Day 1

Bus was to pick us up between 7 and 7:30am which gave us the chance to see our first desert sunrise. We walked from Telegraph Station to Wallaby Gap and then on to Nicks Campsite (named for the son of Glen Murcott who designed the encampment to be demountable. He died young.)

dawn in Alice Springs

Harry got the first hot spots taped

the going is rocky but territorians build excellent staircases

see how green

we were often very close to the edge

a bonsai like hackea in bloom

There were flowers everywhere and birds hiding in the trees.

All the campsites are much the same so we only had to learn once how to use the bucket shower, the long drop loos and the outdoor vanity. The tents are cubes of canvas that you can stand up in and there were enough of them for us to have one to ourselves if we wanted to sleep alone. The first night I heard gentle snores from both sides.

The stars were amazing despite the light clouds. Clever Robin (not Margy's school friend Robin O'Sullivan, the other schoolteacher Robin) has an app on her phone that when you point it at the sky tells you which planet or constellation that you are looking at.

Pre trek

I got to Alice Springs on the day before we had to get there to have time to see what was left of the Beanie Festival in the morning before our briefing. The exhibition will continue until July 17 at the Araluen Centre so Harry and I walked there in the morning. We got there at about 9am and it didn't open until 10 so walked back a way to get some more water: it is thirsty country.
The beanies were delightful.

There is an art gallery  beside the temporary exhibit gallery which has a wall and a half of Namajira's and other well known aboriginal artists.

Later we went to the Reptile Show where they have one crocodile and lots of splendid snakes. My favourite was the spiny devil.

This caterpillar is in the gardens of the Aralueun Centre

perentiespiny devil

reflected croc

Then we were breifed in a shop where we met our guides Ben, Wes, Alison and trainee Maddy. They told us what we would be doing (same as in brochure) and what extra things we might need.

Larapinta Trail

I couldn't post on the trail because we had no wi-fi. I will reconstruct the trip in day by day posts which will be photo heavy because it was so wonderful that I have forgotten what we did when. 

Snow, 2015

We are back home from a short stay at Falls Creek. We had planned on staying the usual full week but the booking officer advised against staying over the weekend when CSL booked out most of the lodge. 

The snow was great. We had three days of great skiing and one day of fog before we left. Just as we arrived on Sunday night a guest's boy was taken to the medical centre with a sore ankle. He came back with a full leg cast and diagnosis of a broken tibia. 

The next day, just as we came in from skiing, the same family was told that Mum was at the medical centre. She came back in a cast on her broken ankle!

Needless to say they were in a room at the top of the lodge. I talked everybody in our dungeon room downstairs, into changing with them. They left the next day. 

After that auspicious start, the only other casualty was Julie the manager whose cold (caught from Tony, her husband) got really bad, so they left early too. I got my exercise on the foggy day by helping him dig out their car and carry down their loads of luggage.

So I didn't get much knitting done this year. But I did teach Margit (Reto's mum) and Julie (John's friend) how to knit Entrelac. And I got some Fractur calligraphy practise for the first class that I missed on Wednesday night.

Asian Art Museum

This is our last day in the U.S. We had a lazy morning, checked out but left our bags at the hotel before we set off for the Asian Art museum. Lots and lots of Buddhas!

A special treat was a room full of Safavid velvet fabrics. There is one that I might be able to reproduce, albeit on a larger scale, for our 8Plus project next year.

We caught the tram to Fisherman's Wharf, along with a gazillion other tourists, for an early dinner. Now we are waiting in the United lounge for the midnight flight to Sydney. We hope to sleep through Wednesday.

California Academy of Science

The only reason we went was that it is the only museum open on Mondays in San Francisco. And we thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the hordes of little people. It is in a Ne building that is three stories tall to accomodate a rain forest and aquariums that you can walk under.

There is a garden that covers the roof.

The building is edged by a row of photo voltaic cells that act as a porch roof and supply only 5-10% of their electricity needs. So we were happy to pay the $30 each entry fee.

Jo finally found a pair of travel pants to replace the ones he has worn for the past 10 years. And they were on sale and a bit big. He will grow into them.

While we were at REI I got a Fitbit One: the kind you clip to your clothes rather than wear on your wrist. I hope it is washing machine proof.

A gay day

Choose heaven for the weather 

Choose hell for the company

Says Mark Twain

We arrived at the Mark Twain Hotel yesterday after the usual long flight from DC. It is a nice old pub on the edge of the seamy end of town. 

Today we went to the Legion of Honor (a museum) to see the High Style exhibition of couturier gowns from the Brooklyn Museum whose collection has been absorbed by the Metropolitan Museum in NY. These were the Paris fashions that Mrs Post didn't choose because she was a real person not a fashion model. 

We were glad to get out of the city to avoid the huge gay parade which was still going when we got back. Tonight there is a ball game so the traffic is ferocious but the tourists donT mind because they are on foot.