Walkabout Day 8 - Wycliffe Well - Alice Springs

I am up early yet again today, even though I had a paltry 400km to go to get to Alice.

I wander around the Wycliffe Well camp, photographing the sculptures and UFO related paintings that cover the camp. It is quite a unique place and a lot of effort has been put into decorating the camp.

Whilst there, I take the opportunity to take the bike apart and fix that broken connection, soldering the wires together. I can charge devices again! Yay!

The breadboard stack is not working, I can't secure both sides of it under the rack so it slides out, and as the seat is at an angle they'd only be delivering support to one end of the rack, not the whole length. The glue also didn't hold very well. So I pull it apart, use it as a working bench while I work on the bike, then insert the individual boards into my bag to reinforce it.

I check the internet, and find I am finished in 20 minutes. After checking Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook and Avlis, not much more is there to hold my interest. It is a weird sensation for me, as I can usually distract myself for hours online. Days even. Whole weeks have been lost.... but I digress. I read emails from San, updating everyone on my progress, and I note how amazing her memory is for the details of my day as we talk on the phone. She has a knack for writing I think.

I made a friend while at the park, Jewel, who is on a working holiday and has been at Wycliffe Well for 2 months. Previously she had been in Alice Springs for 5 months, and is familiar with the locale. She recommends going to ANZAC Hill overlooking Alice at sunset, so I plan to be there for that.

After catching up with online happenings, I head off, happily listening to my iPod as it charged, stopping to see anything I feel like seeing. I get a lot more sun today, I can feel it... I was off the bike a great deal, looking at things like the monuments to the Overland Telegraph, a marker for the highest point on the Sturt Highway, and a marker for when I cross the Tropic of Capricorn.

I see several dust devils today, even multiple at once, but all at a distance. I can recognise them now, instead of mistaking them for smoke.

I stopped in at Aileron, where a 17m high statue of an Aboriginal man has been built on a hill, and an equally sized Aboriginal woman and child are down on the plain. I climb the hill and get photos of all of them, which is very hot, in the 40 degree heat. Because it is dry heat, cooling down is as easy as jumping on the bike, and I can't stop anywhere too long or I overheat. Once going, the wind keeps me at a comfortable temperature, but I have to make sure I do not get dehydrated.

The petrol price is up to 180 cents per litre, I am glad for the lower fuel consumption of the bike.

I am noticing these buildings regularly along the road, that have no signs indicating who owns or operates them or what they do. They're each a single stand-alone hut, with one door, no windows, and two solar cell towers next to it, with an antenna on top. The number of actual solar panels on the towers varies from building to building. I'm guessing it is a telecommunications repeater station or something, but the aerial seems so small and secondary to the function of the building... maybe they are substations for an underground line.

I make it to Alice Springs, and ride around the town for a bit before selecting a pub to get a room at, down at the bottom of ANZAC Hill.

Tomorrow I will make my way to Uluru, and meet up with Gemma out there. Uluru is the apex of the journey, and I will be heading back to Sydney from that point, in a southward arch.

 I find my way to the top of ANZAC Hill, as recommended by Jewel, and wait up there while the sun sets, taking photos of Alice Springs, talking to San on the phone, and writing up this journal.

After sunset, I head back down to the pub. Apparently it is Death Metal Friday, with live performances. Just as an aside, isn't a live performance of death metal contradictory? Anyway, I find it more amusing than annoying, it doesn't disturb me as I read... I am not trying to have a romantic dinner, unlike the couple at the next table over. I am reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and finding it every bit as profound as I had been led to expect. Less for the motorcycles and more for the attitude towards work and life, that I find resonates with my own experience and outlook. I am looking forward to reading more of it, but do not want it to interfere with taking these notes.

I have had to leave my bike in a public car park, in what amounts to a city. Riding through Alice springs, the city that resonates the most with it for me is Canberra. I am not sure why. The geography is similar, with the city built in a valley between bordering hills. The flora is similar, the gum trees lining the streets. I am not sure what else it could be, but there is some similarity there, to me. I am worried about my bike, but it is out of my hands now.... only time will tell if I leave here tomorrow or not.