Alice Springs

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Tuesday, 11 Sep, Alice Springs - We left the Kings Canyon Resort early and travelled to Alice Springs, through the Lasseter and Stuart Hwy, about 500 kms. We got here by about 1.30 pm for a late lunch, a bit of rest, then a quick drive-around the town centre, looking for some important business, such as a hair cut for Kate that was well overdue, and some shopping as well. It seems we came back to the summer weather, at least at lunchtime there was 30 degrees in the van - we'll see what happens during the night...

The town centre and the Gap from ANZAC Hill

Wednesday, 12 Sep, Alice Springs - The night was quite cold again, it was 11 degrees in the van at dawn. This place has a climate of extremes, early afternoon it was 34 degrees again, and the humidity is not more than 20 %. We have to change clothes 3 times a day according to the changes in temperature. 
In the morning we went up to ANZAC Hill, just beside the town centre. Beside the war memorial it has wonderful views all over the town and surroundings. The MacDonnel Ranges and the Gap where the Todd river passes through are very impressive from up there. We drove across and along the river, which now is a wide dry sandy bed with some beautiful river gums here and there but can be a torrent after the rare heavy rain.

John Flynn Memorial Church

We walked around the centre to discover some historical buildings: the Rev John Flynn Memorial Church (the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service), the Adelaide House (the first hospital in central Australia, also designed and established by Flynn), the government residency (where the Queen and her husband stayed at their visit in 1963), and the Old Hartley Street School opened in 1930.

Adelaide House

In the Botanic Gardens

In the (very hot) afternoon we had the car washed, not an easy job after several months of red dirt, then went out to the Botanic Gardens in the hope of an evening performance as part of the Desert Festival. In the end we did not stay for the event, but had a look around in the garden, and learned about the life of Olive Pink a very determined lady, a painter and anthropologist, who studied the aboriginals in the area and fought for their rights against the establishments in the 1930s. She was also the first curator of the Botanic Gardens.

Thursday, 13 Sep, Alice Springs - This morning we got a bad surprise: our 3-way fridge is not working on 240 Volt. So we had to call a service and we were lucky enough that he came within an hour (also lucky that it happened here, not somewhere in the middle of nowhere). He worked on it for 2 hours, but he did not find the cause of the problem. Now we have to try it on gas and see if it works, then, depending on the outcome, he can finish it tomorrow - hopefully. 

Telegraph Station

In the rest of the morning we went out to visit the Old Telegraph Station beside the Todd River, which was in fact more than that, it was a little village, the first European settlement in Central Australia. There are many buildings beautifully restored and lots of info displays explaining the history and use of the buildings. There were a group of school children on excursion out there, studying the early life, doing some projects and, mostly, playing cricket with their male teachers. It was an interesting place, and an enjoyable visit.

Telegraph Station

In the afternoon we had a lot of cooking to do, all our stocks in the freezer that thawed we had to cook and fry, so now we will have a lot of meat and fish to eat in the next few days...

The Night Market on Todd Mall

Then around 6 pm we went into the town centre to visit the Night Market, an event of the Desert Festival. It was not such a big deal, just the usual things on such markets, cheap artefacts, clothes, toys, lots of useless but nice things, food and drinks. 
It seems colourful baby ballerina dresses are much in demand in Alice Springs, at least there was a wide collection on offer... 

A popular activity in AS

Night Market

The people walking around were just as colourful and interesting as the articles. Fortunately the crowd was much less than the 50 thousand expected in one of the festival brochures ...

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)


A múlt hét nagyrészét Alice Springs-ben töltöttük, nem egészen saját jószántunkból. Kedden (szep.11) érkeztünk ide, és szerdán észrevettük hogy nem hűt a fridzsiderünk, ami pedig létfontosságú az utazáshoz. Még szerencse hogy itt történt és nem valahol a pusztában, mert itt ki tudtunk hívni egy szervizt (még garanciális minden a lakókocsinkban), és elég gyorsan ki is jöttek, de eltartott két napig míg megállapították hogy a termosztát romlott el, ami viszont nincs nekik itt raktáron, meg kellett rendelni a gyártó cégtől, és még most is várunk rá hogy megérkezzen. Most ideiglenesen kiiktatták a termosztátot, úgyhogy most működik a fridzs, csak teljes erővel, vagyis néha kicsit csonttá fagy benne minden, amit próbálunk elkerülni úgy hogy néha lekapcsoljuk pár órára. Szóval még nem vagyunk túl ezen az ügyön, jövő héten remélhetőleg sikerül megoldani. Persze kiolvadt minden ami a mélyhűtőben volt, nekiálltunk mindent megfőzni-sütni, azóta is azokat esszük.
Ettől eltekintve kellemes napokat töltöttünk Alice Springs-ben, ami meglepően helyes kisváros itt a sivatag közepén. Nem is olyan kicsi, vagy 30ezer lakosa van, nemiegn tudom elképzelni miből is élnek meg itt. Végigjártuk a helyi látnivalókat, kilátó pontot, várostörténeti érdekességeket városon belül és kívül. A legérdekesebb a régi telegráf állomás, az 1870-es évekből, ami egész kis település volt, az első fehérek-lakta hely közép-Ausztráliában. Szépen rende van hozva, és sok érdekes információs tábla ismerteti a történetét. Megnéztük az Adelaide House-t, az első korház az 1920-as évekből, egy presbiter(?) pap, John Flynn szorgalmazta, tervezte és építtette (ő alapította a Royal Flying Doctor szervizt is). Láttuk a Government House-t, ahol 63-ban a királyi pár lakott amikor idelátogattak. Voltunk a botanikus kertben, amit egy helybeli "pionir" hölgy kezdeményezett. Pont most tartanak itt egy Desert Festival-t, aminek keretében mindenféle programok látogathatók, mi elmentünk a csütörtök esti utcavásárra, ami érdekes volt de nem valami nagy szám.

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)