Blogs from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 4

Hi all, today is our second full day in Alice. We decided it was time to go and find the famous waterholes. But before we could do that we needed the obligatory McDonalds coffee and cake. Headed off on a 90km drive to find the Ellery Creek Big Hole. It is a spectacular waterhole fed by the Ellery River. It is not running at the moment but you can see the signs of the floods meters above the current level. The river cuts through the MacDonnell Ranges and no doubt it has taken millions of years to cut out this gorge in the mountains. The Terran is rugged and unforgiving and the bird wildlife was abundant. I wanted to bring one of the local Quails home. Even though the scenery was spectacular we found a significant ... read more

Another week has quickly slipped by since I last wrote a blog. Time seems to mean very little out here though which is just wonderful. Each morning I have to concentrate very hard to work out what day of the week it is. We have now been in Alice Springs for 6 nights and tomorrow we will set off out into the West McDonnell Ranges. But I am jumping ahead too quickly. Our last day at Uluru was as hectic as the previous two, with the exception that we did not rise at the crack of dawn, but had a more leisurely start to our day. So much so that we were almost late for the 10am start of the ranger led Marla Walk. However we made it and it was absolutely wonderful. The walk lasted ... read more

We got an early start because we had to make up some time. Tonight, according to the spreadsheet we should be at Tobermorey Station, but instead we were aiming for Jervois Station (about 250km short). We had to stop off in Alice Springs to get gas, wood and a digital air pressure gauge (and some food and alcohol). It's clear why they call Alice Springs the New York of the Centre. In the Woolies carpark there were a bunch of black guys listening to hip hop. After the guy at Cellarbrations wouldn't serve us in Coober Pedy we were starting to run low on wine (plenty of Asahi though). In Alice Springs liquor stores don't open until 2pm and then only when the police turn up to stand outside. I have to confess I find this ... read more

Today we explored the area around Alice Springs, in the Outback of Australia. We started with as visit to the Desert Park, a preserve featuring many vistas and animals that make up the area. This country reminds me of southern Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, and northern Mexico. While this is desert country, the area has received much rainfall and is very green, compared to the dry, brown that is typical of this time of year. In fact, our visits were interrupted by a significant storm that cut our outdoor activities short, but brought much relief from the heat. The Desert Park had a very interesting bird show highlighting many of the special birds from around the country side. I have published several pictures from my visit today. Later, we visited School of the Air, a ... read more

Geo: -23.7004, 133.881Hello from Alice SpringsWell here we are back in the Alice so we have officially done a lap of the western half of Australia.We left Broome on 5th Aug and travelled to Derby (222Km) and stayed at the Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park where we had the largest site since leaving home, could have parked two of us on it.Visited the Prison Boab Tree which is reputed as being used to house aboriginal prisoners just outside of Derby. Visited an Art and Culture centre and the local Art Galleries to check out the paintings and Boab Carvings.Saturday night we attended the Mud Crab Races held at the fishing club where you could purchase and name your own mud crab. The announcer was hilarious picking on everyone for the name they had given their crab and ... read more