To Old Ambalindum Homestead.  We said goodbye for the present to Kaye and Dennis and cruised serenely down the Ross Highway, stopping for morning tea at Corroboree Rock.  We then turned onto the Arltunga Road which is gravel and which soon became dreadfully corrugated and stayed that way for the next 55 kms.  Very slow driving.  I recommend that anyone travelling into Old Ambalindum take the alternative route which although longer and with more gravel is more comfortable.  Were able to hook up to lovely water and power (for some hours each day by generator) and spent the rest of the day chatting to the other two couples already there, and collecting firewood etc.  We had a lovely communal fire and Dave, who is taking us out on Friday for the day at Mt. George fossicking and sightseeing etc., spent a long time chatting to us all.  The next day we organised with Maggie (caretaker) to purchase some diesel as the trip tomorrow is going to be long and we won't get fuel until we get to Tilmouth Well in a couple of days. Packed a lunch and drove back to Arltunga Historic Reserve to explore the ruins and abandoned mines.  We climbed up a very steep slope with lots loose rock to the "Joker" mine and then walked into the gorge.  Next stop the "Great Western Mine".  A bigger mine and more interesting with huge piles of rocky  debris that had been excavated by hand.  What a terribly hard life those men lived for very little return.  Also saw remants of the  very basic structures that they lived in.  Continued on to the White Range Cemetery.  A sad place but well preserved now.  Went over to the other side of the main road for lunch and viewed the restored old police station and lock up etc.  Had had enough of ruins by then so returned to camp and had a sociable  afternoon with Jan and Hugh Gallagher from Lismore.  Another lovely night around the camp fire.
An early start today, up at 6 to leave by 7.30 for our day out with Dave.  Firstly we called in at the main homestead and Tim, the owner of the property, very kindly filled our fuel tanks.  He also gave us some interesting information and statistics on the running of the station.  It is 63 kms through the station to Dave's camp and we got there about 10 am.  Along the way we stopped  at several spots including one creekbed where garnets are embedded in large boulders.  We also saw lots of  healthy looking cattle which are Santa Gertrudis/Droughtmaster crosses.  A lovely rich red brown colour. Dave has two buildings, one a large room housing a nice table and chairs, and 6 bunks, also a kitchen area and lots of shelving  for books, tools of his trade etc. etc.  All very comfortable.  Dave is an ex gemologist/Jeweller. He is here working on the station and searching for his "holy grail" a deposit of rubies.  The second structure was left by geologists searching for uranium some time ago and seemed to house his own private quarters.  After a cup of tea we set off in convoy (Jan and Hugh as well ) .  First stop, Hardings Spring where we checked the bore and saw a lot of cattle.  Then we drove some distance through some rocky very sceenic ranges.  Lots of caves up in the hillsides.  Before we returned to his camp for lunch he left us at a spot which was absolutely littered with garnet. Not jewel quality but we had a lot of fun fossicking seeing what we could pick up.  Over the course of the day collected quite a bag of different bits and pieces.  After lunch we drove in a different direction to look for different minerals/gems.  Fascinating stuff.  We ended up at an old Mica mine where mica sheets are lying around feet thick.  Along the way we got an idea of the size of the prooperty (3,300 sq. kms).  There are approx. 500 kms of tracks, and hundreds of kms of black polythene water pipes servicing the many troughs and water points.  All require regular checking.  They have B Doubles, graders, bulldozers, utes etc.  Tim is a trader.  That is, he buys in young cattle to fatten and sell.   He says he can fatten a skinny beast in 13 weeks, it is such good country.  We arrived back in camp quite late, rather tired after a very worthwhile day and had travelled more than 200kms. 
Before we left Old Ambalindum the next day Maggie gave me a tour of the old homestead which is now used for accommodation.  A lovely old building, spacious and very solid, but quite expensive!  We took the tourist road out which hits the Stuart about  50kms from Alice.  At the junction we caught up with Jan and Hugh and used his battery to pump up our van tyres as our cord doesn't reach that far.  Much appreciated.  It is bitumen to Tilmouth Well, mostly  one lane and beautiful two lane for the last stretch.  Tilmouth Well is expensive. $30 unpowered, $40 powered.  It rained here last night.
Left here at 9am to go to Newhaven Wildlfe sanctuary.  The road into Newhaven is red clay, sometimes corrugated, sometimes sandy, sometimes smooth. Once we got onto Newhaven property the road deteriorated and we began hitting patches of water.  Mostly we could drive alongside them, some being long, 50 metres or more.   Thought we had passed the worst when "wham" in front of us appeared a very long wide brown lake stretching out into the land around us.  Looked at it, then I decided to wade it. Very muddy but not quite knee deep so put the truck into low range and powered through.  Got to Newhaven camp ground about 12.30.   A delightful place, plenty of trees for shade, excellent clean showers with hot water and very clean, non smelly waterless toilets.  All cleaned daily by the volunteer couple who are there.  Later in the afternoon did the Camp Hill walk which takes in a circuit of the big hill behind the camp.  Good except for the humungous numbers of bush flies which plagued us.  Not many birds,
Next day.  Slept in this morning because the sun didn't come up until 7.40am.  Our neighbour, Alec, appeared as we were getting dressed to say that Major Mitchells had arrived in the nearby trees. Terrific views of these gorgeous birds.   Later we went out to Potato Creek Gorge and after lunch we did the Lakes Tour (self guided as are all tours on the property).  The main birds were a flock of 20 white necked herons on Susie's Lake but a pretty drive through different habitats.. Lots of flowers similar to our milkmaids. 
.Said goodbye to Meg and Alec, so today we are on our own.  Today we did the Hillside Drive.  Different to yesterday, lots more birds, and when we saw two dingoes we stopped to look at them.  Then 4 more appeared out of the trees and surrounded the car having a good look at us.  Not at all nervous of us.  Spent some time in the area of Freshwater Bore.  Lots  and lots beautiful, healthy looking eremophilas in red, apricot and yellow, also yellow grevillias and other things in flower.  Drove back to Freshwater Bore later in the afternoon. A lovely fire tonight and zillions of stars. Newhaven is a beautiful place.
Wed.  As we didn't have sufficent fuel to do another long drive we left Newhaven and travelled back to Alice Springs with our fuel light on as we approached town.  Put the van through Peter Kittle's car wash before we booked back into G'Day Mate CP.  Discovered Kaye and Dennis had only left a couple of hours ago.
Thursday.  Another big clean up, washing day etc.  Tomorrow we plan to go to Glen Helen for a couple of days and have a dinner in the restaurant there as it is our 51st wedding anniversary..