We woke up to a different set of bird calls this morning, surrounded by ghost gums and red rock hills painted changing colours by the sunrise.
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We are in the outback, and of course, the adventures have not disappointed.
Seventeen years ago, on my first visit here, Kym and I flew up to the centre in my little Honda CRV.
During the thousands of kilometres tearing along the highway, I had plenty of time to study the IVF paperwork from Epworth, trying to decide if that was the means by which we should attempt to gain the family we desperately wanted ten years into our marriage.
We came back to Alice Springs in 2018 in a campervan full of children, so our beloved family could get a look at the centre of Australia too.
That first tiny premature baby that our IVF cycle helped deliver us, is now much taller than me and considered an adult when booking accommodation – even in a campground.
The youngest of our brood, started during that IVF cycle and sustained in the freezer as an embryo for years, was here too, soaking up the sunshine in ladies size eight shoes.
Bun bun the middle one who began her life perfectly naturally, continues to be a complete original, constantly surprising us.
The first day of travel in our hired house on wheels was a little bit hairy.
We covered more than 800 kilometres from Adelaide to Coober Pedy, spending a fortune at every roadhouse we stopped at, but somewhere along the line there was a breakdown in communication between drivers, which led to a breakdown in momentum due to lack of fuel.
Yes, we actually ran out of petrol 20 kilometres from our destination, after sunset, but just inside telephone range.
We made a few calls with no success, but a couple of gorgeous angels in disguise pulled over and carried Kym into town to the petrol station and back.
A mother and daughter, who’d been to a wedding in Port Lincoln the day before - so had covered more distance than us that day, were nearly home to bed.
Yet they were willing to pull over to help a stranded family on the side of the road, travelling another 40 kilometres for strangers, asking only that we pass our good fortune on.
We have our eyes peeled.
YOLANDE GROSSER
