Today we travelled to Alice Springs.   We came back out to Erldunda, travelling on the Lasseter Highway, to get back onto the Stuart Highway again.   I am doing a quick blog so the map looks right!  If I do the next blog from Alice Springs, the map will look like we went cross country to get there.  The Map has gotta look right on these blogs!   I have spent too many hours on them!  I also took some photos of our final opportunity to view a 'Sunrise on the Rock'.  These were taken from the Campground Lookout.  There was some cloud around and the colours were lovely. I also want to blog about our fridge dilemma!  While we were at Yulara the fridge started to defrost.  The first day we were optimistic that the small lump of ice we found was just due to the cycle.  The second day we knew it was more, but it only seemed to be affecting the fridge section.  Peter thought maybe there was a slow leak of refrigeration gas.  Because the freezer is on the bottom section of the unit and is quite large, the fridge was still getting some coldness from there.   It was still okay for the veges.  Luckily though, we did have the Engel car fridge.By Monday morning we knew there was a serious problem.  The freezer was now showing signs of thawing!  Peter made the necessary phone calls before we left Yulara.  The company who supply this type of caravan fridge, is based in Queensland.  They had a preferred service campany in Alice Springs and the earliest they could look at it was Wednesday at 1.00pm.  Great!  And we had to pay the service fee up front!Wally and Clara, you have been cuddling on top of that fridge for the last two weeks too!  We thought you would have both been looking after it!  When we got to Alice Springs we put the Engel onto freeze and got all the meat into it.  We had really stocked up on food in Port Augusta.  And I had done that baking!  Made icecream too!  So some of that ended up in the bin.  We needed to buy an esky, so off to find Bunnings we went.  We didn't want something too big sitting around in the caravan and then there was the problem of finding space for it after, so we decided on a fairly large Esky bag for $20. 00.  What a purchase!  The zip broke the third time it was opened.  Peter thought I was going to spend hours trying to help him get this cheap nylon zip back together!  No way hosea!  I had more to do with my time.  Like blog!  So the pegs did the job for 16 hours! We took it back the next day and they did replace it.  So we are being very, very careful each time we open and close this BIG purchase!  Back to the saga of the fridge.  The bag is going to have to keep the food cool until at least next Monday!  The refrigeration serviceman has been and delivered the verdict!  It is the condenser.  He could do whatever they can do to fix it,  but he would need to take the whole fridge out of the van, to do that.  We tried to get a new condenser out of Brisbane, but they don't have any in stock and it would be 7 days for them to get one from Canada.  So we have gone with the option of them taking one from a fridge they have there and express posting it to Alice Springs.  The serviceman is not confident that it will get here very quickly.   Even if it was to be here by Friday, he is too booked up to do the job.  So we are booked in for Monday.  Fingers and toes crossed it all works out for then.  So I guess we should have well and truly seen all there is to see in 'A Town Like Alice' by then!Now back to travelling from Yulara out to the Stuart Highway again!  Not long after we got going we came across some wild camels.  We were told it is estimated there are 600,000 wild camels in the desert.  Each year it is said 30,000 are culled.  If this did not happen, within 10 years the number of wild camels would double.  We also stopped to take a photo of Mount Conner at the Mount Conner Lookout.  Morning tea stop was at Crystal Springs Roadhouse.  There is also a caravan park there, but it was pretty dry and desolate looking.  Because of the fridge situation we decided to buy a coffee.  Instant was all we could get and the food was pretty ordinary!  So we settled for an Anzac biscuit from the commemorative tin on the back seat of the car!Onwards to Erldunda, where we fueled up.   We were naughty and purchased some chips to have with the last of the rissoles for lunch.  We had 200 kms to go to Alice Springs and arrived around 3.00pm.  I snapped a few photos of the start of the MacDonnell Ranges as we got closer to Alice.  We also stopped and took a photo of the Cannonball Monument that was not far from Alice Springs as well.  We were a bit mystified as to what the 'Inaugural Cannonball Event' was in 1994, when four people had been tragically killed in an accident.  Good old 'Google' enlightened us to the fact that it was an International car race between Darwin and Ayers Rock.  There were 118 entrants and there were prizes for top speeds on various sections of the road.  Two Japanese drivers lost control of their car on that section of the Stuart Highway and were killed.  Sadly two officials were also killed at the check point.  The event was based on similar events held in the USA. 

Until 2007 there were no restrictions on speed limits on the open highway in the Northern Territory.  Drivers were requested to drive at a safe speed to suit the conditions.  Consequently and thankfully, the event was a one and only.  10 photos