Visiting friends in the Heart

Just had a magic couple of days in Alice springs! I was there for work but did get a few moments to just enjoy the space! The desert is green, the air is clean and there were plenty of opportunities to sit and breathe it all in. Fortunately we stayed at a fantastic venue and the meals were catered for! We didn't have to shuttle people for accommodation to meeting sites either so there was plenty of time in between meetings, to just hang out!
We even got a surprise invitation to the opening of Hector Burton's art exhibition at the Hele Crescent gallery!
Unfortunately most of the photos were lost when the other camera was stolen from the  hire car at the hospital!    We Thought we'd lost our second camera but it turned up wedged behind one of the seats of the hire car... I haven't seen the photos yet... Hoping there were some decent ones in there!


Ben and Graham hanging out at Hele Cres...(attempted oldifying photo using basic rgb tools)

The place where we stayed is called Campfire in the Heart. It is a Christian Retreat and had some great facilities! Outdoor kitchens, 'Campfire', meetings spaces indoors and outside, an awesome little prayer room including an atrium which created the illusion of the Desert within the house. What I really enjoyed was the stone labyrinth which I was told is 1km long! I walked about a quarter of it before it was time to set up for the morning meeting... It really helped me centre myself before commencing the serious part of my work for the day.
David and Sue, who own the place catered for our lunches and dinner, which not only saved me a heap of work but was a higher standard than I could have managed between meetings! It was a great break for Ben and I who usually end up doing all the cooking as well as meeting duties.
Another great bonus was that David was happy to drive people around a bit! I'm sure I got a great shot of all the old men in the 35 year old kombi... but it was on the other camera! I'll search the other camera when I see it.
Apparently he has owned that van since it was new!
A few of the guys missed out on the show... claiming to have been to too many opening nights. We'll I haven't and I'm totally glad I did go. I was enthralled by the stories behind Hectors paintings and the Trees he painted really stirred me!



Labyrinth at Campfire in the Heart

I wish I'd had more time to just chill, there was definitely some special energy in the Centre this weekend. Full Moon too!
Unfortunately I could only stay for one night and had to return to Darwin at 5:30pm on Saturday. It was kind of a surreal flight home... I was tired and kind of drifting in and out of dream like imaginings.

P.S -
Here I was in an aeroplane again.... Now in the center of Australia, watching the Stuardess demonstrate how to fit the buoyancy vest in case of emergency and wondering what were the chances we'd crash land into the only visible body of water after take off... the Alice Springs sewerage ponds.... What a strange procedure!
Now I'm talking to a fella who tells me all about flying into remote mining camps and working shift for bucket loads of money, gold prospecting and safety training.... 
Now we're getting closer to Darwin and the sky turns dark..... darker... black... Lightening flashes and we're engulfed in darkness!
Now we're circling Darwin just a few ks from the tarmac waiting for a thunder storm to pass...
Now my feet are on the wet tarmac... smelling av gass and humidity... Now I'm hugging my wife and the kids are wrapped around my feet as I try to get my gear from the carouselle... Now I'm home...