Day 31: Alice Springs

Today was spent at a much slower pace. Darren and I are still recovering so we thought it best to do activities in town as we have a big drive again tomorrow.

The first attraction we visited was the Reptile Park. It's no Australia Zoo but it occupied us for a while. The reptile park is established in an old house with mostly geckos, lizards and snakes with a crocodile thrown in for good measure. We again sat through an information talk regarding reptiles which was quite entertaining as well as informative. We got to hold some lizards and the kids had a python draped over their necks. Ethan nearly fell over from the weight of it and Brandon was too scared to even blink. At least he had a go, Darren and I escaped quick smart before they had a chance to get the snake anywhere near us. We preferred to pat Frank the goanna who is permitted to wander around on the floor of the facility.

By the time we finished at the reptile park it was after 12pm so we crossed the road to the cafe at the Royal Flying Doctor Service museum. Micaela had the biggest sausage roll any of us have ever seen, which was lucky as I had expected Ethan to share my pasta with me but he wanted a sausage roll so he got to share with Micaela instead.

After lunch we had a quick look through the museum. Nothing flash and cost more than it was worth, but we did it. The building itself was really nice and we're told it's only been open for 8 weeks. We also got to watch a 15 minute video promoting the service which we enjoyed.

We decided to continue onto Todd Mall and have a look around. Darren had his heart set on some Aboriginal art at Uluru but I talked him out of buying it due to lack of funds, he still likes to look in all the galleries to see if he can find any thing else he likes.

Once all the galleries were exhausted along Todd Mall we proceeded to Yeperenye shopping centre where we bought 4 new CDs for the car and even a DVD for the kids. We also did another grocery shop to see us through to Darwin.

By the time all this was complete it was about 3.30pm so we made our way back to the van for an easy afternoon.

The kids tested out the BMX track whilst Darren and I got a few things organised ready for tomorrow's departure.

The school girl group departed this morning so I excitedly got to have a clean shower tonight. The small things you appreciate when you have to share a toilet and shower with strangers.

Tomorrow we are relocating to Wycliffe Well where we will stay for 1 night before proceeding onto Katherine.