Alice Springs

AKA “The Alice”

Wednesday
We arrived at 11am, but our room wasn’t ready until 2pm, so we went shopping at the Todd Mall. A lot of things in Alice springs are named after the Todd River, which is a dry riverbed running along the south edge of Alice Springs. We stocked up on bottled water, swam in the hotel pool, and watched Underdog on pay TV.

Thursday
Our first stop was the Alice Springs Desert Park, just outside Alice Springs. This is a really nicely done park showing the outback's habitats and animals. There is a walking tour through the park where you carry an MP3 player and listen to the appropriate talk based on signs along the walk. The park is divided into three outback ecosystems: Desert River, Sand Country, and Woodland. Plus there is a “nocturnal house” where you can see animals that are normally only active at night, such as the Bilby and Mala (almost extinct).


We enjoyed this so much we spent most of the day there. We attended a Bush Tucker talk where an Aboriginal woman described how they could feed themselves in an environment that appears desolate. Unfortunately, the guy that does the hunting talk took the day off.


It was hot, upper 90’s, so we drank a lot of fluids and spent time in their air-conditioned café.

Tara loading up on fluids

We ate dinner at the Outlander Steakhouse. Kate tried the Kangaroo and Emu. But Tara and I had beef steaks.

Kangaroo and Emu dinner

Friday
Good Friday is a major holiday in Australia so most places are shut down. As planned, we drove into the West MacDonnell Range. We missed a turn and ended up 100km off course at Hermannsburg, an Aboriginal community. Australia is big, and not many road signs, so it's easy to get off course and not realize it. This is doubly true in the outback where there aren't many landmarks. I’m glad we were at least sticking to the paved roads!

The Outback

We retraced our steps and got to the Ellery Creek Bighole at about 11:30. Tara and Kate swam across the the swimming hole, which is a very deep, small lake. The water is surprisingly cold for being in the middle of the Outback, but there are cliffs on either side that keep it shaded from the sun’s heat. The water is cold, but still warmer than most Oregon swimming lakes we are used to. Meanwhile, I took a 20 minute walk out on the Dolomite Walk. The MacDonnel Ranges are actually the east and west sides of a former mountain range that has been worn down to almost nothing.


We then drove on to Glen Helen Gorge, another swimming hole. Tara and Kate swam this one also.










That night, we ate Barramundi, a popular (and tasty) Australian freshwater fish.

Saturday
We went on a “Dreamtime and Bush Tucker” tour in the morning. In Aboriginal culture, they focus on today, not yesterday or tomorrow. Dreamtime is how they describe history (legends) and the future (where and when to go for seasonal foods). The Bush Tucker food was: Billy Tea – tea made in a pot over an open fire, Damper Bread made in a dutch oven, Kangaroo tail (only Kate tried it), and a Witchitty Grub. No one on our tour tried THAT! You can check out someone on Youtube eating one.










We also learned to throw non-returning boomerangs. These are about 3 feet long, and have only a short bend in them. They are meant to be thrown at the legs of a kangaroo. Returning boomerangs were invented for sport and to scare up birds and animals.





At the end of this tour, there were four Aborigine women selling their Dreamtime paintings. We bought one about rain and lightning. Note that Aborigine life expectancy is only about 50 years (in the bush it was about 35 years). These women were 52-62, but looked 70-90. Very sharp ladies when you talked to them though.



We flew on to Cairns that afternoon.

Our picture and the artist