J came home today. Once again, he is looking a lot better after some fluid and a few doses of steroid and IV Abs. We were due in Uluru today but we'll obviously stay in the Alice a bit longer now. Took the guys souvenir shopping. J bought a kangaroo skin, a small didg and a new wallet (RM Williams no less!). A bought some unakite stones shaped like dolphins on leather straps as necklaces for the guys. Unakite is a pretty pink and green stone which is loca...

J is not feeling great again, and everyone is a bit sick of driving, so we're staying in the Alice for 4 days. J and C elected to stay in the van most of the day. A and I went for a very nice walk along the bike/walking path along the Todd River into town. Heavitree Gap is an amazing bit of geology where the East and West MacDonell Ranges almost meet but for a natural gap no more than 100m wide. The river, the road and the Ghan railway all squeeze though ne...

A bit lazy on getting going for another long day. We drove into pretty stiff headwind today: it increases the fuel consumption quite dramatically and makes the van dance around. It's flat and red most of the way. The trees are typically just small wiry things and there's not much grass. I don't recognise most of the plants now. We pulled up by the side of the road to put fuel in the tank and there were the biggest ant holes in the ground, with an opening a...