The Alice has so much to offer and we ventured out to the West Ranges to Ellery Big Hole, a magnificent gorge about 80 kms from Alice Springs. We spent 4 days camped in the national park enjoying the beautiful surroundings. On our last day we headed further west for a day trip to Ormiston Gorge and Glen Helen Gorge. Tony and I climbed the peak next to the gorge to the lookout. What a spectacular sight! As we entered the park there was a dingo wandering around (see the photo). Glen Helen had much more rain in it than the last time we were there. Our final stop during the trip was to the lookout to Mt Sonder (see picture).

When we arrived back in Alice Springs we stayed at a really nice caravan park called Temple Bar. Fantastic owners who were very friendly and we got to know our neighbours who were from South Australia. We spent 2 more days in Alice - we went to the Date Farm famous during the 80s but it has now closed. We were disappointed as we were looking forward to buying fresh dates.....and anything else that may have been on offer.

We arrived in Barrow Creek around morning tea and had a look at the pub. the walls are papered with money (notes) from everywhere! There were also old notes from early in the decimal currency introduction. The publican said that the station owners and workers would leave a note up on the wall in case they arrived at the pub with no money but wanted a coldy. Obviously lots of the money was never collected. It is truly a fascinating place to see. There is also a telegraph station that has a bloody past when the postmaster was speared by the Aborigines. Barrow Creek pub was the last place that Falconio drank at before he was murdered 13 kilometres further up the Stuart Highway about 13 years ago.

Yesterday we called into Wycliffe Well, noted as being the UFO centre of Australia because of the many UFO sightings around the area. We had our photo taken with the 'aliens'.

Our stop for the night was at the Devil's Marbles, a rocky outcrop of rocks all sitting on top of one another. We were able to take sunset and sunrise photos of the rocks. The campsite was absolutely chockers full. There were at least 12 couples all heading to Alice for the Uylessis Motor Cycle AGM. There are going to be around 3 000 people at this meeting. Tony was in his glory with so many bikes heading down the highway.

So as you can see we continue to enjoy the many wonderful sights available to us in this great country. The Centre is a fabulous place to be.... oh by the way the temperature these last few days has been 30 degrees. Until the next entry, enjoy our story.