Day 38 Alice Springs

Today my eldest son turned 9.  I told him that he is half way to leaving home now.  He didn't see the humour in that.  I am very proud of his achievements and how much he has grown up.

We started this morning at a respectable -2 Deg C and went about getting into the day as best we could. Emma complained of feeling ill, and returned to bed without breakfast.  Lisa too felt unwell, so she retired to bed and promptly fell asleep.

I decided to do what a man should do, so I packed the boys into the car, and took them down to the car wash.  I have to admit, I couldn't find my car in the parking lot later in the day because of the shine coming off it, so it must have needed the attention.  I stripped down the interior as well, and there was much vacuuming and scrubbing.  The smell has nearly been removed.  It might have been the rogue pair of socks that I found under the front seat. 

From the car wash, the boys came to the shop (Supercheap Auto) to get some other bits and pieces that I required to finish the job.  It was only a quick trip from there to the shop to get the fantastic lamington cake for morning tea.  Ashley was pretty stoked with his choice of cake, but really upset that his brothers rendition of "Happy Birthday" included reference to primates.

All tears aside, Emma was feeling better and we went in search of birthday lunch (Hungry Jacks) and we ate up at Anzac Hill.  The views of Alice Springs from this vantage point are fantastic, and not to be missed.

With lunch all sorted, we headed off to the Desert Park Wildlife Centre where we would spend the rest of the afternoon.  There were some really interesting cultural talks on Bush Medicine which we managed to see, some we missed (survival in the desert and flora recognition)...As we wandered through the park, we came across their nocturnal house which was brilliant.  All of the exhibits were viewable and quite active, including ghost bats, mala, spotted quolls, desert rats, bilby and many others.


There was also a fantastic free flying bird presentation that had galahs, whistling kite, black kite, a barn owl and a type of falcon.  We were taught how to distinguish the difference between kites and falcons.  The kites are more closely related to eagles, and are able to collect their prey off the ground in flight where the falcons tend to catch their prey on the wing.  Very cool.

We went back to the nocturnal house for a brilliant information talk on nocturnal mammals.  Whilst there, I came across my nemesis here.  This bloody stick insect was 30cm long and gave me the creeps even behind the glass.  Ewww.









Birthday dinner at Ashley's request was Indian food at Flavours of India.  I must say, the food was brilliant, the service was great, and we are all very full of belly now that we are back at the caravan. 

All up as Ashley has said, "A very Journal Standard day all in all."