Blogs from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 2

We set out from Uluru about 8-30am, and headed back to the Stuart Highway so we could proceed to Alice Springs. We checked our predicted petrol range on the car dashboard and decided we could make it to Erldunda, or if not, there was the Mount Ebenezeer Roadhouse marked on our map. It was a beautiful sunny day and listening to You only Live Twice, we sped along, finding the going easy. We passed the Curtin Springs roadhouse, still confident, but as we neared Mt Ebenezeer, we noticed that the fuel consumption was more than we had expected. We decided we would need to fill up there. However, when we reached this spot we found a derelict roadhouse and no fuel pumps.We stopped and looked around. Fletcher spoke to a fellow traveller in a motor home ... read more

Southbound to Telegraph station - Alice Springs Started my first day heading South around 9:00 A.M. (since I left Townsville for my Westward Ho 3 days ago). My first goal for the day was to find a suitable place to dress up an Ant Hill with my Rideabout Oz 2018 official tee shirt. Because the road is so narrow I had to find a spot where I could safely pull over off the road. Another car had pulled over at one spot so I decided to go for it. I pulled up next to an Ant hill with enough girth to display my logo. One of the occupants of the car next to me came over and introduced himself. His name was Marcus, Marcus was from Stuttgart Germany. He saw what I was doing and asked ... read more

I visited the Reptile Center here in Alice Springs - it isn't very big but its got the 'Right Stuff'. I saw two different exhibit shows one on their prized Saltwater Crocodile named "Terry" as well as, a lizard and snake show and tell. Before the shows I was able to tour the reptiles on exhibit throughout the place and while not very big the cast was deadly interesting. The deadliest snake in the place rose up to give me an eye to eye stare down (He won)- The mighty Coastal Taipan. I enjoyed the saltwater crocodile show the best because the guy giving the talk was so cocky I found myself rooting for Terry the Salty. However, the guy knew his stuff and probably said 10 times when in Darwin and the north just don't ... read more

After our epic 3-day journey around the Red Centre, we had some time before we were due to arrive in Brisbane for our next long-term housesit. I had arranged through the website HelpX, to stay with a local woman who was generous enough to house and feed us for nine days. This was a really special part of our trip and cemented the fact that for me, Alice Springs has been my favourite place to visit so far. Margo, our host, is a really interesting, fantastic woman. She is a community worker who regularly finds herself out in the remote areas of the Norther Territory, supporting Indigenous associations and community programs. For the duration of our stay, she was based in her home office in Alice Springs, so we got the chance to enjoy Australian wine ... read more

Blog 7 Alice Springs - March 16, 2018 – Weather forecast: bright sunny skies, daytime temperature of 35°C, overnight temperature of 19°C Today we had another early start so that we could take part in an Aboriginal Cultural Talk. We drove across the city to an area near the airport where a group of aboriginal people had gathered, and Colin from Aboriginal Dreamtime & Bushtucker Tours gave us a presentation, under a pavilion that provided some shade but no protection from the pesky flies. Fly nets were the fashion statement for the day. He first spoke on a wide range of topics including: the origins of these people (DNA testing relates them to South East India and Sri Lanka); how they are thought to have come to Australia 40,000 years ago (that time frame has recently ... read more