Day 103 - Tuesday 16th April 2024

Today is, I think, the kind of day that I've been needing for a little while. I've been on the go for over a quarter of 2024, and during that time I'd organised myself so that pretty much every day had a plan. Today, through a slight misjudgement of organisation (or to put it another way 'cock up on the park pass front') I've had the opportunity to just relax and breathe and reset for the final month or so of the trip.

So, todays blog is going to be fairly light on content, and definitely light on photos and videos as I haven't taken any! 

I didn't set an alarm for this morning after a couple of days of early starts and late ends; by the time I retired last night after publishing the blog I was struggling to keep my eyes open, so there's loads of scope for Ben and Seb to find plenty of grammar and spelling errors from yesterday! 

I was still awake at 06:00, but feeling much refreshed. I started the day by belatedly beginning this weeks vlog, then went to breakfast at 08:00; a buffet arrangement that I made the most of. I then returned to the room and spent most of the morning getting the weekly video fully up to date; there has been one hell of a lot of footage over the last couple of days to sort through.

I then started looking a bit ahead, and what I plan to do with my day in Alice Springs. The plan is to explore the MacDonnell Range, so I went to the information office here to see if they had anything to help with that. Unfortunately they didn't so I'll have to look into that on my arrival in Alice Springs.

Then to the car, and I filled up with fuel so that I'll be right ready to depart first thing on the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm off to Kings Canyon, leaving here at 04:45, so won't have the opportunity to do this tomorrow.

I then went to the cinema here at 14:00 and watched a very interesting documentary on the cosmos which talked about how Australia is a world leader in radio astronomy, and had some very interesting discussions about the cosmos and our knowledge to date. This was an hour well spent, after which I returned to my room to continue to prepare for the journey ahead.

One thing that's happened that may impact me is the news from the middle east; Qantas have ceased their direct Perth to London flights for the immediate time as they don't want to fly over Iranian airspace, and the alternative is flying via Singapore with a five hour layover. Lets hope that by the time I come home this has been resolved and the direct flights are back on the plan.

Tomorrow is an early start, but also what looks like an excellent day where I have to do no driving. I suspect that there will be one hell of a story to tell, which will make up for today.