Life Goes On

     Since my daughter returned to Canada last week, life in Australia has been pretty average, which also works well for me. The work week was busy, and the weekend busy as well until today. Went to a nice Thai restaurant for a going away party for a co-worker earlier in the week, and another going away party at the Rock Bar here in Alice Springs on Friday night. Yesterday I had some friends over and we played Mario Cart on my Wii. It was the first time I'd played another player on it, as I just got the second controller in the mail this past week. I think I might order a couple more so we can play with more people. I also need to look for more games. I've rented a few, but I'd like to buy some I know I'll play often.
     I was shopping at Coles the other day (Coles is a popular supermarket) and as I was pushing my cart back to the car, I echoed past sentiment - I hate their shopping cart wheels here. They all swivel so there is no control over the cart, and I usually have to walk next to it to keep it from smashing into someone's car. The parking lot is very slanted with speed bumps everywhere, and lots of traffic both auto and human. Australians!

borrowed this photo from the net

taken during one of the races last year

     Work has been busy enough, but not super busy. I did get a couple of bush trips in. One week I went to Papunya again and then to a community I hadn't been to before - Finke. It was quite a tidy little community, which was a nice change. There are other social issues there, but I think my favorite part was the drive there. I drove with another worker so we shared driving. It was a rather sandy bush road that followed along with the Finke Desert Race track, so we saw a lot of the club service stops and had to watch our speed in the sandy tracks. The Toyota land cruiser I drive for work does a great job on the bush roads, so it was a fun run. We saw a few big lizards, lots of cows and some horses with a very new foal wobbling about. Didn't get a photo but the we did turn around and have a look at them as the girls we were transporting that day also wanted a second look at the little one. We also saw an assortment of dead cars, and a lot of the signs for the Desert Race are painted onto the hood of a car, and then installed upright. I'll have to stop for photos the next time I go there. The race is pretty amazing. I went to the start line last year but this year I think I'll go camping along the trail, which is the very popular thing to do. The race is over 200kms, so people camp all along the road that I drove on this past Friday. Here is a cool video that shows a lot of the race along the way: Finke Desert Race it's long but you can just watch a short bit of it and see how the race is.
     The weather has been quite nice, not too hot most of the time. My laundry dried in about an hour yesterday - something to love about living in the desert! I have to get at my garden this week, so might go out at that later with Dundee. He likes the garden but is only allowed out when I'm there to watch him as he will try to bolt if he thinks you're not watching. Little bastard. He has been hot on the trail of the many bugs, flies, and lizards. We had a small lizard in the house the other day and he chased it mercilessly once it made it to the floor as he first spotted it on the wall. I'm not sure if he got to eat the whole thing or just the tail, as the lizard was still running when he went under the wicker ottoman, never to be heard from again.

     So I'm off to play some Mario Cart...kicking ass and taking names...