Alice to Sydney

The morning of our last day in the outback, we walked into town, crossing the dry, sandy Todd River right in the middle somewhere (meaning we didn't use one of the bridges) and had a wander around.














We visited the Royal Flying Doctor Services, and some of the heritage buildings. http://www.flyingdoctor.net/

We took a taxi to the airport and discovered that the Alice Springs airport is one of those lovely, friendly airports where, once you've checked in, you can sit outside with a cappuccino and watch the airplanes, not that there are very many, though. Then proceed out onto the runway and up a set of stairs to board the plane. It reminded me of travelling in the early 70's when that was the only way to board a plane, and just feeling the excitement of walking out onto the runway, smelling the diesel, and seeing the huge jet in front of you, and the thrill of climbing those stairs, and ultimately, arriving at a much-anticipated destination.















Anyway, we had a very nice flight, Qantas this time as none of the discount carriers flies to Alice, then hopped on the train to John's sister's house.

A Town Called Alice

Our last stop on our winter holiday was Alice Springs. On our way there we saw some wild camels and horses, and stopped at a roadhouse at Stuart Wells Spring to see Dinky the Singing Dingo. This is a dingo (one of Australia's wild dogs) that has been domesticated since he was a pup, and has the talent to play the piano and sing along to someone else playing the piano. The dingo jumps up onto the keyboard and will howl along with the piano player, and if no one is playing he will bang the keys by himself and howl along. It's one of those things you just have to stop and see!


http://www.australiantraveller.com/index.cfm?page_id=1234
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpO5yZ71BNE

Alice Springs was a very nice town, bigger than I thought, and located in the midst of the very scenic MacDonnell Ranges. This was our last night in the camper van, I think we were all looking forward to a hotel room with an ensuite for the last night of our holiday! In the morning we headed west through the ranges to the Alice Springs Desert Park, which was a beautifully laid out wilderness park. There were a few indoor displays, and many out of doors, and the park was divided into the four main desert environs with the associated animals. We were able to see a demonstration on birds of prey, then wander around the park on our own. There were a few bird enclosures where we were able to walk through and see the birds all around us. We must have spent four hours there and the time just flew by.

http://www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au/

We drove out further west and had our lunch at Simpson's Gap, where there is a water hole at a narrow gap in the ranges. The rest of the corresponding river was a sandy riverbed, so we had fun just running around on the sand.














































We stopped at Anzac Hill when we got back to town and had a look from the top; it's one of the highest points in the town, and the views are spectacular.






We had to return the campervan that afternoon, so after checking in at the hotel, John dropped us off at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Precinct, while he drove to the Britz office and he would walk back to the station to meet us. We got there in time for a tour, which was very interesting. The telegraph station is the site of the first settlement in Alice Springs, and features the original buildings and equipment of the telegraph station built in 1871. The townsite itself was surveyed in 1880. The town is named after the Alice Spring permanent waterhole, which was named after Alice Todd, the wife of the telegraph line's construction manager. John turned up halfway through the tour, and at the end we all walked back to Alice Springs along the Todd River (dry, sandy riverbed), about 4 km.


http://www.wilmap.com.au/atts/138.html

Kings Canyon

After a couple of days at Uluru, we had to be on our way, and drove to Kings Canyon, about 150 km north of the highway to Uluru.

The campsite here was one of the nicest so far, and we managed to arrive in time to do the walk up and around the top of canyon. This was another long walk, but a bit of persuasion for our youngest, in the way of chocolate, helped the proceedings immensely. It was actually a very fun walk, with lots of spectacular scenery and chances to peer over the edge into the canyon below. We had some Canadian fun again and built a little inukshuk. There were lots of rock piles, so we just added to them.

Sunrise at Uluru

Up early on the morning of 14 July, and it was cold! We had another beautiful day in the desert for a fantastic view of the rock:

Ivan Bandur, 1965-2008

It is with sadness that we have to tell you all that our teaching exchange partner, Ivan Bandur, passed away suddenly on Sunday, 27 July while on vacation in Croatia with his family. We know he is greatly missed by his family and friends everywhere. His wife and children have returned to Australia, and we will be staying on to finish the exchange.

Sunset at Uluru

Check this out, 13 July, 2008.

Uluru

We spent the day in and around Uluru on Saturday, 12 July. The weather was beautiful again, as it's been in the desert so far - sunny, blue skies. We walked some trails up to and along parts of the rock, just revelling in the splendour of it.
Bill Bryson is an author that writes very witty books about his travels, often finding the funny and obscure in anything and everything. But I found that in his book on Australia ("In a Sunburnt Country"), he was virtually tongue-tied when it came to Uluru. He was talking about the fact that Uluru is very far from anywhere. He and a friend were going there from Alice Springs, and here's the quote, his travelling companion was speaking: "Well, I suppose we'd better go and see if this bloody rock is worth a 600-mile round trip." All Bill has to say is, "It was."


















We spent part of the morning exploring a rock formation not too far from Uluru, called the Olgas, although the Aboriginal name is Kata Tjuta (means Many Heads). There was a 7.4 walk around one of these cones of rock, and that proved to be a wonderful walk. We had to bribe the girls with chocolate on occasion to keep them going, but we had fun and even built a little inukshuk, just to leave something Canadian behind (you have to look closely in the picture to see it).