Alice Springs to Ti Tree ...

Ti Tree is a town located on the Stuart Highway about 193 km north of Alice Springs. At the 2021 census, Ti Tree had a population of 88. It is the closest town to Alice Springs.

We farewelled our friends and then headed North from Alice Springs, making a quick stop at the Tropic of Capricorn, about 30km up the road.

I was very taken with all the gumnuts on one of the trees - just amazing!  We saw lots of changing vegetation as we travelled 95km to our next stop, which was Ryan's Well Historical Reserve.

The well was named after Ned Ryan, a stonemason who became an expert at sinking wells. 

As interesting as the well site was, my favourite part was watching a central netted dragon, busy catching ants next to the path!

We made another quick stop to see the Aileron Man (but liked the Woman more) - then checked into Ti Tree Roadhouse caravan park, about 200km North of Alice Springs. 

Mr Dog happily dozed on the grass, while Nick played and I cheffed. 

West MacDonnell Ranges ...

Both of us had expected Alice Springs to be very flat - whereas it was actually plonked in the middle of some absolutely stunning ranges.  It was such beautiful, rocky escarpment country.

We'd been able to book dog-sitting after arrival at Uluru but weren't so lucky at Alice Springs, due to our visit being in Northern Territory school holidays (which we hadn't thought about).  

Our friends had a secure enclosed area and offered it to us, so Bandit could be safely penned while we did a daytrip to explore the West MacDonnell Ranges.

Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges stretches for more than 160kms, featuring a series of spectacular chasms and gorges.

What a marvelous day we had!  We were able to venture to view stunning scenery and lots of special places. 

We started with Simpsons Gap, then arrived at Standley Chasm around lunchtime.

There were lots of other sites we could have seen but we were very conscious of having left Bandit penned up at camp - so continued to Orminston Gorge.

I didn't think to take my swimmers but had an awesome, impromptu float there, looking up at snow gums, clinging to the ledges. Wow!

While I wallowed, Nick had taken a rocky path, to walk around the Gorge itself - and then experiment with the sounds of the rocks.

We had such a magic day! Perfect!

National Road Transport Museum

Bandit was allowed at the National Road Transport Museum.  So many displays! 

We arrived later in the day and our  need for lunch interrupted a full visit - otherwise we would have stayed a lot longer.

I was so impressed by the Wall of Fame!

" ... over 1800 stories of men and women who have been recognised for their contribution to the transport industry."

All those stories, with one person honoured in each frame.  I expect it would take months to read them all!

Faye Naylor, whose house we'd toured in Coober Pedy, had been inducted to the Wall of Fame in 2011.  You can read her story and those of many others, here.

My favourite exhibit was the green "Mulga Express" built by Kurt Johannsen.  What a beast!  He designed a "wood-gas producer" to run it, due to war-time petrol rations.  (It needed 1kg of wood to travel 1km). 

It seems there is a book of Kurt's story:  "A Son of the Red Centre" and I've now put that on my reading list.  

Alice Springs ...

Neither of us had been to Alice Springs and we both loved the landscape.

There were rocky hills in town and as we drove past some busineses, we could see that their land sections backed onto rocks at the rear!  

I was particularly impressed to see desert peas growing in town, along verges and in some gardens.

We'd been offered accommodation at a friend's place, so stayed out of town in lovely surrounds.

It was school holidays at the time of our stay, not something we'd thought about, so there were no dog boarding vacancies.

In between our dog-friendly exploring, we'd sit quietly at camp, watching Splendid blue-wrens and other birds.  

There were eight black cockatoos one morning. Gorgeous!

I visited the Olive Pink Botanic Garden one morning, while Nick and Bandit walked elsewhere.

" ...  one of the lesser known Alice Springs attractions, the Ilparpa Claypans."

There were several references to the Claypans being dog-friendly and Bandit really enjoyed his time there. 

We took turns to have a solo walk around Jessie Gap Nature Park, while the other one sat in the car with Mr Dog.

We did some day-to-day stuff - shopping, washing and I wrote a few postcards.  

Nick found a better jockey wheel on the FB marketplace, so we spent $50.00 on that upgrade.  

We also picked up some canvas repair tape from a camping shop in town, to deal with a small split on the camper door.  

I took my laptop for photo processing - and thinking I'd blog of our adventures along the way - but there wasn't a lot of time for those activities.  We were busy being where we were, taking in all the newness.