Well we've been here in Alice Springs for nearly a week now and god it's been busy.
After negotiating with the Macdonnell Range Holiday Park we are staying put here for our stay, being around $288 per week, up until June at least as price goes up $90/week when peak season kicks in... Not too bad. Plus we couldn't really be bothered moving again. It's a great park with lots to offer the kids, and hopefully with Easter coming the park might get some more kids in it.... The owners are nice too, been running the place for over 25 yrs!! We moved from where we were down to the other end of the park, where the long term vans are, on a slab sight, which suited us to a tea. However, is a tad quite and lonely at the moment as all the holidayers are put down the other end of the park. Just us and an older couple up this end.....
All week Marty and l have been busy chasing work. Not much here for Marty's trade, being a fitter, but fingers crossed he can get this maintenance job at the hospital. Me, well l'm just waiting for the hospital to get the numb into gear. Very frustrated, they say their screaming for nurses and l'm just sitting here waiting for the processes to go thru. Went for a walk thru and to introduce myself, giving a subtle nudge to hurry up!! Lol. The hospital itself is about the same size as Shepp, a bit old and run down, heaps of aboriginals walking around and sitting out the front. Am very eager to work here to get some new nursing exposure and also some insight into aboriginal health. Hoping that Marty and l will have work by the end of next week as the kitty is getting low. Have decided to join an agency for our next stint of work so l don't have to organize all the forms and crap in every town we work in, too much!!
We have been also busy catching up on Boo's school which she has been putting a terrific effort into. We've been doing at least 2-3hrs a day all week in order to catch up. Big effort and starting to get there. She will have to miss out on these school holidays though and get it a little later. Her reading and writing is at a terrific level, she is really going well, above expectation. Our bright shining princess, so proud of her.
Meg is going thru, hopefully the end, of the terrible three's!! Whining and moaning and arguing over every little thing. Half the time happy and half the time driving us crazy!!! She is loving riding her bike around the park and Marty and l cringe as she gets such a high speed up and goes around the corners so fast. is very difficult keeping her entertained whilst doing school with Boo as it is so bloody hot here and none of the playgrounds have shaded covers on them. Only downfall of the park really. Anyway, the time difference probably has something to do with it and we're praying that some catchup sleep will help with her moods!!
Alice Springs is going to be a real eye opener and experience with learning about the aboriginal culture, which l am looking forward to exposing the girls to. Whilst driving around the town, there are hundreds of aboriginals just walking around and sitting on the streets and under the shade of trees. I do wonder what sort of a life it is for them, surely can't be too great for them... You over hear them talking in their native tongue which the girls do find fascinating listening to them. Two things that make them so different to the southern aboriginals back home is they're darker and they also have a sting body odor.
The weather has also been a bit to get used to with the sun heating up from when is rises to when it sets. The average temperature during the day has been 35oC, with the nights not being too cool yet. We are anticipating that the nights will cool down to the zeros soon though. Also for the first time in a while, we are getting a bit pink from the sun. So with being in the shade and avoiding the sun we are doing our best to not getting to burnt!
Today was the first time we had an outing to sight see since we arrived in Alice. After lunch we headed out for a short road trip, about an hour out the road. We headed out to a place called Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve.
The main features of Rainbow Valley are its spectacular red sandstone bluffs and cliffs. These free standing cliffs form part of the James Range. These bands in the sandstone cliffs are caused by water. In an earlier and wetter age, the red iron of the sandstone layers was dissolved and drawn to the surface during the dry season. These red minerals formed a dark iron surface layer with the leached white layers remaining below. The dark red capping is harder and weathers more slowly than the softer white sandstone below, which quickly turns into loose sand. Weathering and erosion are also responsible for the shape of Rainbow Valley, where sandstone blocks have been eroded into rock faces and squared towers. It was spectacular, the colors of the cliffs were amazing. We walked up to view it a bit closer, and l admit, we hadn't worn sufficient footwear, yes thongs and crocs. The hot sand was burning our feet and Meg cried and had tears that her feet were burning. Finally we got up to sit under 'mushroom rock' whilst we tried to cool down. We abandoned the walk up to the top of the cliffs due to Meg not being in the mood for it and Marty and l couldn't be bothered with trying to convince her otherwise. It was bloody hot, but so beautiful and peaceful out here (besides the sound of Meg's winging voice!). The colors, like l said where amazing, with the red cliffs with contrasting yellow abs white sandstone, the blue sky and the red dirt with wildflowers and green bushes surrounding the bottom. After walking back to the car, we drove back to Alice, stopping off at Macca's for a soft serve before a swim back at the park to cool off.....
Fingers crossed that things will fall into place next week cause we were so looking forward to staying in Alice Springs for a while and amercing ourselves in everything the town has to offer.....work, play and culture.
Bell Xxx