West2East Challenge Day 7: Yulara to Gemtree - 548km

It’s such a shame to leave Yulara – there’s so much history, I could spend a whole week here! But we’re off early as usual and heading for Gemtree via Alice Springs. We’ve also recruited some newbies for the second half of our journey! Two more Bailey Australia team members will be with us for the remainder of the trip – we have Eddy Vanderstadt and Lance Van Geelen with us and we’ve also gained Steve Dwight from Bauer Media too. After a few kilometres driving we find ourselves at our half way point and celebrate with a stop off for lunch in Alice Springs which is the 3^rd largest town in the Northern Territory and one of the largest and most modern we’ve seen in quite a while – there’s tarmac roads and everything!

Throughout my visit to Australia so far, I’ve noted that Australians are sentimental, proud and patriotic and the thoughtful war memorials scattered across the country are really touching. But I didn’t imagine finding any here in Alice, purely down to the central location. As I discovered, Anzac Hill Memorial was dedicated in 1934 to those who lost their lives in World War One and now serves as a memorial commemorating Australian service men and women who have lost their lives in all wars and conflicts.

To mark the halfway point in our challenge, we stopped here for a video which is a lot more difficult than we first thought as Alice is a popular town with Anzac Hill attracting a lot of visitors! Nevertheless, we plough on towards Gemtree Caravan Park off the ‘treacherous’ Plenty Highway and it’s practically dark again when we arrive. Michael and Warwick have landed the ‘static’ for the evening – a gorgeous vintage touring caravan which is sited at Gemtree and doesn’t look like it’s ever moved, it’s in fantastic condition!

Kate and Aaron McMaster are the 5^th generation land owners with a fantastic story behind them which has been lovingly put together onto video which we and their other guests were lucky enough to be shown this evening. In 1920, Charlie Chalmers, a teacher, decided to pack up and leave with his wife Cora and head for Central Australia accompanied by a small herd of goats, a few cows and hens to create a new life for him and his family. They were to be completely self-sufficient which for Cora would be quite a shock! Coming from quite a wealthy background, Cora even had someone to help her do her hair. Little did she realise what a different lifestyle they would be living!

It was nearly a year after they set off before they reached Boulia (our destination in a couple of days’ time) when they decided to stay here for the hot summer months ahead. They ended up staying here for well over a year because of the drought – there was no way they could continue their journey without water with places named the ’80 mile dry country’ in front of them that only camels had reached previously! But they did eventually make it into the Northern Territory to set up their new life running a sheep farm where his son Mac would eventually take over, making trips every 3 or 4 months to local towns for supplies.

Since Charlie and Cora arrived in Gemtree, they created close bonds and friendships with the local Aboriginal people, with the Chalmer’s family speaking fluent Alyawarra, which is as strong today as all those years ago. Such a fantastic story of triumph over adversity; Kate is extremely proud of her family history and even though she must have told this story thousands of times before, you can just sense she gets as much out of telling us today as the first time she told it.

Not only do we get this wonderful and endearing insight into a very self-sufficient, hardy yet easy going family, we’re also fed from ‘Kate’s Camp Oven’ – hot jacket spuds with ham, cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top – perfect!  Then there’s the entertainment for the evening – Paddy Melon Boules!  Paddy melons are a yellow fruit which grow at the roadside in Central Australia. I’m sure they have other uses but for tonight, we will use them in competition!

The aim of the game is much like traditional boules and points are awarded for how close you can roll the melon to the central jack but what I love the most is that Kate has managed to get everyone involved, there’s music playing, beers and ciders are available from the Billabong Bar and absolutely everyone’s having a great time!

Before we know it, our very own Warwick ‘Wozza’ McKenzie is in the final two, and his competitive side has taken over – things just got serious! But Paddy Melon Champion was just not meant to be for our lovely Wozza; he was pipped to the post by Lorraine! Bad luck Wozza! You’ll always be a champ to us!

Another card game finishes off our evening and this time, Simon seems to have left his outback hat behind. This is a very dangerous thing to do with all these rogue kangaroos around. I wonder what will happen to it?!

It’s funny to think that last night we were dining in luxury in a restaurant with table service and tonight we’re sitting in the dark around a campfire – I know which one I prefer!

Take a look at our journey so far here:

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