Blogs from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 6

We stayed in Alice Springs twice; once upon arrival from the Ghan train on 23.11.15 and again on our return from the Red Centre on 28.11.15. Both were overnight stays and we stayed in the Chifley Resort Hotel on both occasions, booking the second night after being impressed with our stay on the first. It had a pool, restaurant and bar and was spacious and clean. Our second night's stay there was accompanied by loud music from a wedding party into the early hours of the morning so wasn't as good. Serves us right for breaking our own rules about not revisiting the same place! The heat we had travelled half way round the world for finally happened with the temperature reaching 38°C! Lovely. We were surprised that Alice Springs was much bigger than we expected, ... read more

Thursday 5 November continued We arrived at the b&b early afternoon and having rung the owner from the airport we were not expecting anyone there yet, but other guests greeted us on arrival. Lesley the owner arrived shortly after and made us feel very welcome. Pat was tired so lay down and had a rest for the afternoon. The owner was toing and froing and had more guests than rooms so stayed with a friend for the night. A big issue for the Australians at the moment is a volcano eruption which is cancelling flights to and from Bali, some people have been stranded for days. Hopefully we shouldn't have any problems with an internal flight tomorrow. Another early night in bed by 8.00 pm. Friday 6 November Breakfast of fruit, toast and croissants was available ... read more

I should explain that is a long way to Alice Springs, the majority of the time we were driving! The first stop was Charlie from crocodile dundee again, it was also a fuel stop and quick loo break, after 20 min we were back on the road. The next stop was edith falls, where we hiked up a fairly long path to get there. It was really got and when we finally got to the pools it was reliving to get into the cool water. After a bit of a swim we trekked back to the bus to sort out lunch. We had sandwiches again. Then we went down to a smaller pool there were some fish who would bite if you stayed still so we kept moving. All of a sudden there was a snake ... read more

On Sat 16 May we drove back to Alice Springs and booked into the Desert Palms Resort. We were told to keep our door locked at all times and had a nice view of a chain link fence with razor wire on the top which overlooked a piece of barren land. Bit unnerving! I got the impression there was a concern about possibility of hassle from indigenous people in the area. The room was a also a bit basic but there was a TV a Microwave! Tom went for a run and then went shopping for fuel and supplies. However, when trying to pay for fuel he was jostled by some Aborigines at the cash desk who clearly wanted some money. The garage employee had to escort him back to his car. Not a nice experience! ... read more

Well this was a pretty quiet day today. It was a really cold night last night. Apparently its pretty normal for this time of year bit I guess we weren't really expecting it. The caravan park manager said its nothing, it will get to -6 (overnight) in July! The day was about 20 degrees so compared to home its still good, but it was cold in the wind! None the less we still got out and about. Went for a long walk into the town centre. It wasn't so easy to figure out the 'centre' itself. Eventually we found the Todd Mall, which seemed to be where it was at. We went to the information centre to get some information about Uluru and Kings canyon. Took the opportunity to use the free wifi to update the ... read more