The bus finally rolled into Alice Springs at about 9am this morning. In total, we'd been on the road for nearly 16 hours. I think Nikki slept for most of it - she did wake up when we made the occasional stop, but no sooner were we back on the bus, then she was asleep again (I don't know how - trying to get comfortable was a nightmare). I on the other hand slept for about an hour and a half... brilliant!
We made quite a few stops on the way down - in some of the places that we'd stopped on the way up, but once we'd passed the Threeways Junction (where we turned right onto the Stuart Highway with Bruce) - we were in new territory for us. On one of our stops, in a place called Tennant Creek, we were walking around waiting for a driver change - when Nikki bumped into the guy she used to go to school with in St George - he's called Steve! He didn't remember her, because he's a few years older but they were soon chatting away, and we found that he was also heading for Alice Springs... cool!
As usual, we didn't have anywhere to stay in Alice Springs - but Steve said he was staying at the YHA, so we took a walk there and, thankfully, managed to book in. We couldn't go to our room straight away so we went for a walk instead. When we were out and about we came across a company, that people have been raving about, who do tours out to Uluru (Ayers Rock) - so we went in to check it out. We ended up booking a 3-day tour for ourselves and when they asked if we wanted to hire sleeping bags? I asked, "If I can get you another customer, can we have them for free?" - the guy said yes, and then Nikki text Steve - because we knew he was gonna book too - he was just having some breakfast first (ha ha). So, all three of us got sleeping bags... for free!
With our 'Rock Tour' booked (where were gonna be sleeping under the stars - in swags), we took advantage of the free internet and then went into town. The first thing we did was some food shopping for our lunch. We bought some bits and also a 'cooked chook' - we then came back to the hostel and had chicken & salad sarnies.
This afternoon, we went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base & Museum - which was very interesting! It's the actual place from which emergency aeroplanes are sent out into the remote Outback towns that don't have a doctor of their own. The guys are doing a fantastic job - and it was brilliant to see!
Tonight, we came back to the hostel and I had a swim in the pool - but when I got out, I fell asleep in the chair - Nikki said I looked like an old man, with my magazine on my chest. Afterwards we both had showers and then had some tea. We had crusty roll and dips - which was all a bit posh for me, so I had a chicken leg as well. We decided to have an early night, because we were exhausted, so jumped into bed and watched the first episode of the current X Factor series - which I'd downloaded for Nikki. Nikki was in tears the whole way through, and if thats a sign of things to come, then I might have to delete the rest (he he)!
Nikki sleeping in the Outback in a swag - with all the creepy-crawlies... I can't wait to see that!
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