Blogs from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania

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Arrived in Alice Springs around lunch time on Sunday, the airport was very different to any I have seen before. We found our transfer bus straight away and wasn't very far till we arrived at the hostel. Sorry but this is probably going to be quite a boring blog as we have not done a lot here. Had a 6 hour nap when we got here! Had a lot of sleep to catch up on. I am absolutely covered in bites now and they are really painful! Its so horrible I just feel like I want to remove my skin!!! On Monday we sunbathed by the pool for a while, it is hotter here. Then we went in to town and ended up at a travels agents, booking lots of stuff for the rest of our ... read more

So as usual it’s been a few months since my last blog, it’s becoming a bit of a re-occurring trend now how delayed my blogs are... I could say New Year, new resolution and all that and that I’ll try to blog more often but I’m more of a realist it’s probably just not going to happen but I might try harder! Anyways so I’ve now been in Alice Springs (more commonly just known as “Alice” or “The Alice”) for just over 9months and Doc my housemate/best friend in Alice/original tour-guide who brought me to Alice loves to gloat about this as he always said from the start that I was a “stayer” to which I used to deny. Alice really is a funny little town that many people come to for a visit and end ... read more

To mark the occasion of our hundredth day on the road, we felt like treating you to a retrospective mélange of random curiosities and occasional insights. We will leave our Outback odyssey for the next blogging, once we have made it back to the civilized world. We are now in Alice Springs finding out what a summer in the desert is all about. The idea was to post this on the exact date of the 100th day on the road but due to the Australia Day, the national day of Oz celebrating the landing of the revered First Fleet, all internet cafes are closed today, hence a slight delay. By the bye, for the indigenous people today is known as the Invasion Day, not warranting much to feel festive about. 100 days spent on the road, ... read more

Day 121, 10/01/12 Hired bikes for the afternoon for $20 which gaves us 5 hours. We went to the Telegraph Station where Alice Springs originated from which was quite interesting and then out to the 'Welcome to Alice Springs' sign which is oddly a way out of town but was cool to see. Didn't do much in the evening apart from packed for our flight back to Adelaide tomorrow. Day 122, 11/01/12 Flew to Adelaide and packed for our 41 hour train ride to Perth tomorrow. Probably the simplest day I have had since arriving in Australia... read more

Closer to the surprisingly green and eucalyptus-scented Alice Springs, we enjoyed walking, driving and mountain-biking around the MacDonnell Ranges. There are various gaps in the steep-sided Ranges, some of which we visited to admire the scenery and wildlife. We arrived through one of them, on the Ghan, the legendary train the traverses the continent, from Darwin in the north, on to Adelaide, around 3000km to the south. The trains in Australia are not particularly quick, but they are comfortable, and provide a good opportunity to see the countryside and its remote landmarks and subtle variations up close. Our chaperone and guide around Alice was local policeman Dan, with whom we stayed either side of our camping trip. It was interesting to get his insight into Alice Springs life, a town of about 24,000 people, which has ... read more

Crocs, dingoes, (flaming) galars and other birds, kangaroos, wallabies, sharks, poisonous snakes and spiders, killer jellyfish, bush-tucker, and now, us. A few simple truths are quickly confirmed to us soon after we arrive in the world’s smallest continent. The variety and diversity of wildlife is inescapable; the landscape is bewildering vast; everyone really does say ‘no worries’. It’s also a pleasure to reacquaint ourselves with some ‘first world’ pleasures: fresh milk; wholemeal bread; drinkable tap water; wine; enlightened attitudes to recycling; punctual public transport. Of course, it all comes at first world prices. No more eating out twice a day for us – not that we had much choice in Indonesia. It was a pleasure to be cooking our own food again. We contrarily celebrated our arrival at Alice Springs, the furthest we’ve ever been from ... read more