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Saturday 27 June 2009

Beanies



27th June – Saturday

Another boring day weatherwise – clear, sunny, still and a pleasant 24 degrees.

We have discovered how lucky we are to be in Alice Springs this weekend as the annual Beanie Festival is being held. Full of curiosity, as it isn’t every day one gets to attend a beanie festival, we headed for the venue and discovered that people come from near and far to exhibit, sell and buy beanies! There were literally thousands of beanies for sale – all colours, shapes and yarns. The majority appeared to have been either knitted or crocheted from the type of yarn commonly on sale at Chickenfeed or Spotlight for less than $1 a ball. The average beanie price would have been $50, with many priced much higher. Perhaps I should start knitting now in case we come this way next year!!! Cat was quite overcome with the selection on offer and thought it was better to think about his choice.

After lunch we headed for the East McDonnell Ranges, which, although part of the same range, are different to the West McDonnell Ranges. The countryside was more desolate in places and the ranges weren’t as rugged. Other spots had quite large trees and we even sighted some cows. The road quickly narrowed to a single lane bitumen strip with large gravel shoulders – not a problem as the traffic wasn’t exactly rush hour. We called into Corroboree Rock, a sacred site even though the reason for the sacredness has been lost, on the way to Trephina Gorge. We also drove through the Ross River, minus any water. We had to walk past some fairly vicious bees congregating around a tap to reach the river bed pathway to the gorge, then it was a trudge through the sand, flies and heat and breathtaking scenery to reach the cliff walls. There was even some rather green water remaining in a waterhole.

Our return was back past the bees before a short drive to The Ghost Gum. There were quite a few ghost gums in this area and a track had been formed into a large tree which was off the road. As soon as the car door was opened, Cat was out and half way up the tree before being scruffed!

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