A Town Like Alice (with apologies to Nevil Shute)
After 3 days on the Stuart Highway we have arrived in Alice Springs. It was a good trip although the bus seats got a bit hard towards the end. We were with a good group of fellow travellers from all the place – Japan, Germany, France, England etc. We had a very early start from Darwin (5.30am) and stopped for brekky at a pub where they have the water buffalo that was in “Crocodile Dundee” stuffed in the bar. After that we headed for Katherine where we spent the first night. We arrived at lunchtime and during the pm we hired canoes and had three hours paddling down Katherine Gorge. There were crocodile nesting sites along the banks but they were freshwater crocs rather than saltwater ones so they don’t eat people. We had a swim (the water was really warm) before paddling back down river to the boat place. The gorge was very picturesque with red rocky sides and sandy beaches.
We had a big camp fire after dinner and you could sleep out under the stars in a swag which is similar to a bivvy but has a nice thick mattress inside. The stars here are, of course, all different to the ones at home. The next day we were up at 5.30am again while it was still dark for departure at 6.30am. Our first stop was Mataranka where there are hot springs so we wallowed about there for a while before heading off for lunch ( a few hundred km later) at Daly Waters. Daly Waters has a very interesting history and was a big airforce base during the WW2. It also had the first international airport in Oz. Now it is just a pub! Well, not just a pub, a very nice pub. Anywhere serving cold drinks out here is wonderful. Then back in the bus and off to Tennant Creek for our second night out under the stars. We had a lie in the next day (up at 6am!). The highlight of the day was a visit to the Devil’s Marbles which are huge round granite boulders all piled up on top of each other in the desert. Really bizarre. Katie did a bit of bouldering but it was a bit challenging in sandals. We then visited the UFO hotspot of Oz at a place called Wycliffe Well. They have had loads of sightings of UFOs there though some of the photos looked very suspicious to me. We arrived at Alice Springs in the late afternoon yesterday. It is quite a big place by NT standards (population 30k). We had dinner last night with the group (camel pie!) as they were all heading out to Uluru this morning and we are not going til tomorrow.
Today we have been to Alice Springs Desert Park and learned all about the desert environments and the plants and animals. Some really cool kangaroos and nocturnal beasties.
Off early again tomorrow bound for Uluru. Will be back on line when we get back to Darwin next Weds probably.
kt_m_white
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Hi Ann and Katy,
Your travel accounts continue to be really interesting.
I went to a talk given annually in our village hall by a chap called John Pilkington an ardent traveller like yourselves who loves walking and gets off the tourist routes on occasion.He is a frequent guest on radio 4 to talk about his journeys. He spoke about his trips since 1979 to Patagonia this time and he writes about his travels. His publications appear to sell well. I thought of you. You certainly have some really good material so far. So how about it?
We have had a couple of mini holidays this summer, the last was to the Normandy peninsula including a trip to see the Bayeux tapistry which was remarkable.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your visit to aussie.
Thanks for including me in your blog it’s great.
Love Linda
September 24th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Hi Linda
Nice to hear from you. Glad you are having a good summer too. It is difficult to find time to think about anything other than the next day at the moment but we are toying with the idea of writing an article or two – one day.