Alice Springs

---

Today we flew the two hours from Adelaide to Alice Springs, in the middle of the Outback. It was quite a shock as we left the plane to 102 degree weather. As the humidity was around 30%, it is what we call a "dry heat". Just plain hot.

We started with a tour of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the air flight group that serves the urgent care needs of the entire country of Australia. It was an interesting exhibit that included a video and a museum of the service dating back to the early 1900's.

From there, we traveled to the old telegraph station, the site of the first telegraph relay station in Australia that connected the north to the south. Men were sent out on camels to cut down trees to erect poles. A single cable was then connected to the poles, which ran the length of Australia from North to South. To me, it was the first Australian internet. In Alice Springs, was a relay station necessary due to the fact that the signals could not be carried the complete north to south distance. Men sat in Alice Springs, 24/7, receiving, copying and resending messages covering births, deaths and marriages. These are some of the oldest buildings in Australia in a very desolate area of the country.

This is also very beautiful country, which reminds me of the US Southwest. This year the area has received more rain than in the past 7 years, resulting in a more lush looking topography.

---