Sunrise and Rusty Cars

Welcome to May!
The weather in Alice has been so lovely recently, starting off cool, warming up during the day and ending up cool again in the evening.  It still isn't getting cold enough at night to kill the flies off, but they don't seem as bothersome as they did a few weeks ago.  We have noticed that it is getting darker a bit earlier and staying dark in the morning a bit later, so winter is creeping in.
I am not really sure if Central Australia even distinguishes the seasons of spring or fall...They may just have summer and winter.  It is interesting teaching U.S. curriculum to children in Australia, because all of our calendar work leads us to believe we should be keeping track of rainfall in the spring months, but in this area the rainy season is in summer.  And of course it never snows at all, so keeping track of snowy days is rather silly.  Our results may not be typical of the calendar-keepers, but they are accurate for us!

A couple Saturdays ago we got up early and headed out to our local ridgeline to hike Mt. Gillen.  The MacDonnell Range skirts past Alice Springs with tall rocky ridges (as opposed to the rounded foothills in the Boise area).  There is a local hike up to the top of one particular peak called Mt. Gillen.  Our family had tried once before, but went much too late and got too hot, of course running out of water as well.  A failed mission!  Well, we couldn't leave it at that, so we hustled the kids out of bed before dawn, force-fed them oatmeal so they'd have tons of energy, slapped on our camelbaks and set off to redeem ourselves!
A co-worker of Trent's met us at the carpark with his daughter and we all turned our steps to the trail in the semi-darkness of 6:30 AM.  It was a very fun hike, although the trail was pretty gravelly and slick in some places. The sun rose while we were trekking and it was cool and beautiful.  The kids did great this time and we all made it in good spirits up the last "scramble" (which is to say, hand over hand rock climbing section to get over the ridge rim).  The view was amazing, of course, and even that early in the morning we weren't the only ones up at the top!  We saw some rock wallabies on little cliffs to the side getting their breakfast, and one kangaroo jumping away into the scrub.  All of us sat near the marker at the top of Mt. Gillen and had a snack, then headed back down.

Mt. Gillen from the trail going up

Mt. Gillen marker with views of both sides of the ridge

  It was quite warm on the way down, already, but we all survived (with only a few bumps and bruises from slipping on the gravelly path)...emerging victorious from the Australian Bush (insert your favorite victory theme music here)!!!  Of course, then we came home and it was only 9:30 AM or so and Trent was sure we all needed eggs, hashbrowns and bacon after all that work, so second-breakfast made its way to our table, to the happiness of all involved.

Another fun thing we did was practice with Trent's new winch he got for the Disco (our car).  We drove out to a sandy riverbed and he practiced "getting us stuck in the sand" and then winching us out with straps and a metal anchor.  Also he found a lovely tree just waiting to be used to pull us up a bit of rocky section in the riverbed.  The kids all loved helping pull the winch line out and pressing the button to make the car get dragged forward out of "peril."  They also loved running free in the bush and finding all kinds of treasures:  pieces of an old dishwasher, two mugs (one metal and one yellow ceramic), bits of cars, burnt sticks to use to write on bark "parchment."  They particularly love to go look at the burnt out, rusty cars that litter the countryside.  For some reason, if a car is left unattended for any reason in a slightly remote area (although there are areas in town it happens), it is lit on fire and then left to rust.  I believe it is the indigenous people who do it, but we can't figure out why.  Anyway, they are everywhere and I have included a picture of one we happened to see that day.  

We did get out last week for the ANZAC Day parade in town, which was interesting.  Very short parade through town, and then there were to be speeches made on Anzac Hill, which overlooks Alice Springs and has a monument erected at the top to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps lives sacrificed in the last world war.  There are Anzac cookies that are famous here and must be eaten on this national holiday, when Australia stops and remembers.
Swim lessons are underway again, with a break next week for May Day and then a break again in June for the Queen's birthday.  So much culture we are getting down here!!  Haven't learned tons of new terms lately, but did come across one I hadn't heard yet:  concession means "senior citizen"...as in a discount in pricing, not as in snacks (as I had hoped).
Love to all,
Hilary