Alice Springs

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It was time to move on to Alice Springs where we were meeting Toby today. The flight wasn’t until 10am today, but the only shuttle bus that would get us to the airport in time was leaving our resort at 8am so it was another early rise today.

We had a jolly shuttle bus driver, or captain as he preferred to be called! On the way to the airport provided commentary on pretty much anything and everything we passed. But it was only a 10minute journey to the airport so we were soon off the bus! It is only a very small airport so check in and security was very quick and easy and we were soon in the departures lounge enjoying a coffee whilst we waited for our flight. It was a short journey in the sky, only 50minutes to Alice Springs.

On the walk into the airport we encountered some of the local wildlife – procession caterpillars who follow each other nose to tail in a line, which was very strange to see. Toby was flying from Sydney to Alice Springs and his flight arrived shortly after us so we waited in the airport for Toby to land before catching a taxi to our hostel in town. Alice Springs has a reputation for being a bit rough in areas and they have a strong alcohol problem amongst the locals which the taxi driver warned us about on the drive in to town. We checked in to our hostel and had dropped off our bags before heading out to explore Alice Springs. It is only a small town, although still the largest town around for thousands of miles since it’s in the middle of the dessert. We walked along the main high street and across to the reptile centre where we went in to have a look around. As we walked in we were greeted by the receptionist who was ‘wearing’ a python as if it was a back pack! We had the opportunity to hold the python ourselves but Jo politely declined and walked the opposite way in to the nocturnal section of the centre. There was a variety of snakes and lizards on display as well as one special Goanna named Frank who was allowed to roam freely around the centre and had chosen a sunny spot next to the door to bask in the sunlight coming in through the window. The outdoor section of the centre had some of the larger lizards as well as a salt water crocodile who had been rescued from Darwin Harbour.

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