Alice Springs - Adelaide

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Got up early and took a taxi to the airport where I saw the Rolls Royce that was owned by the local airline, it was converted to a Ute and was used to drag logs behind it in order to smooth the ground for a runway, I understand from the locals that this original pioneer is still alive at 93.

I discovered that the taxi driver was called Bob and that he had lived in Alice Springs for 20 years, after discovering that I was interested in classic cars he recommended the Transport Hall of Fame and left me there for one and a half hours. At $12 it was mainly a tribute to all types of transport that helped to build up the outback. It was interesting to read about how the early camel trains were replaced by the road trains and how a lot of these trucks were driven by women, the museum also had some prime examples of early cars and motor bikes such as this Indian.

After an hour and a half I was ready and waiting for Bob who picked me up and drove me to Anzac Hill where I could view the town from above. Bob pointed out many landmarks such as the flying doctors station and the original Alice Springs telegraph station. I voiced my interest in this so we drove there so that Bob could give me the local guided tour. It seems that the telegraph station was built as a repeater station for the Darwin to Adelaide telegraph and that the water that it was built next to was called Alice Springs after the founder Todd’s wife .

Bob then took me into town and took me into the local photography store where there were loads of old Alice Springs and the surrounding outback. He explained that the farmers would employ the aborigines as their wage was only food and housing for their families, it was not until the 1970’s that the aborigines gained their rights and from then they expected to be paid by the farmer. It was at this time many of the aborigines lost their jobs and that many problems such as drinking, drugs, petrol sniffing and incest came to the fore. Recently as a measure to address this the federal government has initiated a drive called “The Intervention”, this has been going for a year and it seems that no drink, drugs and pornography was freely available in the area. With this in mind I said farewell to Bob and wished him all the best, he seemed to be very happy as paid my taxi bill for the morning. Left to my own devices I did some shopping and popped into the opal store to say thanks to the owner for his kindness.

With happy thoughts of Alice Springs and the warm local welcome that I had received, I caught the Gahn and met a few of my fellow passengers heading for Adelaide. When we pulled out of Alice Springs at 15:00, I was really sad to leave as it was such a lovely place. With thoughts of my destination ahead I made my way to the lounge car to watch the outback sunset with a glass of wine in my hand (Oz wine of course).

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Photos

Alice Springs
Rolls Royce Ute

Alice Springs
Outback Transport

Alice Springs
Outback Transport

Alice Springs
Anzac Hill

Alice Springs
Wildlife

Alice Springs
The Original Alice Springs on the Todd River

Alice Springs
Telegraph Station

Alice Springs
Train Station - The Gahn Statue

The Gahn
Train Arriving

The Gahn
Outback Sunsett