Wycliffe Wells

Wed 1 April….Leaving Alice today I’m really going to miss her! We have a long journey ahead so we need an early start but as usual the best laid plans…….The water storage tank on the van needs filling but the tap fitting doesn’t fit . After half an hour trying to unscrew it and having to borrow tools Peter realised that half the fitting was missing and the bit we are left with is a solid piece and doesn’t unscrew! We must have left the other bit in Ayers Rock. So we need to go into town to buy another fitting. While we are there we diesel up and get on our way an hour later! April Fool! The next major town North is Tennant Creek but that is too far so we settle for a stop over at Wycliffe Wells 380K up the road.We are entering the centre of the red centre and of course everywhere we go has claims to being the centre of Australia. We pass the most central pub in Australia(photos to follow) and the most central filling station. The world famous Gem fields (most central) which is just down the road from Tobermorey --it’s true. Then we stop at a rest area that explains on a sign that” if you hammer a nail somewhere in the middle of Australia, tie a piece of string to it, and suspend it like a plumb-bob , when Australia is balanced perfectly, the nail would be in that rest area” So there you are. The computer says so! On to Wycliffe which apart from being pretty central, boasts, it is the U F O capital of Australia. The roadhouse here also claims to have the largest selection of beers in Australia which may have something to do with the number of U F Os seen here! You have to see this campsite, there are plastic green men all over the place even some gatting out of a corrugated iron spaceship! The toilets are signed Maliens and Femaliens. Must be careful not fill up the van with rocket fuel at the diesel docking station in the morning!