Alice in Wonderland

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Alice Springs has always been somewhere I wanted to see. When I was little, I used to love the old TV shows like “The Flying Doctor” and of course, “A Town like Alice”. Usually the problem with having a romantic notion of a destination is that it never quite lives up to expectation. In the case of Alice Springs I feared that would be the case when I first arrived, however by the time I left I was captivated by the harsh rugged landscape and marvelling at the stunning scenery.

With a small population of around 25,000 residents, the town centre is fairly small. From my hotel, it was around a twenty minute walk to town, along the bank of the Todd River. This sounds very scenic and pretty, however at this time of year is completely dry, so it was like walking along the sand dunes. In a couple of weeks they have the annual “Henley on Todd”, a boat regatta which sounds like a lot of fun. Competitors in bottomless boats –“eights", "oxford tubs", "bath tubs" and “yachts” – race up the river bed competing for the cup. It would be hot and hard work in the dry sand of the river bed, but I’m sure there’s a great party to be had at the end.

On my first afternoon I had a look around the Alice shopping centre. Over represented with touristy knick knack shops and tour guide operators I was keen to look at some aboriginal art. This was not a challenge at all, with a cluster of art galleries handily located next to the tour guide operators. I was fortunate to meet one of the gallery managers, who was extremely knowledgeable about the artists, the different communities and the different stories and how they are represented in the paintings. It was a little bit like private art history tuition. Clever woman could sniff a potential sale a mile away, and after an hour or so I walked away with a gorgeous piece of art by George Ward Tjungurrayi, winner of the Wynne Prize in 2004. For the winner of a prestigious art prize, it was ridiculously cheap.

I then had a morning free before my flight back to Sydney. Top of the list was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctors. There's a museum/information centre in Alice Springs, and I had high hopes, with memories of the tv show fresh(ish) in my mind...so imagine my disappointment when I discovered that it was closed! My taxi driver clearly thought this was a blessing in disguise and strongly recommended the Reptile Centre, in fact he recommended it so strongly that he took me straight there. I must have screwed up my nose at this, because he assured me it was well worth the visit. "The thorny devil is my favourite," he said, "in fact I go there just to look at him, he's amazing".

The taxi driver wasn't altogether wrong, it was a fascinating place, although I didn't altogether enjoy viewing all those venomous snakes that live here in Australia. It was heartening to read that usually these snakes aren't aggressive and don't attack first. The real positive was that in a few hours I would be heading back to the city, where people definitely outnumber the snakes. I must be a very bad person as I kept imaging the snakes as handbags.

There were some really interesting other reptiles, like the frill necked lizard, a salt water croc, and mr taxi driver's favourite, the thorny devil, which was pretty impressive to be honest. He obviously knew of his popularity because photographing him was like photographing a model - he turned to show me his best side wherever I was taking my photo from.

Across the road from the Reptile Centre is the National Pioneer Womens Hall of Fame, which in honesty I visited to fill in a bit of time. In truth it was actually very interesting and I ran out of time to see it all properly. I had to be back at the hotel, ready for my pick up to the airport, where I had booked a helicopter trip.

With limited time, I was keen to get up in the air to get a better sense of the landscape and surrounding area around Alice. I was picked up by Carl, an Irish guy who arrived in Alice Springs with his backpack over a year ago, liked it so learnt to fly a helicopter and stayed. I do wish he hadn't told me that! Getting into the tiny Robinson R22 (think of a couple of rickety chairs strapped together and wrapped in a giant plastic bubble) I couldn't help but wonder if I was wise to put my life in the hands of an Irish backpacker! However it was all great, and I absolutely loved sweeping up the ranges and admiring the incredible scenery - an absolutely fantastic experience and a great finish to a fantastic three day weekend.

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Photos

About to board the Robinson R22
This thing was tiny. Imagine two rickety chairs side by side wrapped in a giant plastic bubble.

A thorny devil
I think this is what he was called. Whatever he is, he was quite the show pony and wherever I moved to, made sure he was showing me his good side.

A master of disguise
Can't remember what this snake was called but one of the most venomous in the wworld.

Red earth
Looking down at the Desert Park.

A town like Alice
Sorry....couldn't resist!

Todd River
The large trail of brown dirt is where the river Todd runs....once or twice a year.

Comments

[Dancing Dave]

ALICE BY AIR
Gotta say central Oz by helicopter...way to go...I've gotta do it one day!

[RJT]

It was awesome! And gave me a much better appreciation for the scenery, which is stunning.