Alice Springs, for the first time

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  Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Next stop: Alice Springs. Wow, it doesn't take long for the city to leave your consciousness. After only a few weeks on the road, in small towns and bush campsites, arriving in AS was a bit of a culture shock. Traffic lights (always red; some things never change for Alistair), crowded car parks (though no road rage) and a choice of shops (so many to choose from – like over three!) all combined to drag us back towards being city folk, a concept we had put on hold. However, we had chilled a lot, beginning to adopt the NT code (NT = not today, not tomorrow, not Tuesday, not Thursday mentality).

We were extremely fortunate to be staying with Louise and Rick, Alistair’s step-sister and her husband. They were fantastic hosts, giving us a local’s perspective on the town and also showed us some terrific sites. We were only in town for four days as Wanda had a two-day orientation session for her remote area health placement. We are looking forward to returning for a much longer stay in March, when Wanda will be working at the hospital.

We managed to fall in love very quickly with the town (especially the library – books, books, books!). Other first impressions that have given us a good feeling about the town are the amazing views of raw-rock mountain ranges from nearly where ever you look, a surprisingly green blush to the town (with a lot of native trees planted), a 'just-right’ size to the place – not too big or small. It has what you need, with some choice but not too much, and you can buy sushi :-).

Rick and Lou took us for an amazing afternoon’s adventure, on the Sunday we were in AS. After a challenging drive along parts of the old Stuart highway, the two families arrived at a place called Wigley’s Waterhole, north of AS on the Todd River. Talk about an oasis in the scrub: beautiful mature gum trees over-hanging long waterholes, natural rock weirs, and amazingly warm water (until you went down deep where it was refreshingly cold). The kids had a ball jumping off the bank into the water and the adults enjoyed their activeness while floating in the shallows. It was a fabulous experience, and one that we hope to capture in many places yet to visit: natural bush swimming (with no crocs!) and quietness (apart from the girly screams as they hit the water).  

Other notable activities in AS were hand-feeding rock wallabies, seeing the opening of the Winter Olympics (and watching TV for the first time in ages), catching up with family, reading, getting some mail, and sleeping in a bed that didn’t rock when anyone in either bed moved – one of the novelties of the camper’s suspension!

The camper has done a lot of kilometres, and is behaving itself well when being towed. The rough roads are making her pay though. Lots of fine red dust creeps into the cabin (thank goodness for the dust sheets we put over the beds before we travel) and it is beginning to play havoc with the fridge electrics. We have had a look (oh, so knowledgeably. Not!) and taken out about a kilo of dust from the motor and insides but it still doesn’t work. A trip to the fridge repairers is on the cards on our return to AS. Fortunately we have accommodation booked for a few days on our return, so we can be without our home for a short time. Regular checking/tightening of the wheel nuts and greasing the suspension points are other jobs for Alistair, just like scrapping the crickets off the radiator every time we stop.

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Immi feeds a rock wallaby	Brigid with a mum and joey   Comments!	Wanda at Wigley's, having a cool refreshing swim	No, it's not an airline ad!

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