Darwin to Alice Springsmay
3-6, 1999
In Darwin, finally, after the seventeen, long, long days of driving, we had to take of
business. Number one, Pavlova had to have a thorough bathing, the weeks of caked on red
earth would have to be removed, if we were ever to be able to convince the Camperworld
rental company we had not driven on any unsealed roads. Once that was taken care of, we
drove Pavlova to her drop off site and picked up her smaller, more gas efficient, brother,
Jimmy-Jo-Bob Lova. Jim, as he is commonly referred to, was to take Mike and Jeff down to
Alice Springs and Ayers Rock, the last stops of our desert-driving exploration.
Our Number two mission was to send our travel companion, tour guide, den mum, teacher,
and at times, warden - Rochelle, to her next destination, Tasmania. It was our last night
with Rochelle and coincidentally, her 31st birthday, so we hit the mean streets of Darwin.
We showed her the time of her life at a Mexican Restaurant, buying her several shots of
"Three Generations" tequila, and presenting her with such gifts as: a canned
shoulder ham, dishwashing gloves, scotch tape, creamed corn, a new photo album painted by
a local artisan, a self help book on "slow-down" therapy, and some carefully
handpicked birthday cards. A better birthday could not have been wished for by any human
alive on this planet.
Early the next morning, we hit the high road again and drove towards Alice Springs.
Since we had taken our leave of Worldly Ro and Pavlova, we got better gas mileage (or
would that be kilometerage?), and were able to slow down the pace to only eight hours a
day of driving. We spent the night in Elliott, a small town, where, according to local
law, we had to register our name for the 6 pack of beer we purchased??? The next day we
drove through Australia's version of Roswell, New Mexico, Wycliffe Well, and at dusk we
hit Alice Springs and began to make our plans to tour the desert.
