Monday, 7th June
A rather cold start to the day which didn’t improve much until mid-afternoon, but at least the sun has been shining (sorry Barry!).
Household duties were the order of the morning, with the first stop at the laundry ($4 a wash here) before a good clean inside the caravan. As someone “tweeked” his back yesterday, the inside of the car will have to wait. We are not permitted to wash cars here due to the water supply. This was followed by a walk around the block, then a walk around the inside perimeter of the caravan park – this talk longer than the outside walk! Our site is right at the edge of the park and we look out at the rocky hill which forms part of The Gap.
The park is starting to fill up with contestants and others who will be involved in the Finke Desert Race, which takes place from the 11-14 June. We had hoped to avoid being in Alice Springs during this time, as well as the lead up, but it was not meant to be. We will be leaving on the 11th, though.
This afternoon we returned to the shopping centre to collect Les’ watch, which needed a new battery after deciding to stop this morning. The Woolworths Shopping Centre charges $0.50 to use the toilets and there is a security guard on duty at the entrance to same; a security guard also constantly patrols the car park.
We did also discover “The Residence” was open this afternoon, so took the opportunity for a quick look at the former home of the Territories administrators. It was a rather unusual building with the all the bedrooms in a central core surrounded by a fully enclosed breezeway. Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh stayed here in 1963 and we were able to walk through their quarters. They had separate bathrooms because it was considered unseemly that the Queen would actually share a toilet with her husband (we should all be so lucky???). Apart from the original ghastly pink tiles, all the fittings from the Queen’s bathroom had been removed because it wasn’t fitting that ordinary people look at the toilet, shower and bath that HM had used! The Duke didn’t come in for the same consideration and his bathroom fittings are still intact. Charles, Diana and William also visited this house in 1983.
A rather cold start to the day which didn’t improve much until mid-afternoon, but at least the sun has been shining (sorry Barry!).
Household duties were the order of the morning, with the first stop at the laundry ($4 a wash here) before a good clean inside the caravan. As someone “tweeked” his back yesterday, the inside of the car will have to wait. We are not permitted to wash cars here due to the water supply. This was followed by a walk around the block, then a walk around the inside perimeter of the caravan park – this talk longer than the outside walk! Our site is right at the edge of the park and we look out at the rocky hill which forms part of The Gap.
The park is starting to fill up with contestants and others who will be involved in the Finke Desert Race, which takes place from the 11-14 June. We had hoped to avoid being in Alice Springs during this time, as well as the lead up, but it was not meant to be. We will be leaving on the 11th, though.
This afternoon we returned to the shopping centre to collect Les’ watch, which needed a new battery after deciding to stop this morning. The Woolworths Shopping Centre charges $0.50 to use the toilets and there is a security guard on duty at the entrance to same; a security guard also constantly patrols the car park.
We did also discover “The Residence” was open this afternoon, so took the opportunity for a quick look at the former home of the Territories administrators. It was a rather unusual building with the all the bedrooms in a central core surrounded by a fully enclosed breezeway. Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh stayed here in 1963 and we were able to walk through their quarters. They had separate bathrooms because it was considered unseemly that the Queen would actually share a toilet with her husband (we should all be so lucky???). Apart from the original ghastly pink tiles, all the fittings from the Queen’s bathroom had been removed because it wasn’t fitting that ordinary people look at the toilet, shower and bath that HM had used! The Duke didn’t come in for the same consideration and his bathroom fittings are still intact. Charles, Diana and William also visited this house in 1983.
1 comment:
It's all right Pauline, flying out tomorrow to Coolongatta and 22deg.
Post a Comment