Day 13 Gemtree & day out in Alice springs

It's very tempting to stay in bed on a cold morning but I thought we would duck into Alice Springs a mere 140 Kms away 70 heading west on the plenty highway then the other 70 down the Stuart hwy where we needed fuel , all the jerries plus nearly all the car as well , and of course it was territory day so we were psyched about buying fireworks , a first for the kids and over 25 years for Corinna and I .

We managed find the biggest supplier just in the industrial estate just after we had some brekky at maccas and a decent coffee.

Fireworks were definitely cheaper as a kid I seem to recall, but we got some angry bird ones some amazing little bumble bees and a backyard blitz pack and the boss threw  4 extra packs in for us .

Some track suit pants jumpers were next in order for the tin lids then some essential groceries and of course wait till 2 pm to wait till the bottle shops opened as we had been fairly dry on beverages the last few day and timber creek was too dear and we were too early at Katherine.

A stop at the car parts store for a few bolts I seem to have lost after the new tie rod ends were fitted in good ol dodgy Darwin.

There was no hope of us doing the unlimited speed while heading in  to Alice or back to Gemtree in the cruiser with fuel and fireworks and a full weight of touring goodies but it was funny watching others try to ramp it up.

Back at Gemtree the nights entertainment was getting ready and we had pre booked our dinner , a territory burger ( big and tasty).

New bolts fitted ,car batteries on charge along with anything else electronically charged and I fitted bikes back to the roofrack ready to leave the next morning.

Down to the Billabong bar we walked and shared a table with some German travellers from Hamburg , lovely friendly people who mostly spoke good English .

The nights festivities had begun but I was the only adult to volunteer for the territory bush Olympics so I let the younger kids go instead , 5 events with five kids , tyre rolling ,snake tossing, pademelon mustering and branding boomerang throwing and aboriginal dot art painting .

Dash was last to go but he had been strategising and won the event nearly a minute quicker than any other , go vics go travelling Filbeys!! He won a sample bag of tourist paraphernalia that was quite good half of which he shared with all the other competitors which was a nice token .

The fireworks were starting wow did they go in forever it was great although one did start a quickly extinguished scrub fire and two shot off into the crowd deeply upsetting a few nomads but no one was hurt and all was good .

What a great night Kate and Aaron put on for their guests ,well worth it but after yakking with them for all hours I think the mrs was a little tipsy lol.

Back to camp I enjoyed another campfire and some Margaret river red  till a fair bit later with our Kerang guests Kevin and Wyn Oliver and we both knew of each other's friends from town when we lived there.

I slept like a baby till 8ish the next morning .

What a busy day .