An early start had us at Coober Pedy by 9am for a coffee stop. The next 250 kms seemed to drag on with a headwind as we drive toward building clouds and long sections that appeared flat as far as the eye could see but were slow long hills. It took an effort to keep the car at 90km an hour and seemed to drag on forever with such a bland treeless landscape. Just pushing the accelerator down was an effort. We pulled up for lunch at the roadhouse at Glendambo - ...

We packed up from Alice, fueled up at the caravan park - $1.29 / L - cheapest so far, and headed South. Weather reports indicate a cold snap across SA so we really wanted to continue North instead. Around 90km from Alice was a roadhouse at Stuart's Well with a camel farm next door. They had emus, Kangaroos camels and alpacas. It was only $7 to ride a camel around the enclosure so the girls got to ride Merindi who was 24, and Landi who was 20. Not far from here...

Free pancakes for breaky at the Big4 started the day, with the girls quickly running off with their new friends to ride pedal carts around the park. That provided time for the mums to head to the Todd Markets which were very cool with lots of alternative stalls, not your usual soaps and candles market this one. Heading back to the park to pry the kids apart we decided to look around Alice. Lunch downtown and a quick stop at a bookshop to stock up before the d...

The sunrise was equally as impressive from the lookout we had camped from and after sorting out our a accommodation for the night in Alice we headed off, agreeing to meet the family again once we got there. We headed toward Alice and tried to check out a few more gorges along the way but they all required a bit of 4WDing so ended up having a quick look at Ellery creek, then we couldn't find parking at Stanley Chasm so headed to Simpsons Gap. It was an easy wa...

Heading to the West McDonnell Ranges via the Mereenie Loop Road we took our time, and kept a lookout as the traffic signs said to look out for camels instead of kangaroos. The road condition was terrible, full of corrigates. The first wildlife we saw was a herd of wild donkeys. Later the warning signs were of horses and we saw plenty of evidence along the roads and a mob under the shade of some trees. Not long after finally getting back on the tar we turned o...