Tête en bas

Down under wandering. Archipelagoes to islands; beaches to deserts; mountains to cities.

Quick stop in Alice


  • English: Quick stop in Alice
  • Français: Quick stop in Alice

The day before, we have decided to come back to Standley Chasm. We had a great contact with the people there, and we knew that we were going to find the comfort we were looking for (understand electricity and toilet; we are simple people). The next morning, we’ve taken our time to leave the place. Because Ray, the irish manager, is really friendly. So friendly that, instead of telling him “good bye” we said “see you soon, probably next week”.

We told Sara that we were planning to be back in Alice around 11AM. We left the Chasm around 12:30, but arrived in Alice at the same time as Sara. She was coming from Darwin, with a few fellow travelers. They were a little bit late on the schedule. My objective, when I bought the car, was to take it as easy as possible. No more stress, no more schedule, no more timing. I was aiming the Rainbow Valley for tonight. An hour of normal drive and 45 minutes of unsealed road, south of Alice, on the road to the road. It’s part of the “must see” of the area. And the timing was perfect: tonight, there was a ranger talk around the fire.

The first contact with Sara was a good one. The time to have the car ready, buy some food (we won’t find any other grocery for the next seven days or so) et a few other thing (feeling an extra 10 liters tank of water, and an extra 20 liters tank of fuel), it’s already 4:30PM. Sunset will be there soon, but we still prefer to take the road and drive. Don’t like that much driving by night, but it won’t be a very long drive anyway.

In Alice Springs area, there’s two categories of unleaded road. The “4WD only” and the “4WD recommended”. Of course, I won’t even try the first one with Minma. But trying the other one is not a real problem for the old lady, and we arrive at the Rainbow Valley, a little bit shaken, but just on time for the Ranger Talk.

It’s cold. We’re getting used to it. We’ll all sleep in the tent that was coming with the car. But it’s an australian tent. The inside dome is just a mosquito net. The second one is just a water proof fabrics. The tent is huge. Probably not the best thing to keep us warm.

We build the tent quickly, before joining a really inspiring fire, to listen to a ranger talking about plants and animals of the area. If what he says is interesting, there’s no image or picture to really see the animals, and it’s a little bit hard to imagine them. I still grab a couple of information. At the end of the talk, we use the fire to boil some water for the hot water bottles. They will probably be useful tonight. We’re hiding in the tent soon after that for of first night on the road. The contact with Sara is nice. Everybody’s talking in english. From time to time, Hripsimé and her talk in italian. Or sometime in german. With me, she speaks in french. The car is a mix of languages that I really like.

Comments are closed.