Arrival in Alice Springs
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2005
1
15
24
Trip End
Aug 02, 2005
Alice Springs,
Australia
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
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Our jumping off point for roaming the Red Center of Australia was Alice Springs. Bypassing the "opportunity" to travel overland to Alice Springs on a 23-hour bus ride, we opted instead to take a short flight giving us a day to explore Alice Springs and its offerings. Overall, Alice Springs had much more character than Darwin and we are glad we spent a full day there prior to the start of our tour.
We landed the afternoon of the 10th and checked into a great hostel, Annie's Place, which we highly recommend to anyone. Great rooms and an on-site restaurant where all meals are AUS$5 for guests. We strolled around town and dined on a steak dinner that evening. Amy chose the boring route with beef, but being more adventurous with food Alex ordered kangaroo filet with plum sauce
Aliens from the Red Planet
. He found it quite tasty. For our entertainment the following day we booked transport to/from the Alice Springs Desert Park. This Park was created by the Dept. of Conservation within the last several years and is at the foot of the MacDonnell Ranges on the outskirts of town. It was a good way to spend a half day. The primary goal of the park is to introduce visitors to the three types of environments found in central Australia and it is laid out so that guests walk a path of just over a kilometer through desert woodland, sand country and desert riverine areas. We watched a birds of prey display watching a barn owl, falcon and eagle soar around an amphitheater while the ranger provided commentary on the habits of the birds. Highlights though for us were the kangaroo and emu enclosures and the nocturnal house. Unfortunately the kangaroos were lazing around under a tree and not very active since it was late morning, but the animals in the nocturnal house were wide awake. We saw all sorts of mammals and reptiles that you wouldn't normally see; however, you walk through the darkened exhibit and there is all sorts of activity. The bilby (looks like a really small kangaroo but with huge ears) was Amy's favorite. Evidently since rabbits are such a pest and pretty much despised around this area, an author wrote a book called the Easter Bilby to edge out the Easter Bunny. It seemed to have caught on a little bit.
For dinner we decided to try the Bojangles Saloon for burgers. Alex's was topped with a fried egg which he decided was tasty. We then retired for our early morning pick-up for our Uluru (aka Ayers Rock) 3-day tour.
