It's very dry in The Alice.

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This morning we farewelled Yulara and continued our journey north to Alice Springs. It was a lovely sunny day with the wind picking up in the afternoon. We stopped for lunch in the shade of the roadhouse at Stuarts Well. Apparently Stuarts Well is famous for Dingley the Singing (and piano playing) Dingo, according to the information board. We chose not to pursue it.
As we got closer to Alice Springs half the road was closed due to a semitrailer carrying a shipping container loosing its back wheels. It didn’t appear as though anybody had been injured, but the consequences could have been disastrous. The speed limit on the highways up here is one hundred and thirty kilometres an hour. Considerably faster than the ninety kilometres an hour we travel at with the van.
Leaving the desert country of Yulara, our journey took us through treed landscape with rocky outcrops. It really wasn’t what we were expecting up here. One of the rivers we crossed even had a little water in it. More waterholes than flowing water, but water none the less.
The town of Alice Springs was also not as expected. To be honest, I don’t really know what we expected. What we found was a well laid out town with clean, tree lined streets. Fuel is about twenty-five cents per litre cheaper than what we have been paying over the last few days. I am sure it will be dearer again at our next stop.
The laws in The Northern Territory relating to alcohol are a little difficult to work out. At Yulara, all guests needed to have a permit for the purchase of alcohol, even in restaurants. In Alice Springs today, being Sunday, all bottle shops are closed. Yet we passed a Service Station on the outskirts of town, which sold alcohol. Very odd indeed.
We had barbequed kangaroo for dinner tonight. From the supermarket not road kill. Interesting that we haven’t seen any live roos in our travels. There are many littering the side of the highway providing a good food source for eagles and other scavengers.
We are only having an overnight stop in Alice Springs. Tomorrow we are aiming for The Devils Marbles.

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