the drive around the Rock we took a short walk to another water hole. There was a lot more water than the waterhole we saw on the other side of the rock. Despite all the other visitors it felt like a very peaceful place. We met James and Carol, who took a photo of us together, then we talked about our travels as we walked back to our vehicles. They have a Subaru and a tent, but they are younger than us.
Last night we camped at the Sandy View Roadside Rest Area. Now that the rain has passed it’s very cold, even during the day. Fortunately I’ve realised that having the windows closed and covered really helps to keep the warmth in. We do have a draft under the fridge, which will need to be looked into when we get home.
We watched the ABC NT News and heard all about the Territorians celebrating the beginning of self rule 40 odd years ago by being able to buy fireworks and set them off during a four hour window each year. This results in the sort of injuries you’d predict, but they don’t want to give it up.
The last time we were here for Territory Day we were in Tennant Creek and went to the official celebration. We were just swallowing our disappointment about missing out on all of the fun when a tour bus pulled up in front of us and disgorged many noisy young people who trooped up the nearest sandhill and had a party with music and intermittent rocket firing. We were invited to join them, but actually we got quite a good view near the car.
It was very cold and we couldn’t help feeling they were quite brave, apart from the danger of fireworks, of course. The music wasn’t very loud, just enough that we could identify the songs. Stephen was grumbling about the fireworks interfering with his star gazing. I got too cold standing outside to watch, but found I could see them well sitting in the front cab of the Sherwood.
So, how often are you at a free overnight camp and have a group of young people arrive to have a party and fireworks?
We have had someone come into our campsite and offer us a free pizza. That was very nice as we hadn’t worked out what to eat that evening and it was very helpful. But that was near Toodyay in WA, and a few years ago.
In the morning we climbed the sandhill used by the fireworks crew. There was an easy path and we were rewarded with good views to Uluru and the Olgas.
We were warm and snug in bed overnight, in fact we slept in until about 8.00 a.m., hoping the sun would warm the van. It didn’t, but our diesel heater works well. Today we stopped at Curtin Springs Roadhouse, hoping for a nice coffee, but they only have instant. You can camp overnight without power for free and they do pub type meals in the evening.
Our next stop was at the Mt Conner Lookout Rest Area, which has a view to Mt Conner, often mistaken for Uluru by newbies, including us when we first came here. It was our tour guide who misled us as a joke. I think we felt discomfit that Uluru didn’t look like the photos. Mt Conner is a mesa, a flat topped rock, and is really impressive as well, though not as famous.
We then drove onwards to Petermann Rest Stop. We had planned to go further, but this place is so nice, large, fairly flat, with desert oaks and other trees, that even though it was only 2.30 when we arrived we decided to stay.
We have used the Starlink at both campsites. Last night we had a faint Telstra signal, here we have none. I put the Starlink on a camping table as it doesn’t have a stand. This morning it blew over onto it’s face in the strong wind. I righted it and then laid it flat on a towel. On the app it showed there had been a bit of a blip, but it recovered quickly and kept online. This afternoon is still very windy, in fact driving was quite difficult, so I’ve put it out on the towel again, flat, not even using it’s small kickstand. It’s giving us fast internet. It got a little cosmetic damage from landing on it’s face, but I wiped off the dirt and it seems perfectly happy.