I'm doing a 6-day tour now -- it's nothing like the tour that I did in Tasmania. This is like 6 separate day tours -- different buses / tour guides / people every day. Only 2 lunches included -- and people staying at different hotels. It will be interesting to see how this compares to the Tassie tour (we were very spoiled on that tour -- wake-up calls set for us -- luggage picked up directly from our rooms (and dropped off at our rooms)).
First tour started in the afternoon -- so after checking into the hotel -- I walked into town and did a bit of shopping. Nice fabric store and some really nice Aboriginal art stores.
Alice Springs has a population of around 28,000 people -- it's the 3rd largest city in the Northern Territory and is pretty much in the middle of the country (931 miles from Darwin & 952 miles from Adelaide). About 20% of the population is Indigenous people (I found out today that it's no longer correct to use "Aboriginal") -- with a lot more Indigenous people coming in from all over the region to use the town's services. There are a lot of problems in the town with the Indigenous population -- high-level of alcoholism / drug use & crime. Everyone warns you not to walk into town at night (about a 5 minute walk from my hotel) -- and especially not to cross the Todd River at night (which is right next to the hotel). Not sure if it's really unsafe -- but have no desire to find out (and fortunately the hotel has a really good restaurant).
Australia is an interesting country / continent --- 90% of the population lives along the southern and eastern coast (in about 30% of the country's land mass). The other 70% is known as the Outback -- vast area, mostly desert, not many people -- 2.5 million sq. miles inhabited by about 600,000 people.
Most of the afternoon's tour was about how Australians have figured out how to survive in the Outback:
Weather: mostly sunny, 57 - 80F
Miles Walked: 4.5
Book/s Read: One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming. 7th book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne series. I've decided to read the series straight through (well I started a little off by reading the last one (#8) first). Series is now finished!
Pic Notes:
First tour started in the afternoon -- so after checking into the hotel -- I walked into town and did a bit of shopping. Nice fabric store and some really nice Aboriginal art stores.
Alice Springs has a population of around 28,000 people -- it's the 3rd largest city in the Northern Territory and is pretty much in the middle of the country (931 miles from Darwin & 952 miles from Adelaide). About 20% of the population is Indigenous people (I found out today that it's no longer correct to use "Aboriginal") -- with a lot more Indigenous people coming in from all over the region to use the town's services. There are a lot of problems in the town with the Indigenous population -- high-level of alcoholism / drug use & crime. Everyone warns you not to walk into town at night (about a 5 minute walk from my hotel) -- and especially not to cross the Todd River at night (which is right next to the hotel). Not sure if it's really unsafe -- but have no desire to find out (and fortunately the hotel has a really good restaurant).
Australia is an interesting country / continent --- 90% of the population lives along the southern and eastern coast (in about 30% of the country's land mass). The other 70% is known as the Outback -- vast area, mostly desert, not many people -- 2.5 million sq. miles inhabited by about 600,000 people.
Most of the afternoon's tour was about how Australians have figured out how to survive in the Outback:
- Alice Springs School of the Air: correspondence school for children living in remote areas (cattle stations, national parks, etc.). When they started (in 1951) -- they used the Royal Flying Doctor Service radio to broadcast lessons. Now they do it all on the internet via satellite. The government pays for the equipment installation ($10 - 15,000). The Alice Spring school currently has 124 students & 9 teachers. Everyone meets up in Alice Springs 4x a year.
- Telegraph Station: established in 1872 to relay messages between Darwin & Adelaide. Original site of the first European settlement in Alice Springs. Just think -- before Australia had the Overland Telegraph Line, it could take up to 3 years for an Australian to communicate with someone outside of Australia (to send a letter and receive a response).
- Royal Flying Doctor Services: started by the Rev John Flynn in 1928 to provide medical services to people living in remote areas of Australia. Before the RFDS, there were just 2 doctors providing medical care to people in the Outback. Today, they have a fleet of 63 aircraft operating from 21 bases located across Australia -- and they provide medical assistance to over 290,000 people every year.
- Reptile Centre: the guy who runs this place was very entertaining. He gave us a very informative talk about how to avoid / survive snake bites in Australia (the home to millions of very venomous snakes). Key takeaways --- wear long pants and shoes when walking in the bush -- Australian snakes have tiny fangs. Don't move if you see a snake -- they can't see very well -- and they can't sense heat (unlike snakes everywhere else in the world). If you do get bitten -- wrap arm/leg in an ace bandage and get to the hospital (working from the outer extremity in). Australia is the only place in the world where the hospitals have snake venom testing kits -- so they can quickly figure out what you've been bitten by -- and give you the appropriate anti-venom.
- ANZAC Hill (WWI memorial)
Miles Walked: 4.5
Book/s Read: One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming. 7th book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne series. I've decided to read the series straight through (well I started a little off by reading the last one (#8) first). Series is now finished!
Pic Notes:
- 1 - 2: Todd River -- they've had an unusual amount of rain over the past 5 days -- lots of tours were cancelled here and in Uluru / Ayer's Rock because of the rain --- glad I wasn't here! The Todd River is usually a dry river (lots of water here -- but it mostly runs underground) -- they haven't seen water running the river for over 2 years (well not until this week).
- 3 - 4: Galah - one of the most common and widespread cockatoos in Australia -- can be found in open country in almost all parts of the mainland
- 5: Pretty park in town
- 6: sidewalk Aboriginal art
- 8 - 9: School of the Air
- 10 - 14: Telegraph Station
- 17 - 19: Royal Flying Doctor Service
- 18: real-time map of their plane locations
- 21: Yellow-Throated Miner (I think)
- 22: Crested Pigeon
- 23 - 24: Reptile Centre
- 25 - 27: ANZAC Hill
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