About 125 kilometres west from Alice Springs, a drive will take you to Hermannsburg Historic precinct. It’s a beautiful trip with the magnificent red sandstone cliffs and hills of the West McDonnell’s to the south and to the north, the rolling hills of the Arrente. The trip only take 90 minutes along a sealed road. There are signs warning of horses and kangaroos but these are much more of a danger at night than in the daytime. For some lengths of Larapinta Drive, stock can wander over the road as well, so it best to be alert day or night!
Hermannsburg is a living community with about 700 people of which over 600 are Aboriginal. We drove past the roads that lead to the houses and the few shops, instead following the signs to the historic precinct. After being there for two hours, enjoying it enormously, we would both strongly recommend a visit if you ever have the opportunity.

Hermannsburg, the name, comes from the city in Germany where the first Lutheran missionaries to this region were trained. The first two arrived in 1877 only a few years after the explorers and the even more recent pastoralists. The Aborigines who lived in this area, now called the Finke by thewhite people, faced an uncertain future. Their land was taken from them because the pastoralists needed it for their stock. Police were pretty hostile too, with many local people shot and killed. Charges never lead to a conviction for a white policeman for doing this sort of thing.

They were lost, starving and extinction was a real possibility. 

Many missions in Australia, and in colonies all over the world have been rightly criticised for being the soft side of colonialism and as important in destroying local culture as guns and soldiers were. Here I think it was different. The Finke River Mission provided a refuge, food, accommodation, and what medical help they could offer. The difficulties in getting supplies to the mission in its early days were horrendous and expensive. None the less, tradespeople who came as well as the pastors, built the church and out buildings, some of which are still standing. 

Notably, Carl Strehlow, the pastor from 1894 to 1922 at the mission, was fluent in Arrente and produced the New Testament in that language. This had never been done before, anywhere in Australia. During his time there, he and his wife survived droughts, financial difficulties and the hostility of many people including government during world war 1. 
Up until the 1920s, the children suffered terribly in droughts. No food could be grown, particularly vegetables and in one particularly terrible drought, 85% of the children died from scurvy. In those days there was no rail link from the south and no way of getting food to this remote area. Soon after, the mission built what was regarded as impossible, a pipe to a reliable spring that could fill their massive water storage tanks and finally grow vegetables and food all year round. 

Trade schools were set up, especially a tannery and leather processing business. The Aboriginals made leather from cattle and kangaroos. They made shoes. The women processed salt to help safely store meat for many months in the dry, hot conditions. It was a viable community until the attitudes to missions changed, and many Aboriginals drifted away to outstations now funded by government and nearer their own lands. The modern pastors and families of the seventies would no longer put up with the deprivations of the early years. The Lutheran church pulled the pin, moving its administration, efforts and funds to Alice Springs.

The old buildings still exist. In the middle is the tall white church. Out the front are two river red gums. A steel beam balances between them, and from that beam hangs the church bell. The early pastors had serious doubts about the safety of building a steeple. The walls are thick, cool, and limed white inside and out. The walls are made of limestone blocks that were dug and prepared nearby and moved by cart. Around the church are the Tannery, the manse, the bakery, five massive buried water tanks, accomodation, infirmary and dental office. Behind the buildings are a grove of date palms, a useful food supply in this hot climate. In the buildings are artefacts left over from the working years of the mission. Restoration projects on cars and equipment is slowly happening, including a mechanical, motorised borer. 
A highlight for our visit, is all the information as well some paintings by Albert Namatjira. He was born near Hermannsburg and spent most of his life nearby. As a young man he had the great good fortune to meet Rex Batterbee. Rex was a water colourist, and a very good one, who had travelled northwards from Melbourne to explore and paint views of the country around Alice Springs. He quickly realised what a great painter Albert could be, and taught him the artistic skills he needed. The student soon overtook the master. In 1936, he had a solo exhibition of his work in Melbourne. He soon became very famous. He produced a tremendous body of outstanding work. However, this fame backfired, as he was given the unique right amongst Aboriginals, to buy alcohol. Under the humbug rule, where you have to supply friends or family with whatever they want if you possibly can, he supplied lots of grog to these people at Alice Springs. Outside town, there was notorious drunkenness and violence due to this preventable situation. When a girl was murdered in the camp, enough was enough, and he was jailed. It truly broke him, and he died a month after his release. 
We had some of the local fare at the tea rooms, formerly Carl Strehlow’s home. Strudel of Course! If you look up from the desser, you can see the mulga tree branches still forming the roof supports. We walked through the dining rooms, reading the displays, enjoying Albert Namatjira ‘s paintings, and enjoying the peace and quiet. However, as we stood near the church, we could hear local Aborigines singing enthusiastically as part of a a Saturday church service. There are CDs in the gift shop of their concerts performed both here and overseas. The modern church is much more comfortable, it is also built from local stone but it’s not limestone but sandstone that forms the walls. It’s only just big enough for its congregation.

This mission is a reminder of the courage and resourcefulness of the early pioneers of central Australia, and the religious zeal that inspired the early Lutheran pastors to protect and foster the Aboriginal people. Today, there is a strong Lutheran presence in many communities, but they are mostly Aboriginal pastors. There is no problem at all blending the Christian message with the dreamtime stories. And there never has been. When a pastor became very sick, one of the mission Aboriginals said he would get help from Alice Springs. He left the mission, picked up a handful of grass and laid it in a fork of a tree, and sang a song to the sun, for it not to set until he had completed his trip. He travelled far and fast covering the distance from Hermannsburg to Alice Springs and back in three days. He then removed the grass, placed it back on the earth and thanked the sun. He was a well known Lutheran pastor in his own right.

Jennifer and I have been on the road since the 16th of May, arriving on the north island on a cool, dark Melbourne morning as we drove along the ramp out of the Spirit and into its early traffic. Against a dark and dusky sky, we drove along the city streets towards Geelong Road, then diverted to the Western Ring Road on the way to Hilary’s place in Roxburgh Park. After breakfast, all four of us not counting the dog, did a walk at Woodlands. Isla fell asleep in her backpack, Gertie padded along and around, as Hilary and us walked along the bush tracks. Afterwards, we enjoyed immense fresh scones with dizzily piles of cream and jam at the Woodland homestead. While we were enjoying ourselves, the trailer was getting some minor repairs for a leak around a power outlet at Cub Camper in Campbellfield. 

That evening we arrived at Horsham, raining, dark and so putting up the camper for the first time seemed a little too daunting. We stayed overnight at the International which was surprisingly quiet despite being right beside the Western Highway. In the morning we got off to an early start, arriving in Adelaide after dropping through the very scenic tree filled Belair Park, to stay at the Big 4 Marion Holiday Park. It had excellent facilities. I was a bit too tired and I think I may have left the car door ajar. We discovered later we had got off lightly with only my ancient iPod stolen. Our cameras were found by someone staying at the park, so we got those back so thank goodness. 

We spent Saturday at the Convention centre at a conference / GP Update on women’s and children’s health. It was busy, packed with useful presentations and so well worth attending. 

On Sunday we took it easy with a slow start. We had had dinner on Friday night on the sea front so we thought it was worth having lunch at Glenelg. When we arrived street side, the air was punctuated by the ear splitting sounds of pile drivers and earth moving equipment. We had a light lunch then scuttled back to the quiet of the camping ground.

On Monday we started the next leg of our journey back to Alice, arriving at Port Augusta mid afternoon with plenty of time to set up the trailer. We are both finding the trailer very comfortable, it’s cooking platform excellent and bedding lovely, cosy at night. It takes about ten to fifteen minutes to set it all up unless you need to add the awning which is zipped to the main tent. 

From Port Augusta we drove to Coober Pedy. I felt myself quite tense in Adelaide, a mixture of big city noise and bustle plus having had such a close shave with a robbery. I felt myself relaxing as we headed north, the wonderful music of Bach and Handel in the car, the featureless plains and hills and above the beautiful, blue, crystalline skies of the outback. 

Coober Pedy is fascinating and should be on anybody’s ” to go ” list. The caravan park is called the Stuart Range Resort. It’s major problem for us was the thought disordered layout of the camper and caravan parking. Eventually we located a spot and set up. We clicked open our chairs, tossed on the blankets for later and had showers. We spent two nights at Coober Pedy and here is what we did. The next morning we spent an hour setting up the tyre dog sensors on the tyre valves. This remote sensing gives the pressure and temperature of both trailer and Car tyres. It’s fascinating to watch the pressures over the drive. Changes in pressure can indicate leaks, the lower pressure means more tyre road contact and the friction sends up the temperature which causes blow outs.
In the afternoon, we joined other travellers on a bus trip around Coober Pedy. Now Coober Pedy is an Aboriginal phrase that means ” white fellas living in holes” which is what the miners and locals do to escape the heat of Summer ( 50plus degrees) and the cold ( minus five) of Winter. The underground houses are called Dugouts and have a uniform temperature of 23degrees all year round. Ventilation is provided by a narrow pipe that sits a few meters above the ground directly above the dugout. Two of these ventilation shafts are perfect. If you have too many the warm air can heat the dugout too much.
We learned about the rise of Opal mining in Australia, beginning in remote Queensland and ending In Coober Pedy, the richest opal site in the world. Our guide had been a miner for many years and knew many interesting stories about the history and characters that make up a frontier town like this. We visited the Breakaway Hills. This area has been used for films such as Mad Max Thunderdome and Pitch Black. It is now a reserve. The scenery is stunning, the ironstone caps if the hills staining the shale with red and gold down their flanks. There is no mining allowed here, its all natural. For most of Coober Pedy, conical piles of diggings fill the horizon. They are dangerous to walk around as no shafts are refilled. A 70 meter drop has killed or injured tourists and locals alike. 
We visited the museum. Here was saw a movie on Opal. It described its ancient origins in human affairs, beginning in Roman times. Then opals were dug out of secret spits in the carpathians. These opals are muted compared to the vivacity and colours of Australian opals. The sheer brilliance and quality of our opals made European buyers hesitant to purchase them. The Australian Opal market really took off in the USA, and to his day, many fine opals find their eventual owners in America. I bought Jennifer some Opal ear rings and matching pendant, milky white with fiery reds and greens. The colours come from diffraction of light by minute amounts of water trapped in the hardened silica. Opal is ancient sand, descended from the ancient seas of Australia, 120 million years ago. 
Our penultimate visit was to the Serbian Church. This is also a dugout as are most of the many churches here in Coober Pedy. It is a serene home of prayer and community, the parishioners are now to old to stand for the two hours of an orthodox service. On the walls are five sculptures by an early member of the church. They are religious. They are are of Christ, Saints and the man in saint of the Serbian church. He died soon after he completed them, still a young man and clearly a gifted sculptor.
In the evening, we had pizzas at the resort. These were the yummiest pizzas I have ever had. John who owns the resort, jokes that it took a Greek like him, to make Italian Pizzas. He would be in his mid seventies, and is still vibrant and hard at work, taking tour groups in the daytime and cooking pizzas in the evenings. 
The next day we drove to Erldunda. This is only 200km from Alice but it would have made a 700km drive for the day which is just to far to be safe. It’s a very good park but suffers from the noise of the generator even though it’s 200meters from where all the trailers and caravans are parked. But the wonderful sunrise made up for that. A few people were disturbed but I slept well, with my silicon earplugs soothing my sleep. 

We met Con and Sue Polizos from Phillip Island, they had a terrific rig with all amenities, microwave, oven, you name it. They are a lot of fun and joined us for a chat while I played my guitar, and we sat outside in the sunshine. At Adelaide we met Ted and Joe, who are travelling as well. They helped using with the cub as they have a very similar model to us.
Well right now, I’m writing this as we head to Alice Springs, north on the Stuart Highway. We are seeing our old landmarks like the Finke and turn-offs to places we have heard about or have visited before.