Good evening from Ooraminna Station, 30 kms south east of Alice Springs (Mparntwe in the language of the traditional owners, the Arrernte people). I'm sitting on the verandah of an old police station in the fading light of the day, next to a fire that Bob has just lit in the outdoor firepit. It's been a bit of a quiet week due to Josie and I being pretty under the weather with a nasty headcold. But we still got to see a few sights / have a few adventures in the meantime.

Before we left Mataranka we had a few more goes around the lazy river of Bitter Springs which proved very productive. On the Thursday evening Bob took the kids for a quick go before dinner where they were THRILLED to spot some turtles in amongst the plant life. I didnt want to miss out on swimming with turtles, so on the Friday morning we got up super early (for us!) and arrived at the springs to see the mist from the warm water rising into the cold air. Again, we were lucky enough to spot about a dozen turtles as we went around.

With that fitting goodbye we drove from Mataranka to Banka Banka, where we again slept in 2 shipping containers that had been converted into simple accommodation with a bed and shower. This time we were able to get the BBQ in the camp kitchen to work so our dinner of eggs and bacon sandwiches were much less hassle to prepare. We hit the hay early and got back out on the road to make it the 600 kms to Alice Springs.

By the time we got into town I was feeling pretty rotten, and was pretty disappointed that I'd misinterpreted the description of the family villa that we had booked into as have a few more walls and doors than it ended up having. Which was none, aside from the bathroom. Sigh. So we commiserated over KFC, then had a very quiet two days and decided to splurge on a 2nd single villa so I wouldn't keep everyone up with my coughing all night. I'm SO generous like that!!

By Wednesday I was feeling a bit better, but also getting pretty cabin fevery, so with a mask on (and multiple negative RAT tests, naturally!) I took the kids to the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, which was VERY cool! We got there just in time for a talk from a lovely young woman about some of the key reptiles in the area. We were lucky enough to get to hold a few of her friends, which was pretty exciting!

In the evening we went to a nocturnal tour of the Alice Springs Desert Park, which was pretty amazing. The park has 3 recreated desert habitats, as well as a number of enclosures for particular birds and animals. For our evening visit we had a tour by the red lights of head torches through the Mulga Walk, a large enclosure that has been built to provide safe habitat for a number of vulnerable and endangered nocturnal species. We got to see several brush-tailed bettongs, malas and golden bandicoots, as well as an echidna, some greater stick-nest rats and four bilbies! We were very lucky to see some many of these very cute critters on this one walk!

On the Thursday Josie was feeling a bit worse for wear after our late night, so she and Bob stuck close to home while me and the big two headed out for a bit more exploring. We went to Megafuna Central in town, which exhibits fossils of megafauna that were found 150 km north of Alice in Alcoota. The 8 million year old fossils are from species that have mostly become extinct (except of course the good old crocodile!) including the world's largest ever bird (check out the replica in the photo at the very top!).

We visited the old Alice Springs Gaol which has been converted into a museum. It was fine, but Dubbo Gaol really did set the bar very high for that sort of thing! Then I dragged the kids to the Tangentyere Artists Aboriginal Art Centre, which I was particularly interested in visiting as it is an hub for art activities across the Alice Springs Town Camps, which is a name describing the local Aboriginal housing associations. I really loved the range of artistic styles on display, as well as the wide range of tea towels!

In the evening we attempted a new recipe for dinner, and version of spaghetti carbonara, and miracles of miracles, all 3 children ate it! It wasn't Toby's favourite, but he could bring himself to stomach it, so Bob and I (quietly) celebrated a huge win in finding a dinner option that was easy enough to prepare, even on camp stoves, that all 5 of us could eat. We even made a somewhat 'healthy' version, with light cooking philly cheese instead of cream and extra veggies. Winning!!!

On Friday morning we packed up yet again, and were actually out before check out time -we're getting better every time! We headed back to the desert park to see a few more highlights in the sunlight, including an brief but interesting talk about dingos.

After doing some damage at the gift shop we hit the road and headed out to Ooraminna Station, which is an interesting place. Its a big property about 30 mins out of Alice, and it has an odd collection of old buildings, some of which are used for accommodation, like the police station and gaol cell we're currently staying in.

The station also has some glamping tents, as well as a pretty large scale movie set of an abandoned frontier town. There have definitely been a few movies filmed here over the years, and apparently you can also have a wedding here?!?! I'm still not quite sure how this all came to be - the staff are lovely but pretty new and the owners are away so I can't ask all the probing questions I would like to - are the buildings all real/historical? Where they here originally or did they get moved here? I really want to know - the mystery is killing me!!

Anyways, the main homestead has a restaurant and bar and a lovely terrace overlooking the gorgeous view.

Today we headed out to the East MacDonnell ranges, where we took Jen's advice and visited Trephina Gorge. Despite some whinging from Toby we took the Trephina Gorge Walk, estimated to take 1 hour, rather than the Trephina Gorge Ramble, estimated time 20 to 40 mins. As you can tell, we're not dealing with the most enthusiastic of walkers! But he always has a great time once he's out there, and today was no exception. The landscape is truly astonishing, and we felt really lucky that there was such an accessible way for us to experience it, without having to hike for hours (which just wouldn't be an option for our family 😞)

Which brings me back to the start, back to the old police station in the fading light with a fire lit....

After a hot milo, some roasted marshmallows and a whole lot of stargazing we got the kids into bed and got a bit ready for yet another move tomorrow. We're off to the other side of Alice tomorrow, the West Macs, where we will reach the pinnacle of cribbing of the Gardiner's itinerary and spend a few nights camping in Palm Valley. Wish us luck!