Gemtree - Fossicking

 Garnets and Zircons

    We new once we continued up the stuart highway the we could get into some gemstone hunting and a place called Gemtree is exactly what we were looking for.

We had to check for road closures in these areas because it does'nt take much to rain out a strip of roadway.

A quick stop at a local art piece to mark the silly section of the trip...

The diggers getting dirty in the middle of Australia.

What a dig

Once we got the hang of digging to the rightndepth we made some headway into the gem collecting

The riverbeds were all dried up but you can definately see where the water flows when it is the rainyt season.

Thought i might try my hand at metal detecting the riverbeds.. And found a $2 coin under a gum tree... Go Figure.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

 Come Fly With Us

One of our trip 'Bucket List" adventures was to Hot air balloon over Ayers Rock, but with the weather not on our side we took a Helicopter ride instead. That loeft the Hot airballoon ride to be carried out at another time. 

That time was in Alice Springs. The weather was spot on to go up and this is how it happened.

Bitterly cold morning of 2 degrees, but this is what is needed for hot air to rise i guess.

After about 30 minutes travelling against the wind through paddocks and bush terrain, we arrive at the lift off site. Then the filling of the balloon takes place.. at least another hour of prep time

Then we are all loaded into the Balloon as the sun starts to rise. they predict the time peerfectly for the best experience

Lily is smailing hut very nervous to be going up...

Some beautiful scenery from the balloon 

We earned our Hot air balloon certificates. 

Another adventure off the bucket list

Alice Springs

 

ALICE SPRINGS

21-5-2012 

We have arrived in Alice Springs.

 

 After being in the Red Centre its going to be nice to chill out at the Alice for a while. The kids need a break from being on the road so we made sure of a nice van park for a few days...

During our stay we catch up with Brian & Merrilyn for a quick tour of The Local Botanical Gardens. Decided to capture some of the outback Flora

 

 

Alice from the Anzac Hill Lookout