To Alice Springs

Picture from yesterday since I failed to take any today

Saturday 5^th July 2008

There was no big rush this am but of course the girls were up early – feeling tired has become normal for them!

We fed them with croissants and milk shakes and I tried to make sure we hadn’t left behind too many clothes/toys/shoes. Fiona and Im gave us a lift to airport where the entrance to the Qantas check-in is hidden behind lines of corrugated iron fences as they work on (very slowly, apparently) updating the airport. Inside it was pretty nice tho’ and the girls were well chuffed when we were ushered into the Qantas club lounge where they had pink and chocolate lamingtons and lots of them!

We had front row seats in plane – also thanks to the travelling Paul has done this year (making him a Platinum frequent flyer which entitles his partner to gold membership and therefore choice of preferred seating). The food was no good for the girls – wholegrain sandwich with ‘funny’ stuff in it. I have to admit that I had to remove the brie before I was ready to tackle the ham and pickle. They did enjoy the mini chocolate, tho’.

We had a good view of Cairns for a bit before things got too high and then a great panorama of the McDonnell Ranges coming into Alice. In between Holly read her book, Katie finished her magazine and I was allowed to do some of the cryptic crossword before being thoroughly beaten at cards by Katie.

Paul was on site and on time to pick us up and we negotiated the baggage hall with no trouble (priority baggage cos of gold frequent flyer...). He drove us back to our caravan park past the Alice Springs show in full swing which, of course, immediately caught the attention of the girls and we were given another version of the ‘we missed the Royal Show in Perth so we should be allowed to go to this’. We managed to hold them off – after all, we hadn’t even unpacked yet...

The camper was all set up with the fridge and cupboards re-stocked but the girls weren’t interested in any of that – they had spotted a great big bouncy pillow and it was calling to them. There are also a couple of pools here but it’s too chilly – only about 24 degrees – and none of us (but especially not me, naturally) were even interested in looking at them. Paul had checked out other facilities, tho’ and it appears that they do a free pancake breakfast on Sunday mornings which could be very pleasant, as long as we are up in time.

We cajoled the girls off the bouncy pillow with promises of new clothes – they didn’t know we meant K-Mart – but it wasn’t very successful –we could only find shirts and singlets for the girls – no snugly long pants. Paul got a bargain fleece for $7, though, and we found them some warm slipper sock things which are dead cute and fluffy.

We also bought a DVD for them to watch instead of having to take them to the show – the thought of facing a Sideshow Alley and their clamours for more rides and more gos was just too much!

Since they hadn’t partaken of the airline fare we gave them early dinner at Hungry Jacks with the plan that they would slip quietly into bed at an early hour.

Ha, ha, we should really have known better. They bounced some more, watched the movie, had an intermission for the fireworks (or some of them – they were soon bored) and watched the rest of the movie before fighting all the way to their beds. And all this despite (or more likely, because of) being ridiculously tired.

I wasn’t far behind them but Paul had had a lie-in til 9am (so unfair) so was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and surfed the internet for ages. I didn’t mind the light being on or the occasional laughter but I was a bit peeved by the continuous comments and expectation of my interest in world affairs long after I wanted to be asleep!