About to Leave Alice Tuesday 19th I think.

Some more random thoughts since last post....

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-Alice has been a welcome stop to clean out the dust, wash the bedding and re-pack the van with things in a more orderly fashion.
-John has been playing his guitar a fairbit which is great, I need to apply myself to the flute I rented for the trip. I managed to play happy birthday for Barbara and Adam's birthdays.
-We discoveredthat most of the dust was coming in through the back door, so have been taping it up when on dirt roads. This involves 2 permanent strips on either side of the gap, to avoid risking ripping off the paintwork every time we want to open the backdoor. The gap is then sealed with 1 strip over the 2 permanent ones. This actually a dressing technique to avoid skin trauma in chronic wound care.
-We have seen many signs on the way, related to aboriginal communities, saying, no entry without permit, no grog, no drunks, no drugs and no pornography. These signs are usually painted onto car bonnets salvaged from the many car wrecks out here.
-there is always something in flower out here in the desert.
-John says the rough roads re like beating to windward in a short sea - uncomfortable.
-our outback highway book has been useful in following the varios bio regions, as we pass from one desrt to the next (desert - evaporation exceeds rainfall).
-the road was so bad from Docker River to Yulara, if I had been travelling east I would have turned back!
-we are sleeping head to toe, with earplugs and anti snore nose plasters!...and find we are sleeping better and distubing each other less.
-had trouble with the cd player till found that it had a fly in ...our first fly!
-our vans have names, we are Rita, Barbara is in Smiffy and Peter and Di are in ...not big enough!
-breaking camp routine - windows closed, cupboard buttons clisked closed, clothing bags down on bed before they are jostled down, top shelf tied to keep heavy things secure, tea-making things in the sink, water bottles full, fruit bag to hand, maps to the ready, GPS battery full, 2 way radios ditto, wet cloth in door pocket because your hands are dirty constantly, back door taped, and so on.ww
-I