Kintore – where was Kintore and getting there.

After lots of googling and you tubing, we discovered that Kintore is approximately 530 KM West of Alice Springs, NT and closer to the WA border.

Basically a long way from nowhere.

 

It has a medical clinic, an airstrip, a shop, a police station, a school, preschool, aged care facility and of course childcare.

My accommodation would be furnished with basic items so the question was how to make my new home, my own……personalised……comfortable and above all items to keep me busy in my personal time…….reading material, coloring books, DVD’s and whatever else I could think of.

I knew that I had a relocation allowance so the next question was what to take, given that Kintore was so isolated but with basic facilities.

I didn't know how I was going to shop for supplies at this stage so I wanted to make sure that I had the basics to start with.

I bought 5 large removalist boxes and started to fill them with:
    1. Bedding and towels (and other linen)
    2. Bread maker (can’t buy fresh bread in the outback so why not make my own?) 
    3.Yoghurt maker (difficult to keep yoghurt cold but easy to transport sachets of yoghurt powder culture)
    4. 60 rolls of loo paper (didn’t want to run out)
    5. Numerous Tupperware containers already filled with food that wouldn't go off like rice, pasta, breakfast cereal, coffee, sugar and even meal base mixes.
    6. A variety of kitchen ware items that I might need (sharp knife, chopping board, small frying pan, glad wrap, foil, snap lock bags)

The boxes were packed to the brim, into every nook and cranny with all sorts of essentials, Knick Knacks and treasures and shipped to a trucking company where they would be shipped from Melbourne -  Adelaide – Alice Springs – Kintore.

My mum came to help me pack and was so very helpful with suggestions on items to pack that I hadn’t thought of.

She also took with her a large suitcase of clothes because she was going to meet me in Alice Springs after our Flinders trip and before I headed to Kintore. She would bring the suitcase with her as I didn’t want to cart the clothes all over the Flinders Ranges – we had enough camping gear to worry about.

 

My boxes were on their way a whole month before I was to arrive in Kintore because of the transport company schedule and also because we were leaving for a 2 week camping holiday in the Flinders Ranges immediately prior to me leaving for Kintore.

The weeks leading up to our Flinders Trip were a blur. Preparing for the trip, preparing to move to Kintore as well as a particularly busy time at work prior to the end of term.

The hardest time by far was saying goodbye to people that were dear to me. Many tears were shed. Saying goodbye to my brother and his family was especially hard although his boys who were aged 3 and 5 didn’t really understand.

James aged 3 thought “Aunty Kristin was going to live in Murrindindi” – a 1 hour drive away.

I cried all the way home after seeing my own kids for the last time. They were both so enthusiastic, Kathryn saying how proud she was of me going on this adventure and Mitchell was his usual quiet but proud way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the day came to leave Melbourne. It was a cold, wet and windy September morning.

We got up at 4 Am as we were to meet camping friends for a fuel up and breakfast on the other side of the city, heading North West for our first night of the trip – Pink Lakes Camping ground located in the Murray Sunset National Park.

Never had I experienced such mixed emotions.

I did a last sweep of the house – particularly my kids bedrooms and my scrap booking room. I couldn’t take my scrap booking gear with me and that set me off into a blubbering mess. I cried as I said goodbye to my cat Rose and soon I locked up the house, hopped into Lizzie and said goodbye to Melbourne for at least 3 months until December At Xmas time when I would probably come home to visit.

Within minutes of being on the road, the excitement of the Flinders Trip and my move to Kintore set in.