Territory and Outback - Yalara to Katherine

So having said goodbye to the lovely Andie and to our bed in a box at Yalara it was back on the bus, a quick stop at the same rest stop as we had been to on the way to Yalara and we were back in Alice Springs for a chilled afternoon.

We got back to the hotel in Alice Springs early afternoon and had a nice relaxing time chilling by the pool and generally chilled out before getting ready for a night out at the Overlanders Steak House. A fab restaurant where we had a lovely dinner followed by a bit of dancing and sing song to "Give me a home among the gum trees" and then we all had a go at the wobble board (the one made famous by Rolf Harris) which really works your arm muscles!! Twas a lovely evening and we all headed back to what we hoped would be a nice restful night's sleep before a long driving day the next day....boy were we wrong!

Caroline, Lou and I were sharing a room again and although we had heard the stories from the other touries about the mice, bugs and general disrupted sleep when we had stayed at the hotel a few nights before we didn't think anything of it....that was until I was woken up at about 3am feeling something in my hair followed by hearing a scurrying. I thought little of it and went back to sleep. Lou then woke us up about half an hour later and told she had been listening to a rustling in one of the bags on the side. We looked through it and couldn't find anything (even with Lou's bag being emptied outside our front door!) so we would stood chatting for a little bit and before the gasp could leave my mouth a mouse shot out from under somewhere and hit Lou on the foot before going under one of the beds....much screaming and jumping on beds followed before we all settled a bit to try and work out where the bloody thing had gone. Lou went into the bathroom and Caroline and I were chatting and the next thing we saw was the bloody mouse climbing the curtain...much more squealing and pointing followed and then we couldn't work out where it had gone! So we decided to hedge our bets and push 2 of the single beds together as far away from any surface possible and the three of us decided that seeing as sleep was unlikely we would watch a movie. This must have been a true sight...the three of us in the 2 beds...absolute comedy! After about an hour I gave up and crawled back into my bed but only slept on the half away from the curtain and we all had a bit more sleep before getting up to get back on the bus.

Apparently there is a bit of a mouse infestation in Alice Springs! If I ever go back I will be staying in a hotel that has many floors and I will be at the top!

So on the bus we got and headed off on the first of 2 long driving days to get up to Katherine. We had a few stops...the first being to grab some lunch at Wycliffe Well (local UFO site and boy were they playing on it!) before heading up via the Devils Marbles to Tennant Creek. The Devils Marbles is very nice and as much as I feel bad for saying it...I was so looking forward to getting some sleep at the hotel in Tennant Creek that a stop to see some more red rocks wasn't particularly high on the old priority list! Here are a few shots of the marbles.....




We then jumped back on the bus and headed onto Tennant Creek where the rest of the group headed out for a night at the local pub which after hearing that when Contiki comes into Tennant Creek it is put on Facebook and loads of the town come out...this was followed with the explanation from Justine....Ladies, the odds are good but be warned the goods are odd! Caroline and I decided that after our lack of sleep the previous night we would have a grannie night in and were tucked up in bed by about 9pm watching Jonathan Creek...oh yeah I know how to live. So we were nicely tucked up in bed and our roomie had come back in and very fortunately put the chain on the door as I woke up at about 1.30am by Caroline jumping out of bed and rushing to the door as it opened and a random guy tried to get into our room....she slammed the door in his face and we were all a little bit jumpy!! We found out the following morning that two other rooms had been bothered by him as well!!

So after another disturbed nights sleep it was back on the bus and onwards to Katherine. We had a stopped for lunch at Daly Waters that has the most remote traffic light in the NT's and also the biggest burgers but I only have a photo of the traffic light!

Lunch break over we headed onwards to Elsey National Park where we had a lovely dip in the thermal springs which was most welcome having been on the bus for most of the day...

Then back on the bus (told you it was a long couple of bus days - hence the lack of photos) before heading on to Katherine!