August 14. 2012
August 14. 2012
Last night our tour bus dropped us off at our hotel in “the Alice” around 8pm. Shockingly there is a locked gate and no night clerk. Uhoh! This could have been a major disaster except for a stroke of luck. Within seconds, another customer showed up. They had the foresight to call ahead for the gate code and late arrival instructions. Whew!
We have another lazy morning planned. We spend it on the Internet catching up with email and posting pictures. I would have liked to have seen Alice Springs. Instead our taxi driver gives us his ten-minute rundown on the town. Alice is an old telegraph station that has grown to 25,000 people. We just missed the Henley on Todd, a drunken “boat” race down the bone-dry Todd River. Just south of town is a secret US intelligence base. I can only imagine what it costs to feed and house 2000 Americans in the middle of the Australian outback.
At the airport we learn that our flight is delayed three hours and we will be getting in to Darwin long after the rental company closes. I called them and found for a stiff fee they will stay open late for us. When we finally arrive, we get our luggage, and wait in a long slow taxi line. It is almost 7pm by the time we pick up our rental campervan. It is also a manual transmission. Since it is dark, we go straight to the closest campground a mile away. Of course the gate is closed and locked. Again! We look around and fortunately see an after-hours phone. The clerk gives us the last spot they have and tells the next sorry camper to get lost. I am not sure whether to curse our bad luck or bless our good fortune.
This campervan rental is an experiment for us. It seems the right thing to rent when we go to New Zealand in the future. Aimee doesn’t like it. Compared to our motorhome this thing is a closet. We spend the first hour unpacking and trying to find a spot for all our belongings. Fortunately we had a late lunch at the Alice airport so we aren’t too hungry.
Before we retire for the night, the loudest airplanes I have ever heard start taking off from the nearby airport. Apparently Darwin is the air force’s home for night training. Of course the US has another couple thousand troops in Darwin too. Where don’t we have soldiers?
Last night our tour bus dropped us off at our hotel in “the Alice” around 8pm. Shockingly there is a locked gate and no night clerk. Uhoh! This could have been a major disaster except for a stroke of luck. Within seconds, another customer showed up. They had the foresight to call ahead for the gate code and late arrival instructions. Whew!
We have another lazy morning planned. We spend it on the Internet catching up with email and posting pictures. I would have liked to have seen Alice Springs. Instead our taxi driver gives us his ten-minute rundown on the town. Alice is an old telegraph station that has grown to 25,000 people. We just missed the Henley on Todd, a drunken “boat” race down the bone-dry Todd River. Just south of town is a secret US intelligence base. I can only imagine what it costs to feed and house 2000 Americans in the middle of the Australian outback.
This campervan rental is an experiment for us. It seems the right thing to rent when we go to New Zealand in the future. Aimee doesn’t like it. Compared to our motorhome this thing is a closet. We spend the first hour unpacking and trying to find a spot for all our belongings. Fortunately we had a late lunch at the Alice airport so we aren’t too hungry.
posted by Mike and Aimee at 9:58 AM
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