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Set off early on Friday morning for a three day drive along the Stuart Highway to get to Alice Springs in the middle of the desert. The drive goes along some of the most isolated, desolate road in Australia. First day we went to Katherine and went to Nitmiluk National Park in the afternoon. Took a boat across a croc infested river and then had a great hike into a falls and swimming hole. Even though it was like the kajillionth time I've done that in the last month, it doesn't get old! The water was frigid which felt great. Back at camp we were able to have a campfire and unlike at Kakadu it got nice and cold so I had a good night's sleep.
The next day started with a trip into a beautiful hot springs near Mataranka. The setting was spectacular and we had a really nice swim. It was very chilly out still early in the morning so the hot water was perfect. After the springs we had a long day of driving through not a lot. We stopped at a few roadhouses including a stop at Daly Waters which has a great little pub that claims it is Australia's most remote pub. Back into a swag sleeping under the starts at night which was great.
The next day was another long one of driving to get to Alice Springs. We had a stop at a place called the Devil's Marbles which is a huge area of spherical rocks that are perched atop one another in weird ways thanks to millions of year of erosion of the ground around them. We crossed the unofficial line that divides to the north the area that has wet and dry seasons and to the south is desert...and then a bit later we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn which is the official divider of the tropics and the semi-arid desert. Finally got into Alice in the evening and enjoyed a bit of the desert nightlife.
Two days "off" in Alice were relaxing and relatively uneventful. One highlight was I rented a bike and road around town a bit. Went to the "School of the Air" which is where "school" for hundreds of Aussies living in the most remote parts of the country happens. Its basically a TV studio and using webcams the teacher has class with his/her students who are scattered about. Pretty cool.
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