Advertisement
Published: November 15th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Alice Springs
A view from Meyers Hill So here I am in Alice Springs for a couple of days before heading off to Uluru/ Ayers Rock.
I arrived at Haven Backpackers, and my first thought was that I was way out from the city centre. It turns out that I am actually still only about 15 minutes walk away from almost everything. This place is a million miles away from Perth and Adelaide! It has a very still and dusty feel to it, and I saw far fewer people on the streets, in fact in places it felt almost like a ghost town. The buildings are all low rise and are quite spaced out with wide roads, all contributing to a feeling that you are not really in a city at all. It took me a while to realise I was pretty central!
After settling in I took a walk to see what this city way out in the Outback has to offer. Having been to the South Australia Museum the previous day I wasn't feeling much like doing another so I ended up at the Reptile Centre. This wasn't my specific plan but I saw the signpost and decided to follow it, and two seconds
Wild wallaby
He hopped away as fast as possible a second later later I was there. It was a small but pretty good place, with (surprise, surprise) a variety of Australian reptiles- snakes (yes, including lethal ones), turtles, various lizards including skinks, goannas (still unclear as to the difference) and several different exhibits of the bearded lizard, as well as Terry, a 3m long Saltie (as saltwater crocodiles are known as). I had finished wandering around looking at all the scaly creatures on display and was going towards the exit when I nearly tripped over Frank, the resident tame Spencer's Goanna. Continuing on my way to the next room there was a big bloody snake wandering loose! It turns out that just as I was leaving the staff were starting to feed some of the animals, so me and a couple of other people tagged along to watch. It was a little freaky when he opened the tank containing the Death Adder and stuck his hand in. With a name like that it can't be good for you. We also went back to see the crocodile which when I first saw it wasn't sitting in the most easily visible place. The guy just started calling out to it 'come on, come on,
Snake!
Just wandering across the floor come on' and it did indeed move nearer so we could get a better view. I never knew crocodiles responded to commands just like dogs. So after that I was again intending to leave, but a tour group turned up with a pre-planned show, so I stuck around and watched that, got told a bit about the animals and held one of them (a Sleepy Skink called Hooch).
Eventually I left, having stayed rather longer than I expected, and decided to go on to the Royal Flying Doctors Service just across the road. I nearly didn't go in since there was no-one at reception and there was a bunch of people waiting who soon left, having grown impatient. I was actually looking through the Lonely Planet for an alternative idea when the receptionist turned up and took me through. The first thing was a ten minute video giving some background info about the Flying Doctors, which ended in a a bit of a plea for donations, as the service is partially funded by the Australian government. Next up was a look at the operations room where planes are sent off with a nurse and possibly a doctor to deal with medical emergencies arising (although these days the service also operates between major cities ferrying patients vast distances to the location where the best treatment can be given). I was also intrigued by the map of the Northern Territory which had a map of the UK superimposed on part of it. It was really scary seeing how snugly my entire nation fits into the Outback, with plenty of room to spare. There was also a small museum showing, for example, models of the aircraft used and a mock-up of the emergency rooms they set up inside the planes. The cafe had really tasty cup cakes.
After all that I realised that I still had about two hours left until any kind of sensible eating time so I wound my over to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. Now I realise that I might be appearing to be a wee bit obsessed by Botanical Gardens, this being my third one so far. Really I just thought I would stick my nose in until dinner time and the main draw was that there was a hill (Meyers Hill) which allegedly had good views over Alice Springs. I made my way over to that and did the short climb (it isn't that much of a hill), there were indeed good views over the city, and also what there was was real, honest-to-goodness, proper, non-exhibited-for-your-benefit, wild wallabies! Yay! I'm pretty pleased about that, although they were skittish and didn't pose for me so I got one photo- which I don't think is all that great. Another unexpected wildlife bonus- I noticed some rustling in the bushes. Trying to see what it, and suddenly a small lizard shot out from the bushes at high speed. Just as suddenly an eagle swooped down out of nowhere and snatched the poor lizard up! I feel a bit guilty about that.
But anyway, after some further wandering around the gardens I then went off to find some dinner and had an expensive but tasty camel steak. I had better sign off now- I'm not sure how an afternoon in Alice Springs has produced possibly my longest entry so far!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0482s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Bungy
non-member comment
Great Read
Enjoyed ypour latest entyry. No idea what some of the local animals are though, like skink and goannas! Must look them up! Safe journey through the desert!