2 June 2022
We decided today we would wait another day for the road to dry out a little more before travelling from Santa Teresa to Alice Springs. There was a lot of rain today, but by afternoon it had stopped.
3 – 4 June 2022
Arrived at Blatherskite Park today and caught up with Bec who runs things here. Once again Bec was nice enough to squeeze us in. She is such a funny lady – appreciated her humour. Settled into a much-needed hot shower. Alison may have had 2 – not sure but she certainly looked happy afterwards. For the rest of the day, we caught up on shopping and fuel.
Oh here is an expedition vehicle we haven’t seen before, Unimog Bliss Mobil.
That afternoon we caught up with Toby Price and co and also met some other drivers who we would come to know a little better during the event of Finke Desert Race 2022.
5 June 2022
Time to get out to the track and do a bit of pre-race photography and location scouting. Then it was back to Blatherskite for the night.
6 June 2022
Off down the Finke track to do some more location scouting. We were lucky enough to photograph the landing of the Alice Springs Hot Air balloon tour.
It was incredible to see them deflate the balloon and make it away. The rest of the day was spent taking more photographs, meeting some of the competitors and catching up with some old friends. Also received a call from Stewart Brash’s producer Paul to meet up for an interview on the 8 June. What an honour to meet an announcer that we had come to know throughout text participation on ABC Alice Springs over the last 12 months. WOW so cool! The army was also in town – check out some of their equipment!
7 June 2022
Out doing some more photography today and to our delight was caught up with Terry Hill about lunchtime. We met Terry Hill 12 months ago at Finke 2021. I must admit he has been a muse and given Alison a lot of inspiration to be more creative with her photography. For those who don’t know Terry Hill Photography is just amazing – he does produce some fantastic images. You can check him out on https://terryhill.zenfolio.com
Decided we would camp in Alice Springs for the night, catch up on food, cleaning etc before heading back to the Finke. We also caught up with some of our friends from the SRLV group who had arrived in town for the Finke. I had a lovely evening catching up around the fire.
8 June 2022
We woke up so very early this morning and headed for the ABC Alice Springs studio to meet with Stewart Brash. What a great bucket list item to tick off. An excellent time was had and certainly, a memory for a lifetime made.
Spent the rest of the day shopping and getting ready for the next 5 days camping on the Finke Track.
9 June 2022
After catching up with the SLRV group for another great night, we decided to get serious about Finke Event. We camped next to the track and soon had neighbours Laurie and Penny. They are a lovely couple who we thoroughly enjoyed meeting.
10 June 2022
Today was the scrutineering day – it was fun and we were swamped. Managed to catch up with Terry Hill as well.
Finke Desert Race Pre-Run Photos Link
11 June 2022
Qualifying today with the competitors doing Prologue to work out poll positions.
Finke Desert Race Prologue Link
12 June 2022
Race Day 1 – Another fun day capturing the adrenaline-pumping excitement of Finke 2022
13 June 2022
The fun comes to a climax with David Walsh and Toby Price winning their respective races. One fantastic day!
What an event – and thank you again for the encouragement and support of Terry Hill.
14 June 2022
Today we headed back to Blatherskite Park to start processing our photos and memories and catch up with a few of the SLRV guys.
15 June 2022
I think the one thing that was sad about our visit to Alice Springs this year was the sheer number of people we heard of that had bikes or belongings stolen. We even heard stories of people asleep in their cars and awaking to find belongings stolen from glove boxes and front seats of their cars. There was even 1 guy who was in hospital after an accident in the Finke having his 4WD, trailer and bike stolen. Alice Springs has an issue at the moment and we were happy to just be getting out of town. So we headed off to the west end of the MacDonnell Ranges for the night.
16 – 17 June 2022
By the time we arrived at Hasst Bluff, it was time to make the most of the last internet we should have for a while and listen to our favourite radio announcer Stewart Brash, who was also about to take a 3-week break. We came to an appreciation of the beauty of Hasst Bluff. Another project we say that was in full swing was the construction of the Ken Duncan Project Cross on Round Hill. It will be huge and seen for many kilometres. What we didn’t realise was Hasst Bluff was on the end of the Belt Range and just how spectacular Mt Edward and Mt William are. Stunningly beautiful country.
18 – 19 June 2022
Inspired by the stunning ranges we decided to fill up with fuel at Papunya and head north into the Stuart Bluff Range and SIddelely Ranges. The dune country and Desert Oaks were beautiful. The sunsets were also a blaze of colour which set the ranges alight.
20 June 2022
Today our journey took us into Newhaven Wildlife Reserve, which is nestled up against the West end of the Siddeley Range. They have a protected wildlife enclosure that utilised a 44 km long fence to protect the natives. They were releasing Bilby into the area to help the population recover from predators.
21 June 2022
Today we made our way through the back roads back to Gary Junction Road to head back into Western Australia. Thank you Northern Territory for a great break and adventure, we had a blast.
22 June 2022
Today as we travelled further into WA we met John Elliot and his camels. He had just come down from Lake Mackay and was about to clock up 10,000 km walking his train. It was lovely meeting him and him taking his time to tell us about his life. A very inspiring man. John The Camel man Link
We made our way further west passing very little traffic and seeing very little wildlife. On this trip, we have seen many camels, a few dingos and many many birds.
23 June 2022
The first stop today was Lake Dora, so nice to see it where people haven’t decided it would be good to drive on it.
Today we passed through Telfor and onto Skull Springs. It was here we met Christian and Jen Fletcher and Nick and Janelle Rains. Christian Fletcher is a photographer we have admired his work for many years. https://christianfletcher.com.au
24 June 2022
We said our goodbyes and headed down a headily damaged Skull Springs Road. It turned into a social day stopping to chat with mine workers etc.
We also met a couple of great guys, Eric and Rob, who had a flat. After helping them out we decided to abandon plans for the day and just hang out. We had a great night and enjoyed ourselves.
25 – 26 June 2022
Time to get back home, arrived at 3 pm to enjoy hot showers and home-cooked dinner.