Alice Springs Area

This segment, the second of our three-legged trip through the central and northeastern sections of the country of Australia, includes visits to the major tourist attractions of the Alice Springs region sometimes referred to as the "red center". Actually none of the places are very close to Alice, but Alice is the only large city nearby.
     In brief, our tour was booked with Sahara Tours and consisted of a three day and two night camping experience visiting Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) and Kings Canyon. Our tour bus was nearly brand new and was quite different than the one we had on the Kakadu segment. The distances between sites were considerable so we spent much of our time traveling from place to place in the bus. Also, unlike the Kakadu segment, there was less to see along the way (other than landscapes out of the bus window), so there will not be a blow by blow recap of our trip. Rather, there will be a commentary of some of the pictures taken and, perhaps, some explanation of some of those images.
     We were surprised at both the size and quantity of hills around Alice and of the amount of vegetation covering the entire region. I had pictures of near desert conditions, much like the western New South Wales region along the eastern side of the continent. Quite to the contrary, there were plenty of trees, bushes and grasses. The climate is still quite dry, but there is enough moisture to support this level of vegetation.
      We also encountered very little wildlife at this time of year. There was the occasional wild camel and plenty of birds, but kangaroos, wallabies and the like were not to be seen. Temperatures were at a high of 22^o Celsius (74^o F) during the peak of the day and very near 0^o C (32^o F) at the early morning (4 AM). It never rained and, in fact, hardly ever displayed a cloud in the sky. Winds of up to 25 knots were experienced in the morning and 2 AM breezes were felt by those who braved the out-of-doors sleeping under the stars: us!
     Beyond this, there is little to report. The pictures tend to tell the story.

The Road

A view of the road from the bus	Notice the red sand and vegetation
More sand and less vegetation	Low rolling hills with brush and some green
Dead or dormant	The signs of what was to come

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta, The Olgas
The tourees	The Tour Guide
The pass
Fi in the ravine	Edite in her element
The head of the revine	Salt bush in the ravine
Unknown flower	Sweet bells
The rocks are very red	From the top of the ravine looking out to the plain

Uluru

A gorge within the rocks	Falling sandstone cleaving off
Depression in the shape of a skull	Mick Jagger's lips?
Interesting rock formation: the wave	Notice the chain fence moving up the center

Our Campsite

Our tents. We did not use them, but the others did...Whimps!	The middle one was ours. We slept in front of it under the stars. It was "cool", literally and figuratively
Night time sky with milky way	Can you find the Southern Cross?
Camel Jockey	What are you look'in at! ...and you think you live in a phone booth?!
That bloke needs a new pair of boots and gloves	The perfect Shiela

Kings Canyon

The sign at the head of the trail
The steps up to the rim of the canyon	The beauty on the mountain
Looking up from the valley	A view to the valley below from atop the steps
The group resting after the climb	Rock formations along the rim
Explanatory signs along the way	More of the rim wall
Shadow effects	Red jumper, red wall. Coincidence?
Passage through the maze along the rim	The dreaded and rare mini-Koala
Flora that adds to the beauty	The struggle for life in a dry land
The warning	Hmmmm.
Barren	Steep
Canyon formation information	Some more info signs
The sheer wall of the canyon	More of the expanse
Rock formation on the trail	Tree growth in the canyon
Aids for the weary explorer	We decend into the Garden of Eden
How it was formed	The fauna of it
It was aptly named	Another view of the beauty
Small birds with no fear	Well, almost no fear

Trip's End

Our tour group minus two	The sun sets on our camping adventure

The Town of Alice Springs

The next day after our camping adventure we had half of a day to wait prior to our exit to Cairns, the last leg of our holiday. We took the opportunity to walk through the center of town and explore some of the shops and sights. The town is a far cry from what was depicted in the post World War II movie, A Town Like Alice, as can be seen below in some of the pictures. We also visited the museum and headquarters of the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

Mountains around Alice Springs	Relative position of the center of town
A view of the pedestrian zone	Common cover in this country
A sign indicating sacred ground	Sadly, the caretakers are pre-occupied
The historic train from Adelaide to Darwin through Alice	This speaks for itself

A quote from the founder	The extent of the service
The older aircraft used	The more recent versions
A patient's view	...with the intrepid nurse
Medical fixtures in the fuselage	...and the communications aspect
The operating desk	The listening desk
Vintage equipment used in yesteryear	More vintage equipment