Adventure before dementia

I'm sitting at a computer in a youth hostel in Alice Springs. I have about 20 minutes before my session ends. That's the fun of traveling with an internet device that doesn't like the local current. So I'll write what I can in 20 minutes.

I'm not staying at the hostel. My hotel in around the corner. Many times I'm annoyed with a hotel bed that has a big puffy comforter -- in July. Looks great, way too hot. I dealt with such a bed in my hotel in Cairns last week. This bed didn't have a comforter. Only a sheet. And it got down to 37F last night. Yes, I was cold. No blankets in the room. I put a bath towel over the sheet. Used the extra pillows as insulation. Grabbed my jacket and sweater to put over me. I'll ask at the desk for a blanket for tonight, or at least extra towels.

The title to this post came from a sign sold to tourists. I decided that's what I'm doing, even if dementia is hopefully a couple decades off (at least!).

Today was a day trip into the MacDonnell Mountains. They aren't very high (at least not now). Whenever there is a break in the range there is usually a gorge of some sort. Many of these are quite beautiful. So the tour (about 25 of us in a small bus) went west from Alice and stopped at a few of these. We had lunch at Glen Helen (another such gap) and saw a couple more on the way back to town. I took lots of pictures, but can't share right now.

Over the last week I was in Cairns for the International Handbell Symposium. The final concert on Saturday was wonderful! It will be posted online soon and I will send out a link.

On Sunday I took the Scenic Train from Cairns up to Kuranda. Quite nice. Kuranda is very much a tourist town and I got tired of it quickly. The way back was by SkyRail. My siblings will remember the sky ride in Cedar Point. This is the same idea, but several kilometers long and floating above the rainforest. I heard they installed the 30-some towers by helicopter so the disturbance to the rainforest would be minimal -- no road through the jungle. The ride was wonderful!

I'm off to Ayers Rock (that's the name of the resort community, even if the thing we all come to see now goes by its indigenous name of Uluru). The flight is midday tomorrow.

Sometime when I have a longer internet session I'll do a proper travelogue.

My time is about up.