DAY 7 – RAINBOW VALLEY TO ALICE SPRINGS 26/04/16 [110 klms]

Another cold morning of around 6C in the van, which again was our fault.    The previous night it was the hatch above the bed, this time it was that in the dark, we had only shut the fly-wire door instead of the solid section.   No wonder it was cold.

A casual start to the morning and after pack-up, Michael decides to practice his reversing in to the dedicated bays in readiness for caravan parks ahead.

Guidance comes from Tony and Dot and he has a number of attempts, each time a slightly different approach angle.   I think that this has improved his confidence.  

We leave the National Park area and head off on the dirt for 22 klm back to the Stuart Highway and then on into Alice Springs.   We arrive late morning, with Tony having his fuel warning light on for the last 20klm.   He fills up with 123 litres and Michael with 117 litres.   Fuel comes down from $1.53 to $1.18 a litre now that we are in NT rather than northern outback SA.

I ring the Big 4 Caravan Park and they advise that there are 2 sites available for  large vans and allow us to come in immediately rather than wait for the 2 o’clock entry time.

We arrive at the Park and book it…….with a guide to take us to our site.   Generous Tony swapped sites to allow Michael to drive through.  Upon un-hitching we open the van door to find shattered plate  glass all over the floor…Where did this come from??????  finally we found that the inner glass panel in the oven door had slid out and shattered…….another Warranty call.

Thetford …..supplier of the oven was contacted via Elite, and they are going to supply replacement glass.  We are to collect the panel from Broome in a fortnight’s time, as they cannot get it to Alice before the weekend.

Power now enables us to use the air conditioner in the van, to cool us down as the van is heating up in the Alice’s low 30s.

After going out for a Chinese Meal with Tony & Jenny, we return so Michael & I can go to the Star Gaze night……A very clear night but some background light from the AS city centre and the full moon. ..A knowledgeable gent telling us about the sky and with his large telescope showing Jupiter & its moons as well as the nebula constellation in the Milky Way.   We get to view these after all the children present.  Using a laser he points out the various star groups.   It is a great informative night .

Back to the van for a sleep, and during the night Michael heard dingoes around 3:00am