Bad things come in threes

Grandma was right – three is the magic number. After the roofrack fell off the car #1), we drove for a long time before finding a (dodgy looking) campground to gratefully collapse into bed. There were no “not drinking water” signs around, so Tim filled his water bottle from the tap. I didn’t (not by design, but just so happened). Everything was fine, and we got to Alice Springs the next day, and had a juicy stake and a bottle of wine to celebrate.

That night however Tim was definitely not well and he didn’t get any better the next day (#2). After about 24 hours of not being to keep food or water down, he was so dehydrated we thought it was better to go to the hospital where they could put him on a drip. Which is what we did, and I have to say the Alice Springs Hospital is more efficient than many I have seen in Melbourne (and I have seen quite a few). It was quite somewhat different an being the only two white people in the emergency room, but he was on a drip within 2 hrs and we were out of there in 4 hrs. And now he is all better!

Alice Springs is a pretty town, but the atmosphere is somewhat rough; I wouldn’t want to be out on the street after dark. I was quite happy that we were staying just out of town. Nevertheless, there was a lot to see, I would recommend seeing the Royal Flying Doctor Base and School of the Air to hear about the amazing work they do in the outback.

We headed out towards Katherine after lunch, and what do you know – 2 hours later the car started to shake, the rear left tire let out a massive gush of air, and we skidded to a stop (#3). To give Tim credit he had the spare on within half an hour, and it was hot and dusty work too, with many flies. There wasn’t that much air in it and it’s a good thing the next roadhouse (Ti Tree) was only a 20 min drive because the different pressures made the card limpy and bumpy.



However, all is well that ends well, and at the roadhouse they directed us to a local jack-of-all-trades, Barry, who seemed to have come out of the bush for that night only to help us out. Even more helpfully, he had a friend coming down from Alice that night who could bring up a spare tire tube. In the end we got the tire back the next morning, avoiding a drive back to Alice Springs, and costing only $45.