Well, I wish this were a trip report, but the only thing to report for now are all of the exciting (!) things happening in Alice Springs.
Our pup still is making life interesting. He is now 4 months old and weighs 30 lbs. Regardless of the fact that his mother was supposed to be a Blue Heeler, this dog has a lot of kelpie in it, plus, apparently a larger dog. A kelpie is an Australian sheep dog and this dog needs sheep to play with. He learned to jump the front fence last Friday, so I spent the weekend extending the fence upwards using steel rods and chicken wire. Saturday while I was working on the fence the dog jumped the fence and before I could get him he got sideswiped by a car. It was a glancing blow and he doesn't seem the worse for wear. Maybe it will have an effect on him to stay out of the street. Meanwhile, I have finished the fence and hopefully that will discourage him. Dwight said the addition to the fence gave the place a real outback look. I hope the housing office won't find it offensive. The other problem is the female blue peeler pup that lives next door. She likes to come to visit, under the fence, and our dog is only too willing to help her by digging on our side. I keep hoping that she will soon be too large to squeeze under the fence, but so far that is not the case.
We had some visitors from the U.S. a couple of weeks ago. I was able to take some time off work and - show them around. However, I had to go to work on Sunday, so Dorothy took them to a tourist lodge at Glen Helen about 100 miles from Alice, to a book launching. The book, which is relatively small, is about local history. Anyway, they had lunch there and on the way back to town, Dorothy started back to one of the gorges, but after 5 km decided that the road was too rough and turned back. That was enough for our visitors. They had no real desire to get off the sealed highways after that.
I took them to see the new structure marking the Tropic of Capricorn, the Old Telegraph Station (site of the original Alice Springs- a permanent water hole), some Aboriginal rock paintings,
a number of shops (for opals and Australian wool yarn), and also stopped to see some friends who are serious rock collectors. Their house looks like a museum with all of the different rock specimens and also the numerous semi-precious stones that the man has cut himself. In addition; these people are now providing a foster home for a baby kangaroo and he has just acquired hair and had just learned to hop the day before so- we all enjoyed watching him out on the front lawn.
Dave, one of the visitors, had brought a radio scanner with him, so for several days we lost Dwight while he listened to the airport communications and the police channel. Dave is also an avid trivia buff, so he and the boys had a great time asking each other questions out of Trivia pursuit.
We took our visitors to the Araluen Arts Center to a performance marking the 5th anniversary of the Center. It was an interesting event. The show was done in the style of a big party with the whole cast either staying on stage or coming and going during the evening. Most of the amateur performers in town, including Toby, were in the production in some form - singing or dancing or playing a musical instrument. At least Dorothy and I enjoyed the show. I think our visitors did, as well.
The other thing we took our friend to was a performance by some Siberian Cossock dancers. This event proved to be rather controversial. There was nowhere in town to hold it which would have seated the size crowd they hoped to have. The Araluen theater only holds 500 people and the promoters had hoped to have 1500. So they set up a stage outside. I had expressed my reservations to Dorothy about the admission price and the fact that it gets cold here in June. She persisted, saying it would be a nice event to which we could take our guests. I started grumping that morning when I found out that after paying a considerable amount, there were no chairs provided - you were expected to provide your own, and then to sit out in the cold (at night); By the time of the performance you could say there was a 'cold war' taking place between Dorothy and myself. It not only was cold, the wind was blowing extremely hard. Unfortunately for one of the dancers, but fortunately for at least those of us who don't like cold weather (one of the reasons I like Alice springs is it is warm most of the time) one of the main dancers injured himself and two dances were cut so that the show only lasted about an hour and a half. To top this whole thing off, that day was Dorothy's and my 19th anniversary!
[Notes: Dorothy pointed out she and I had free tickets; but since the kids went also, we still spent money. Also, she said the wind was not really blowing hard - I guess someone near me was just breathing real hard.]
By coincidence, an American tour group (Williams College Alumni) were in town on July 4th, so the Australian-American Association hosted them at a dinner at the Araluen Bistro. We usually have barbeques for these tour groups, but as I mentioned above it gets cold this time of the year (how cold - it was in the 20's F several nights in the last couple of weeks). It was still very nice. We roasted pork, lamb and beef on a big covered cooker outside on the patio and then brought the meat in so we could eat in the warmth.
I think the tourists enjoyed themselves.
Toby is on school holidays for a month - they only get two months in the summer, and then a month in the winter. Things worked out very well for him. His best friend, who he met here in 1981, has just moved back here from the U.S. and is living right across the street, so we haven't seen much of Toby lately - he is either there or the boys are in our 'computer room.' I think it's great that John was able to return just at this time, because I think Toby will miss Dwight when he goes off to school.
Well I guess that is all I have for now, so I will stop here.
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