Well, today, being my last day in Alice Springs, I was fortunate enough to get to a dentist. I called at opening time and begged. I was told they would squeeze me in at 1pm so, at 1pm, I was on their door step.
I had to fill in forms, use HICAPS, pay the gap, get treated (they just ground down the sharp bits and told me to see my normal dentist when I got back.
At 1:15 I was back on the bike leaving there. Apart from the speed of the ‘service’, I’m not used to professionals running on time like that.
Anyway, this morning we went to the Telegraph Museum, then over to the Royal Flying Doctor Sercice museum. Both were great and very interesting. I’ll probably visit the RFDS again in Mt Isa as its their head office and may have more on display. I got to impress my family by taking off and landing in their simulator.
In the afternoon, we went to the ‘Cultural centre’ and It was very dissapointing. I’ve bene to other similar places before and all have been great. The only things about this one I liked were the natural history section. There didn’t seem
to be any Aboriginal information that I was looking for, just Beanies(for sale) art (for sale) and a cafe (that was not selling anything as they were closing). We did manage to get in just under the gates and get something to drink but I was afraid to get coffee from somewhere that doesn’t have an espresso machine. Yes, I know I’m a coffee snob.
This afternoon, I got into the van and got out the backpack with all the stuff I thought I might need plus the bags of ‘spares’ for this trip. I’ve sorted out what I think I actually will need (plus a shovel thing if I leave the bitumen again) and put it all in the mostly empty backpack. Without the camping gear, its quite light and should serve me well as space to put any extras I might buy.
I have decided to leave the boots/crocs here and buy some normal shoes in Mt Isa.
I also took no photos today so theres nothing to post here.
Tomorrow morning, I have about 550km to the Tree Ways then the next day, a similar distance to Mt Isa. Two reasonably big days but then theres a day off in Mt Isa to rest and see local attractions. When I was staying there many many years ago, I was too young to do the underground mine tour so thats something I plan to do this time. So, its the RFDS, Underground tour, new shoes and anything else the local tourist information place has to recommend.
I’ll post more probably from Mt Isa as Tennant Creek (near the Three Ways) won’t have much to offer in the way of internet access from what I’m told. I’ll also try to stop and get photos of the Devils Marbles (which are on the way)