Wigley's, no Wiglies, or is it Wigleys?

Jax keeping cool

After all of this time, we've finally been able to get out and about.  I had heard about a nearby waterhole that we hadn't yet been to, from a guy at work, so one evening after dinner we just decided to go see it for ourselves.  The kids got their swim things on and we loaded up and headed out.  To get there, we had to drive a few kilometers out of town and then several kilometers on a 4-wheel drive track.  Now I come to the title of the blog.  We looked up the waterhole online and it is part of the historic telegraph station reserve.  Online, it was called "Wigley's Waterhole", named after a historic figure.  On the drive to the waterhole, there were three signs; one said "Wiglies Waterhole" and the other two said "Wigleys Waterhole".  We had to take pictures of that!  Hilary and I got a kick out of that, but the kids aren't as easily entertained.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time there.  Just downstream of the waterhole, the Northern Territory has a water level monitoring system to warn Alice Springs of possible flooding, since Wigley's is a part of the Todd river, which is the main river that runs through Alice (see our previous blog).  Part of this monitoring system is a small weir.  The kids thought it was fun to play around on it.  The kids got to swim for 15-20 minutes.  By accident they found a huge invisible boulder underwater that dropped off into a deep spot - they absolutely loved it!  Hilary and I were amazed at how fearless they were!  Neither one of us would have ventured into those murky depths!
Hilary and the kids got to go to the "zoo" this week with a couple of families from church instead of school.  The Australian kids are still on their summer holiday, so are trying to get as much fun in as they can before school starts back up in the next couple of weeks.  The "zoo" was a camel farm about 90km south of town at Stewart's Well.  They had a dingo, an emu, a few kangaroos and some injured galahs (a common parrot-type bird here).  They got a camel ride and some ice cream and then drove back to town and went swimming at a friend's (from church) pool.  It has still been about 110 degrees here everyday until yesterday and today, which got up to about 97 both days.  This morning was rather cooler than normal - about 72 degrees at about 7:00.  Despite Hilary applying copious amounts of sunblock on the kids several times during the zoo and swimming, they still managed to get a bit of a sunburn.  We've been treating them several times a day with black tea, which is a remedy that Hilary read about several years ago.  It really works good to prevent pealing and promote healing.  I guess the tea has "tannins" in it, which work as a skin preserver.  We've used it with good success over the last several years.
We went out again today to Wigley's, but we hiked the gorge instead of hitting the waterhole.  It was pretty interesting, but since it was still 97 degrees, we didn't stay out for too long.  97 actually feels pretty good when you've been used to 110+.  I think we are finding that we deal with the heat better when we keep it warmer in the house as well.  We've been keeping the thermostat in the living area of the house set between 80-82.  Hilary and the kids freeze when it is lower, and I have found that I have aclimated pretty well.  After I drink a hot drink, I sweat like a pig - I just have to keep reminding myself that it is for the children!  We do have a separate AC system that controls the bedrooms, however.  We do keep that thermostat quite a bit cooler for sleeping.  :-)
Our car battery has been on the fritz lately.  Not too long after Christmas, we didn't drive the Disco for a few days, and the battery was dead when we went to start it.  Another downside to only having one vehicle is that you have to call someone to help you jump your car.  Some friends happened to be over the first time it happened, so they jumped us.  But as time has worn on, the battery seems to be lasting less and less time after a full charge.  We had to ask friends for a jump two more times since then.  I ordered a new battery last week (for about half the price for the exact same battery in town) and it will take about 5-7 days to get here.  So we have been starting the car every morning and making sure we drive it at least once during the day and it has been holding up ok.  The last time the battery died was the evening right before Hilary was going to take the kids to the "zoo".  I put some water in the battery, and it seems to be holding out ok.

I think that is about all for now!  We'll write again soon!

Trent

Beaux's camel ride

Heading down to Wigley's Waterhole

One of the waterholes at Wigley's

Jones' camel ride

Mama's and Jax's camel ride