Lasseters Hotel And Casino Alice Springs

... compared to the Outback. The entire country is a little bigger than the Lower 48 but it's population only compares to the size of metro Los Angeles. Just about all Aussies smartly live on a coast, so that leaves the middle to the kangaroos, termites, some amazingly tough people and whatever else dares to survive in this vast expanse. Really there's not a whole lot of anything going on but termite mounds.

The Ghan is celebrating its 80th ...

... area is now off limits to the general public, and Alice Wanderer has exclusive rights to this area of the reserve.

Soon after we arrive at ranger’s station and were greeted by Ricky Orr, a traditional custodian of the area. Over a delicious lunch of cold meats and salads, plus billy tea, Ricky explained his family’s connection with the land, and about the cultural values of the area.

After lunch we continued onto the site which the Southern ...

... the park water we met boating friends who were sailing their catamaran across too so we all hitched a lift – do you hitch lifts on boats? That was great fun especially the bit where the tender taking us to shore got hit by a big wave and we got drenched – luckily the picnic was saved. We dried out fairly quickly and enjoyed the walk, taking in some aboriginal rock carvings on the way. And then a quiet night in as I had a very early flight next day –destination Alice ...

... boulders almost glowed. We were as close to the centre of Australia as we will get on this trip.


We will have to do Ulura (Ayres Rock), Alice Springs and surrounding areas on another trip, as we are running out of time. We went back through Tennant Creek and did a short detour to Daly Waters Pub which is set in the middle of nowhere – a real outback pub. There is nothing around this place for hundreds of miles.


Next stop heading North is ...

... we stopped during the day because they say at night it is pretty unbelievable. Since it's the only thing for miles every hiker, camper, biker, etc. stops there at ...

... but i forget this now. I was distracted by the lifelike manikin.
Everything about this place was FANTASTIC!!! So so bad! You could even buy The Story of Opal at the gift shop at end for a minor $25 on VCR - its apparently won awards too! It was so hard not to, but I compromised with a fridge magnet displaying a classic underground lounge - cow print chairs, doiley upon a glass table, big tv, bear skin rug...... style!

(From an email ...

... Australien...

... als wir nachts in Darwin ankommen, schlafen wir uns erstmal am Flughafen aus (und das erstaunlich gut) bis wir uns auf Erkundungstour begeben... und spaeter den Zug "The Ghan" etc. fuer den naechsten Tag buchen, um nach Alice Springs zu fahren...

... 24 Std. "brausen" wir mit Stop in Katherine durchs Outback... dabei wird mir auch bei langem aus dem Fenster schauen nicht langweilig - wir bekommen schon unser ersten ...

... in beide richtingen, nauwelijks verkeer en af en toe een dode kangoeroe naast de weg) We kwamen aan in Banka Banka, bij de Helen Springs veehouderij die zo groot is als heel Belgie! Hier krijgen we een slide show over het leven daar. 's Avonds bij het kampvuur haalt een van de andere gasten zijn gitaar boven. Vroeg naar bed vandaag met zware wind rond de tent, maar toch heerlijk geslapen.

... of the cattle station. We got there, but a howling wind, tried to put our tent up and failed! Much to Gra's disgust we had to drive on to the next 'stop' which was a petrol station with a motel out of Hitchcock!! Got a room, more like a container, but it was clean. And Gra perked up when he realised their Tv was in colour and that we could watch the Portugal v France match!!! which we did.