TUESDAY 24 AUGUST   ALICE SPRINGS

I woke up feeling very unwell, but there was little choice – we had to go and organize to get the van out of storage and back on site.

It was not too hard to get to the van. We had to be able to open it, before moving, to get out the big hitch, and put that onto Truck, before beginning to hook up the van. All quite fiddly.

The caravan park (McDonnell Ranges Big 4) charged us $99 for the five nights we booked in for, minus a $9.10 discount, which brought it down to about $17.42  a night. Once more we were on a pleasant site. I appreciated clean and green again!

I managed better than expected, all the moving, unpacking, repacking, setting up. It took much of the day. I kept going on paracetamol, sweated a lot, but it was a hot day.

By the end of the day, despite the work, or maybe because of it, I was feeling slightly better than yesterday.

We drove out to the COR Refinery and filled Truck, and the jerry can.76 cpl.

Went shopping for some food, and wine. I put the used films in for processing, being quite eager to see the Simpson Desert shots.

John called in to the gemshop and the lady told him that one zircon had cut really well. Now they know we are back, there will be pressure to get the rest cut.

We have planned to be here for five days, in order to get over all the driving, get the gemstone cutting and setting sorted out, and for John to get in some bowls. And for us to get healthy again. Unfortunately, John is starting to get symptoms of the “bug” too!

Tea was salads and a tin of red tuna – John’s suggestion and a good one.

The PanPacs swimming championships are on TV and we watched some of that.