There is no words to express the gratitude and joy I feel towards the Connellan family. Thank-You so much for an amazing experience ranch living.

Sunday the 27 I checked out from my little cottage and walked down town Alice Springs, it was market day. I found souvenirs got some great fresh made mango juice, met the Swedish lady I met at the golf course ,chatted with her and enjoyed the energy of the whole atmosphere, the mixture of natives and tourists and the so called whites.

I was going to be picked up by Chris Connellan’s daughter Sam at 2, I was exited to get to the  ranch. It took us about 2 hours to get there and it is hard to describe tho vastness of this countryside, the redness, the bushiness(!)the rode and the way trucks and cars are driving here, well first of all they do drive on the left side here in Australia and this particular rode they all greet each other when they meet and they also get out on the side to avoid to get hit by stones that the cars are throwing up, it is a single lane! It is very different than the freeways in California,it is a traffic jam when there is 5 cars! The last part of the drive is on dirt(red)about 1/2 hour.

The driveway up to the ranch is long very long and it is on red carpet well that is how I felt. The feeling I got when i arrived was magestic ,.The sky was deep blue the sun wasshining and it was nice and warm. Chris welcomed me and since it was his last couple of days on the ranch before he was taking of for a month he was busy tying up all ends. It was perfect for me. I was expirienced the desert and the kangoroo who was jumping around only 15-20 yards from me a,ll the birds and their songs. I was in heaven. I read I fall asleep and I enjoyed.

The ranch had cattles however they are all far a way and the work on the ranch at this time of the year (winter) was taking care of all the buildings, the pool, the gardens, the lawns and the paperwork. Sam was busy working and so was Chris and I was just hanging out. I loved it. We had nice dinners together and I experienced a place with no hot water if the “donkey” was not lit up and the electricity turned out at 10pm.It was cold so I had a lot of wonderful warm blankets,so no worries here!

It was all back to the natural way of living. Chis father who was the first white man on this property had about 100 Aborigines working with him. Now there are none.The mining industry takes most workers today, they pay more than double what a ranch can pay.

Chris has about 1000 wild camels on the property too, unfortunately I did not get to see any of them I went out last night to see the stars and wow that was a sight, I was a little scared, even though the kangaroos will not attack you ,they can not see very well so if I got to be in there way when they are jumping, I would be very hurt. It was worth feeling a little scared, nothing happened and I got to see the most amazing star sky.

I am sitting at Melbourne’s international airport writing this, on my way home to Sweden,Stockholm

ps an article on me will be on line in the www.alicespringsnews.com.au this Thursday!

For now Hugs to all, my first part of the Awesome Eight Golf Challenge is completed, Thank-You all who has thought about me ,encourage me and written to me!

Anna-Lena

This is not about The Awesome Eight Golf Challenge. This is about something much deeper. To travel through the indigenous Aborigines land fills me with many emotions. How easy to have judgments on the way they are living and in our way of seeing things not taking care of either property or them selves.

The white man has taking away the dignity, the purpose and humiliated and discriminated most of the indigenous people, Aborigines is one of those people. Today’s tour gave me an insight and an understanding that I did not have before. Our guide Russ not only could he drive a bus on riverbeds over boulders and small passages and we felt very safe with him, he told us about the history of the people the hurt and the difficulties they are facing the difficulties we all are facing, because a whole culture will die out if a miracle is not happening very very soon.

The drive and the hike we did was spectacular. Just imagine mountains in colors from black to blue, from deep red to orange. An azure blue sky and green yellow brown bushes as long the eye could see. Kangaroo’s looking, wild horses and birds (parrots) in wonderful colors. No snakes, no emus  in sigh, we saw droppings though! The formation of the different mountains, somewhat like Monument Valley in Arizona, USA did spark the imagination what they look like. The Aborigines has named many of them. The most famous Aborigine painter Namatjira has with his art educated many about the wonder of this nature and the home of the Aborigines homeland.

All of us in the bus, we were 18, enjoyed our time together. Many journey just like me with passion and curiosity what this world has to offer when we decide to do something about our longing to follow our dreams.

With thankful heart I am saying good-bye to this part, next up is the cattle ranch!

Back in my sweet little cottage at the Desert Palm Resort, Alice Springs, Australia.Collecting my thoughts and licking my wounds not scoring that good,however I had a wonderful time playing golf with Paul Pearson. As it happen Paul came into the clubhouse just when I had arrived and when I was explaining to Debbie in the pro shop what I was here for she asked Paul if he knew anything about this. Paul got very exited because he was one of the players who played with Robin Sieger and Neil Laughton when they played the course under the burning sun, temperature up to 50* C or 122* F, so he knew about the challenge.

He showed me the shirt they gave him now on display in the beautiful club house. My golf round started with Paul as my playing partner and him telling me about the history of the course and the trees (all the different kind of gum trees,we call them eucalyptus, they have here a special one called the ghost-gum ,the trunk is as white as it can be, a very beautiful tree.

Of course I wanted to see Kangaroos and yes they showed up, two of them right in front of me and all the different kind of parakeet birds. They have a natural aeration here! Special birds come and pick the sees up from deep under the surface, unfortunately they do not do it all over! Part of the charm. The course is dorm-ed ,although not all brown , it is hard and the greens are very very fast. It is winter here in Alice Spring, freezing cold (29 F) nighttime and around 70 midday.

The sky is very blue and the mountains around us has all different red to brownish color. It feels a little like California desert. Without any manicured ruff though, here it is natural! I like it and the golf course has a lot of great features,beautiful views and the mystics of the ancient Aborigines holy ground.

The scorecard was signed and the picture taken and yes I did do my headstand on the last hole!

Thank-You Paul and Alice Springs Golf Club for a wonderful experience and for the enthusiasm, generosity and kindness I felt.

Tomorrow I am going on a tourist tour, I will let you now how that goes.

The Alice Springs News paper came out and took some picture and the interview will take place just before I leave on Tuesday the 29th. Report on that later!

By for now, I am taking a nap.

Alice Spring Golf Club is the hottest golf course in the world. The toughest element is the climate.
The temperature can rise to 50°C (122°F) and hot winds whistle across fairways in
this 18-hole par 72 course. It is currently rated as one of the world’s top ten desert
courses and one of Australia’s top 25 golfing resorts.

Any tips? Do the carts have ice cold sprinkler systems? Ooops, I forgot, we have to walk it!!

This will be a tough one, help out if you can