The time has come and Alice Springs has been buzzing with people and the sound of motorbikes for the last week. Everyone, even the locals, are only talking about one thing, 'The Finke Desert Race'. They say the population of Alice Springs double and it's when the aboriginals are actually outweighed by the amount of whites around!
The Finke Desert Race has been going since 1975 and originally was a race only for motorbikes, but in recent times it now has off road buggies and quad bikes that race too. It's an off road desert race from Alice Springs to Finke, a measly 229km, and then the following day they race back, the quickest time wins. The race distance is a total of 458 kms and it follows the old Ghan road and has many sand dune jumps and winding bends along the way. Since the buggies started competing a motorbike hasn't won, which is partly due to the amount of times they have to stop and full up with petrol.
So l finished work on the Friday arvo, was day 6 in a row for me, and the staff were all excited about heading out the road to set up camp. Originally when we arrived in Alice Springs and were traveling on the old Ghan road we were going to set the tent up for the race, but over recent months, it's way too cold. Either Marty and l are too old or too soft, or maybe both... Anyway, l head home and wind down a bit before getting ready to go out to the showgrounds where they were holding the scrutinearing of all the competitors vehicles. The girls were very excited, they too have been going in about the Finke race for ages. We head down and make our entry donation to the girl guides. All the motorbikes are in one shed and the buggies in another. We head to the buggies as this is the more exciting of the two. Marty and the girls were buzzing with excitement, looking at all the different designs. There were teams from every state and even overseas competitors. My favorite was a buggy that had Ice Age artwork all over it, it looked really cool. There was a huge crowd and was really weird to be surrounded with all these white people after feeling like a minority race around the aboriginals. We looked around and grabbed something to eat for tea then headed back to the park around 7:30pm as it was so bloody cold!!!
The next morning we got up and headed out near the airport where there was the Prolog time trials were happening. Again we made our donation to girls guides for entry and immediately you could see huge amounts of dust flying around from the buggies on the track. The course was a 8.3km winding dirt track which they were to race around to qualify their starting times tomorrow. The girls eyes lit up and were amazed at how fast and noisy the buggies were and how much dust was flying around. We walked around the outside if the track making our way to the start line, but quickly found out where we were to start was the best position as the wind was blowing all the dust over us as soon as a buggy went by. The girls loved it, but l was wanting to get back and save my camera from all that dust. So we headed back to the bleaches and sat up overlooking a winding part of the track. The buggies were so fast, but then the motorbikes came round and zoomed thru what looked like to be quicker, but we later found out the buggies were a tad faster. After half an hour the girls got a bit bored so they found a stick and headed under the bleaches were they laid in the diet playing. They looked like cave girls by the end of it, covered in red dirt. The weather was great too, lovely to sit under the warm sun and blue skies. Well the blue skies turned to red a little with all the dust. Another really cool thing to watch was thrive helicopters flying around following the buggies and bikes, looked so cool. After having our choc dipped icecreams we decided to call it a day as tomorrow was the big one and we had to get up at the crack of dawn to head out the road and find a good spot.
The alarm went off at 6am, couldn't believe l was getting up this early on a day off! We made our way up the old Ghan road and on the way watched a beautiful sunrise. I still get amazed at all the colors the sky illuminates into out here with a sunrise and sunset, its do beautiful. We were also treated to seeing a few hot air balloons up in the sky whilst the sun was rising, was a tad hades to get nice pics though as there was no way Marty was going to stop the car. We arrived at a spot where there were a few cars, around the 50km mark. There was a straight road with a slight turn then a sand dune to jump, so we thought this might be a good spot to watch the action. It was so bloody cold! Couldn't feel my toes, my nose was so cold and my hands. Couldn't believe that l had gloves back at the caravan, how could l have forgotten those? My forward planning these days is atrocious. A bit too relaxed sometimes l think. Whilst waiting for the first buggy l got sick of freezing so l headed over to some grey nomads who had a campfire going, they didn't mind me stealing some heat. By the end of the day we had had done great fun with them and of course, they all fell in love with the girls and our travel story. I think some of the oldies get a bit jealous at what we're doing, but l just tell them they too can do it. I think they wish they had of done it earlier when they could have enjoyed it more. Anyway, after half an hour we heard the noise of the first buggy coming and lined up along the fence. You could see it's headlights coming and then the next thing you saw was it coming up in the air over the sand dune and it was revving so loud as it landed and headed up the straight. Totally awesome!! The girls had their hands over their ears and mouths dropped open, in total amazement, got a great photo capturing it! What felt like the quickest time lapsing, before we knew it, the buggies had all been thru and we had to wait an hour before the bikes were starting. The last ten buggies were a tad ordinary, not as quick as the first lot, definitely not getting up in the air over the dune either. It was time for a wee, l took the girls and we had to walk at least ten minutes up the road to find a few tres to squat behind. So funny cause back in the day there was no way that l would squat unless l was confident no-one could see me, now, as long as there's a tree l don't care!! Lol... On the way back the girls found some long sticks and thought they would be good for the old timers camp fire. Kept them amused. Marty cooked some snags up for lunch and we scoffed them down, we were all starving! Then we saw the helicopter in the sky approaching and heard the motorbike. Along the fence we gathered around and saw the first bike jump over the dune, awesome. Again, the first fifty bikes were great, the last were do slow, l could have ridden faster! Near the end we saw a few riders stack it coming over the dune, they just picked up their bikes and kept going. Bet you their was plenty more for them to come. A few riders also dressed up with one bloke having a pink ballet tutu on and another one having monkey suit on. That outback humor is so great, love it! The girls had become bored half way thru so found this hill with a heap of paddy melons on it and collected a few snd made Mr Potato Heads put of them with sticks. Their imagination is alive and kicking these days, live watching what they come up with! By two o'clock all the bikes had gone past, around four hundred all up. The day still remained freezing cold so it was time to head off.
The Finke Desert Race has lived up to our expectations and are so glad that we stayed and saw it. Next time we'll invite some friends and go out and camp over to have the true Finke experience..... Any takers???

Another thing that has exceeded our expectations on this trip is the amazing people we are meeting along the way. For the last two weeks we have had the pleasure of having Bob and Barbara as our next door neighbors. There a couple from Orange who are touring around for four months. The girls have fallen in love with them, and l think vice versa for Bob and Barbara. We all hit it off great and in a way they became the girls surrogate nan and pop! The girls were treated to icecreams and cupcakes, nurses on laps telling them stories and even wrestling on the grass. They are wonderful people and we got along so well. Barbara even nicknamed Meg "Me G" due to Meg spelling her name much! Now it's stuck and we have a nickname for her at last, unlike Charlotte who has had Boo forever! The girls also had fun helping Bob out making repairs on his caravan. One day Bob was inside having a rest and Meg knocked on his door and said "Are you gonna get up and do anything today or what?", or something to that effect. Barbara was very amused none the less. Marty was also star struck with Bob's Nissan Patrol! As soon as they pulled up Marty couldn't keep his eyes off it, it had a V8 under the hood and was jacked up. He couldn't keep his eyes off it, quite amusing really. Anyway, it was a sad day when we had to say goodbye to them. They were heading off to conquer the Tanami Track (never again will l do this track, it was three days of corrugated road!). We swapped details and took a few picks of them with the girls for memories. For days after they left the girls were saying "We miss Bob and Barbara". So cute!
Not long now and we'll be heading off! Getting a tad excited and looking forward to warmer weather.....under two weeks now and counting!

Bell Xxx