Alice Springs is a most delightful town, away out in the centre of the desert. I was not sure what we expected, but certainly it proved to be a great surprise.
And why? For a start the area around the town has ranges, with amazing rock formations, with plenty of bush around, plus history. So much to see and do, and we only scratched the surface!
Alice Springs was first called Stuart after John Stuart, the explorer. Then the name was changed to Alice Springs, named after the wife of the former Postmaster General of Adelaide, Sir Charles Todd. The Spring part of the name was due to the waterhole on the Todd River.
I read Neville Shute's 'A Town Like Alice', which I picked up from the free books in a campsite laundry. I had not read this book for scores of years, but enjoyed it all the same. I finally understood that part of the book was about a small place in northern Queensland, who the heroine in the book wanted to change into a town that mirrored Alice Springs.
The other book was called 'Flynn of the Inland' written by Ion Idriess, a biography of John Flynn, who brought the Flying Doctor Service and the Bush Hospitals to outback Australia. As part of the Australian Inland Mission he travelled the outback, visiting all the remote settlements. He covered thousands of kilometres on camel back, certainly no small feat, as well as gaining support and finance from corporations and donations to build the hospitals and start the flying doctor service. Amazing reading.
It was an easy drive north from Marla, about 454 km, through land that was increasingly covered in scrub, as against desert south of Marla. This was a surprise to us as we were expecting desert and more desert. Once we reached the Northern Territory the speed limit changed to 130 kmh which floored us, as the road was no better than in South Australia. How can they justify people doing that speed, this was not a French or German motorway.
As we were towing a lightweight pop top caravan I mostly sat on 90 to 100 kmh, which I think is the required upper limit, the same as for trucks. However, seeing the road trains (trucks with three and sometimes four trailers on the back) hurtling past at 90 kmh was quite daunting. When I saw one coming towards me, I always slowed down to about 60kmh in order to stop the wave of wind hitting the car and caravan.
But onto Alice Springs. We had booked into Alice Springs Tourist Park, which was opposite the Araluen Arts Centre. Certainly an added bonus.
,It was a lovely tree covered park, although the sites were close together, which appeared to be the usual situation in South Australia and Northern Territory. Most caravan parks are run by big companies (Big4, Discovery Parks, G'day Parks plus others we have not stayed in). The Alice Springs Tourist Park was run by Family Parks. They all pack the vans in, something we are not used to after the United Kingdom and Europe. Each caravan has just enough room to put an awning out, and the car is parked at the front.
But we were so fortunate, Walter managed to get a site on grass at the back of the park, with bushes on either side of us. We were happy people.
The next morning we hooked the van up again, temporarily I might add, as we wanted to get the brakes checked after the bouncy trip on corrugated roads. As well as costing a few hundred dollars to change the bearings, and put a new tap in (was on the way out) we learned heaps about how to look after a caravan in Australia.
The clicking noise as we reversed the caravan was normal, we were told. Mind you the clicking noise had become a little too loud for our liking. Much better now, thank goodness.
Now bearings in the caravan wheels were not something we thought about really. In the UK we only completed one long trip per year, and our caravan was serviced yearly too.
Although we get our caravan serviced yearly here too, there is a difference. Namely the distances we cover, and the fact that we often travel on gravel roads. When one looks at the map of Australia, there are many gravel roads in the the western part (South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory).
So checking the wheel bearings will become a routine job, when checking tyre conditions and pressure. Plus checking all is well under the van.
On the morning we hitched up to go to the caravan repairers, Piper would not budge from the bed. 'I have had enough!' she said.
The town centre of Alice Springs was very quiet due to a lack of overseas tourists. And Australian travellers, like ourselves, are not going to buy souvenirs from the tourist shops, and especially sadly from the indigenous women selling their paintings. We bought a beautiful painting last year in Coober Pedy, and like most Australians there is a limit on the number of paintings one can hang up in the house.
I looked at the price of boots in the shops, and then bought a pair at a work wear shop not far from the campsite, for $30 less.
The council chambers, with a lovely park in the front.
The John Flynn Memorial Uniting Church, with an Indigenous woman selling a painting in front of it.
Adelaide House Museum. This was the first purpose built hospital to a design by the Reverend John Flynn and was completed in 1926. Flynn designed the Adelaide House, with a cooling system, which was a cellar with ducts taking cool air up to the upper levels.
A small ward in the hospital.
Todd Mall, a beautifully landscaped street, but quite empty. Although on Saturday it did liven up a bit.
We made a short visit to the small reptile park. The crocodile in the photo below was feeling the cold, and did not move much.
The thorny lizard, also not moving much due to the cold weather. Fascinating little creatures.
The Sturt Desert Pea, not such a great photo. A beautiful flower! This plant was at the entrance to the Alice Springs Desert Park. No dogs allowed. It looked a fantastic park too.
Two camel sculptures beside the new Ghan railway line.
A view of part of the town, from the highest point, Anzac Hill lookout. There was another hill, called Billy Goat Hill, once the grazing land of goats, kept I think to provide milk. The water tanks which supplied water to Alice Springs during World War II, were located on the hill.
The Todd River! No water of course. There was water here when the area was chosen as the site for the telegraph station. The water hole was thought to be from a spring. Most of the time the Todd River is just a sandy riverway, lined with gum trees.
A rocky outcrop by the Telegraph Station.
A telegraph station was built here in 1871. It was part of the line of telegraph poles, lines and repeater stations that stretched from Adelaide to Darwin, and which connected Australia to Java and London. Morse code was used to relay messages.
We travelled by car along the initial part of the MacDonnell Ranges, both East and West. As these were part of National Parks we had to leave Piper in the car when we made short walking trips. We also could not take photographs of paintings on the rocks.
The rock formations were stunning.
Although it was overcast, it was still possible to see the colours and layers of rock.
The start of the West MacDonnell ranges. They form many rows of high rocky outcrops. Quite stunning from the air, I would imagine.
The Dreamtime stories tell about the formation of the gaps in the ranges, in that the caterpillars weaved their way through and around the ranges, creating gaps as they went about their journeys.
The original people who lived here were the Aboriginal Arrernte people. They are the traditional custodians of Alice Springs and continue to observe traditional law, look after the country and teach their children Arrernte language and the importance of culture. They tell how the landscape surrounding Alice Springs, including the MacDonnell Ranges, was created by the actions of their ancestors, the caterpillar beings Ayepearenye, Ntyarike and Utnerrengatye.
A huge sculpture of one of the caterpillars.
We were so fortunate to be in the caravan park opposite the Araluen Cultural Precinct and spent much time over there.
There was a large theatre, with stunning coloured windows depicting Aboriginal stories.
Plus an art gallery. A sculpture of a brolga.
Paintings by Albert Namatjira.
We drank excellent coffee on the terrace of the cafe. The gardens were filled with native plants and trees. And surrounding the area were green lawns, a dry creek bed plus a large playground. There was an art and craft workshop with an attached shop where I managed to spend quite a few dollars. Walter also went through the Aviation Museum there.
Sadly we were unable to see everything in Alice Springs such as the School of the Air, Women's Museum of Australia, Old Ghan Museum plus many more places of interest.
Reluctantly we packed up on the Sunday morning, drank our last coffee at the cafe, and set off towards Uluru.
After about ten minutes we found ourselves outside the airport, having continued on the main road, instead of taking the Stuart Highway, which was a slip road slightly to the right.
We were greeted at the airport by hundreds of aeroplanes from countries around the world. No doubt in this vast land there is plenty of room to store aeroplanes until they are needed again, when once again we are free to fly wherever we want to go.
Alice Springs is a definite place to revisit, but perhaps without a dog so that we can visit the national parks.
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