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Published: July 23rd 2007
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I had no transportation organized out of Uluru, I just figured I would take the Greyhound Bus to Alice. But the day I was to leave, Saturday, the bus doesn't run. What to do? I asked the woman as the tour desk and she gave me the number to APT tours and I phoned. I got a bus, as part of the return journey of a tour group, to Alice Springs. The tourism industry seems so much more organized and thorough here in Australia than in North America. I don't claim to be an expert in tourism, but from what I've seen, Australia works a lot harder for its tourists than we do in North America. There are so many day trip options, and longer tours available.
Alice Springs is a town of about 20 000 in the middle of the semi arid zone of the near geographic centre of Australia. The Todd River runs through the town, it's a dry river bed almost alll the time. If you've seen water in the river you're lucky. If you've seen water twice you're a regular. If you've seen water three times you're a local. It's bone dry, only inhabited by the
Aborigines. Sadly the Aborigines walk about town all day with nothing to do.
Yesterday, I went to the Alice Springs Desert Park. It's a zoo / park dedicated to explaining the flora and fauna of the desert zone. They have emus and kangaroos. But also many birds in the various avaries. I saw my first budgies, and the Splendid Fairy Wren, an iridescent blue. Also, they had a bird of prey show. Exciting to watch these birds, the kite, the buzzard, the eagle, and falcon hunt. I also saw a Thorny Devil, a lizard. But also the park explains the different fauna. The area is actually classified as semi arid, there is rain here, especially when storms blow into the north, either Cairns, Darwin or from Broome.
My first night in Alice I saw a didgeridoo show. For the first half of the 90 minute show the three performers played. One on the didge, one on the drums and another on percussion. Westernized Australian didgeridoo music, for the tourists. Not performed by Aborigines. The second half of the show was interactive. We all played percussion for one piece. At the end of the show we could try the
didge. So I did. Buzzing through the lips, I made the sounds. But it's difficult. To get it right, your lips are the reed while you blow through the pipe, don't just blow through, but buzz your lips. And to make the continuous noise you have to master continuous breathing. Some musicians of western music learn this, Kenny G is one. You breath in and out through your nose to get air while you continuously blow out through the mouth. Sounds tough, and it is. All I could do was buzz for about 5 seconds and the sound died.
But what an Australian trip: so far I have fed the kangaroos, cruised with the crocs, petted a Koala, played the didge and walked around Uluru. And the most important local custom: had a beer. Good on ya mate.
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