Alice Springs Camel Races

On July 12, 2008 Travis and I went to the Alice Springs Camel Races. We had a great time there and we were able to get pretty close up to the action to get some pretty good pictures. Travis really wants to be one of the riders in the race next year. We'll see how that goes!












Here is a picture of the main area. We were trying to get all of the flags blowing at the same time.


Here is a cute picture of Travis and I in are outback hats! I really like this picture!

Here is Travis looking handsome as ever!



They also had some races were people pulled other people in these little wheeled vehicles.

We also had a great time watching the belly dancers there. They performed several different routines and one of them was really funny!


We can't wait until next year...it was a lot of fun!

Fireworks at the Base

On Saturday the 28th of June, the base put on a Independence Day celebration that ended in some great fireworks. Travis and I just went at the end for the fireworks, but it looked like a lot of fun and we might go sooner next year.




Check out the red, white, and blue fireworks! We thought these were really neat!


Here are our friends Mark and Paulene at the Independence Day Celebration. They came to Alice Springs right before we did. We actually met them before we came here. Mark is originally from Michigan, so we bonded over the Red Wings right away!


Travis and I pose for the camera...I have no idea what I was looking at!

Alice Springs Show

The Alice Springs Show was the weekend of July 5, 2008. It was a wonderful fair with rides that we took some neat pictures from. It also has the show component. People compete in many different categories. One that was particularly interesting to me is the scrapbooking section. They have contests for best page, best 2 page spread, and best album. I am really looking forward to entering in the contest next year.

Travis Playing Volleyball

This is a bit late coming, but these pictures are from April 18, 2008. Travis went to play volleyball with his co-workers. The courts were actually sand beach volleyball courts, but they were indoor. Also, there were nets all around the court, and the rules here allowed the volleyball to be played off of any of the nets. I had a great time watching Travis play.

Party in the Riverbed at Emily Gap

Alright...I am trying to catch up on a few posts from a bit earlier and then I have a couple recent posts as well to come. These pictures are from 29 March 2008. We went to a going away party for Trav's coworker, Terry and his wife, Ann. It was the greatest thing because the party was actually in one of the many dry river beds here in the Red Centre. The first couple of pictures are of a magnificent tree that was growing near the riverbed. It was just so pretty and there was still light because this is when we first arrived at the party. Another fun thing was that we actually drove down into the riverbed! Although it isn't very deep, I just thought it was so great because that is something we never would have even considered doing back home, not that there was an opportunity to do so!!

I was just taking a picture here of the surrounding scenery. I am astonished by the beauty of this place each and every single day I am here. You can't look anywhere without seeing something breathtaking in Alice. We are so very lucky to be here!

This is just a picture we took of all the people at the party. I got to meet a lot of people and had a great time talking to everyone. It was wonderful!

Here is an obviously self-taken picture of Trav and me. It took three takes before we got one where no one's head was cut off and my eyes were open!

Here is a picture of the fire that was there. Amazingly enough, it actually got cold enough to wear coats and want to be by the fire. What a difference a month makes!!

On the right is Terry and his wife Ann. They were the guests of honor and were leaving Alice after I think 15 or 16 years. People that come here love it so much that a lot of them end up staying or coming back for another tour. Yes...it is that great here!!

My Attempt Taking Artistic Pictures

A couple of weeks ago I decided I wanted to try to improve my skills at taking pictures. I have never taken really great pictures and this is so upsetting to me because I love to scrapbook. I know that if my pictures improve, my scrapbooking pages will also improve. I took probably 200 pictures in our front and back yard mostly of the plants and flowers that we have. These pictures are the few that I think turned out the best. I hope you enjoy them!

This last picture is of our orange tree. We already have 2 lime trees and we thought this would make a great addition to our garden.

My New Found Independence!

For those of you that don't know...I have been trying to go through all of the steps to get hand controls installed on our SUV. On the 13 March I received the approval to install the hand controls. After that, we had to get my doctor to fill out some paperwork and that resulted in my new updated licence that says I can only drive with hand controls. I got the new licence a couple of weeks ago. We took our car to Dallas Spears Metal Works here in Alice Springs on Wednesday night and we got it back on Saturday the 12 with the hand controls installed. Finally on the 14Th I had to get the controls approved by a TAC inspector and after that we went to the Motor Vehicle Registry for their final inspection and to update the registration. Well, after all of that...I now have the ability to drive!!!

Check out the couple pics I have and the little video if I can get it to post. These were taken before the final inspections on last Saturday the 12. That's why all I did was back out of the driveway!!