Judy & Brian Tour Oz: Alice Springs NT Overland telegraph Kookaburra Heavitree Gap

Fairly big day today (well yesterday actually) but easy driving for 370 something kilometres. First stop was Ti Tree Roadhouse for fuel, a cuppa and some raisin toast. At first glance this looks much like any other (mostly daggy looking roadhouse up this way, but out past the tills and tack and shop part, is a really nice little cafe eating area, not a plastic table cloth in site! Well done them.

Then it’s on down to Alice which we reached in good time and despite having to fiddle about with the van and jockey wheel again due to the car being much lower on the road than the van on the grass, we got settled in OK and strolled up-town for a late lunch and a coffee.

Sad to say, but Judy beat me comprehensively at indoor lawn bowls, must be my lack of bias…

Two days for the cost of a single click!

Slept in today before giving the couple of shops in town the benefit of our patronage. Judy found a Millers so all was right with the world. Actually, on the way out we went to a place that we've been seeing advertisements on the TV for since mid-queensland (about 2000km away as the crow flies). It's a camping shop called Desert Dwellers (see i can spell 'desert' when put to the test) and their slogan is; 'If we haven't got it, you don't need it' and they are probably right!

We also sought out the local caravan repair man called JC's. We were looking for a new TV Aerial winding handle. He not only had one, but heaps of other stuff as well. He's just a one man operation in a large shed. To fill the days in, in between repairs and selling bits, he builds caravans from scratch and they looked the part I must say.

Anyhow, back to tourist matters: we went into the Adelaide House, which is the first hospital built in central Australia, by one J Flynn for the Australian Inland Mission. Built to his own design, it was constructed of really thick rock walls, had a cellar and an attic and a ventilation system that automatically drew cold air up from the cellar and out through the roof. It was remarkably cool inside. They had displays of hospital and nursing stuff inside, and outside they had a display of the ubiquitous pedal radios, pride of place was Traegers very first one. Fantastic.

Once on the history trail, I'm hard to shift, so up to the Overland Telegraph site for another look-see, much the same as 2 years ago as it turns out. This year for some reason, Judy was a bit nostalgic about when she came here to a wedding in 1972. We had a look at the now dry waterhole where they went swimming and she quizzed the shop staff about what the remains were of the OT station when they finally got around to preserving it. Suffice it to say that back in 1972, it was just a pile of overgrown rubble of no interest to anyone. Only the handful of people who lived locally knew of its existence, and then only because from time to time there was water in the swimming hole.

I had a mission however, and that was to find the remains of the Kookaburra. I'll lift the story straight from Wikipedia:

Daredevil pilot Charles Kingsford-Smith flew his plane named the Southern Cross on an attempt to set a speed record for flying from Australia to England in 1929. "Smithy" and his crew of two set off on March 30. Bad weather and bad navigation caused them to miss their planned stop at Wyndham and they set down near the Glenlg River. But this story is not about the Southern Cross. A search was launched to find Smithy and his crew. One of those looking for them was Keith Anderson, piloting the plane called the Kookaburra. It left Alice Springs had to land in the Tanami Desert due to malfunctions. The plane never took off again. The crew of the Southern Cross was found by another search plane. Meanwhile, back at the Kookaburra, Anderson and co-pilot Bobby Hitchcock died of dehydration before they were foundÂ two weeks later. The plane was abandoned in the desert for 49 years until it was recovered by Dick Smith. The Kookaburra's remains were taken to Alice Springs where they have been on displayat the Central Australian Aviation Museum since 1982

Now you might find this hard to believe, but two years ago I asked around, looking for the Kookaburra and drew a blank. Here it is in glorious isolation in its own air-conditioned building, right next to what should be a major tourist attraction, the Connellan Airways Aviation museum, set on the original airstrip in Alice. It's also right next door, and forms part of, the Araluen Aboriginal Cultural Centre. Mind you, the poor old craft isn't much to look at, having spent 49 years in the desert. It's a minor miracle that the engine has survived almost intact, looks as f you could kick it over and it would start right away!

Okay then, less chat and more snaps: