Day 20 Alice Springs

I’ve never seen a kid so happy to be wrapped up in a snake. He had the crowd enthralled as he paraded around the room with 2.5m python named Honey wrapped around his neck and waist. I’m sure the snake was confused when the 3 year old began to vogue and strike ninja poses while the crowd laughed. Tom had started the ball rolling at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre. When the organisers asked for a volunteer to be wrapped in snake, I’m sure they didn’t expect the recently turned 8 year old to be their 1st volunteer. They certainly wouldn’t have expected the 8 year olds 3 year old brother to be the second volunteer but that’s the Dinter boys for ya. We’d ploughed our way through Death Adders, Taipans, Thorny Devils, Saltwater Crocodiles and Bearded Dragons before the boys tackled the pythons. The pythons never stood a chance. The Reptile centre was entertainment for everyone, including the staff on duty.
After the Reptile centre, we had some organising to complete before tackling The Tanami tomorrow. While Jacqui shopped for supplies to ensure we could survive a month or two in the desert, I checked in with the local Police. All reports rate the road in good condition so we have nothing to fear other than a little boredom between wild animal sightings.
Once we’d crammed Jacqui’s supplies into the car, we headed back to camp to ensure all was prepared for the crossing.
I’ve had a slow leek in one of the rear tyres since departing Sydney so it was a good time to teach Zach how to change a tyre and I then taught myself how to repair the leaking tyre with tyre plugs, (thanks for the tips Dave). I attached the new towing mirror and found a space for the extra gerry can before, ironically, I chose to clean the dust out of the interior of the car. I say ironically because we’re about to tackle 1,200km of dirt road but as Mike would agree, it’s nice to begin the journey with a clean car.
Jacqui has been preparing for the Tanami all day. She began the day with an extended shower and hair treatment, followed by the purchase of three new tops and two new skirts, and finally in preparation for the worst possible outcome, she’s got our finances in order through web-banking.
We don’t expect to be in web or phone contact for a few days so we’ve prepared as well as we can. We’ll update the blog again from WA.
Cheers,
Jorg