There is a road about 8km back along the Plenty, it’s part of the Binns Track, it takes you into the Easts MacDonnell ranges, and then we could go to Alice via the Easts Macs road, I’ve asked a couple of people and it seems it would be too rough to take the van through, we we’ll stick to the black stuff today.
We decide we’ll go to Alice and gear up for the next 10 days with Justine’s Mum who arrives tomorrow. We are going to Uluru, then on the dirt via the Mereenie loop, through to the West MacDonnell Ranges. We’ll be away from any big centres for close to 9 days, so we’ll need to be organised.
So today a leisurely 140km drive, about 70 from Gemtree to the intersection of the Stuart Highway then about 70 into Alice.
Gemtree Campsite
On the way we pass the Tropic of Capricorn, this is the 2nd time we’ve passed it.
We arrive at the van park around lunch time, setup the van. I go to lock the car, but it won’t and it just “beeps” at me. There is an error on the dash indicating a “Power Management System Error” whatever that means. After a bit of time trying to workout what the problem might be, I get the smart idea of calling Isuzu 24hr roadside assist, after a few question it’s booked in for a roadside service agent to come out. Sorted! Time to have some lunch.
Well about an hour later a tow truck turns up. I ask the guy the where is the roadside assist is “that’s not the way it works here in the territory” he replies, I ask him where they intend to tow the car “anywhere you like mate, you tell me”, apparently they’ll tow it any place I like. The car runs fine, it just beeps at me and I can’t lock the damn doors. I call the local Isuzu dealer and they can squeeze me in at 3, I tell the towie (who confirms he’ll get paid either way) that I’ll get myself there.
I get to Isuzu for 3 and wait till 3:30 for someone to look at the car. They replace a part (a relay) and bring the car back out, they go to lock it and the same beeping happens. “I did that 20 times in the workshop and it was fine” the mechanic explains. They are so busy they can’t do anything more today and they are booked out for a week. I work out I can lock the car with the key (why I didn’t think of that in the first place). So I’ll try and book it in for when we return to Alice.
In the meantime the kids enjoyed a swim, that’s the afternoon burnt for me.