Alice Springs - Day 9, 20 May 2012

Flying home, like flying to Alice, makes you aware of how vast Australia is. Largely uninhabitable but, oh!, what a fabulously beautiful place it is.



Small section of Lake Eyre!

Living in the “leafy eastern suburbs” I don't come face to face with the aboriginal “problem”. On this trip I did. To see indigenous people wandering around aimlessly, some of them drunk, made me think we're going to need to keep saying Sorry for many years to come.

One human intervention that was really impressive - use of solar power. Many houses have panels on their roofs and there are at least two fields of panels supplying one third of the power needs of Alice Springs. More of us should copy this initiative.

Back when I was at school, the geography class went on the “Central Australia Trip”. I've finally been lucky enough to catch up with them.

Sturt's Desert Rose
Floral Emblem of the Northern Territory



On the move again ...

There was one thing I didn't anticipate when I arrived home from my US-Canada adventure … the desire, at last, to see more of Australia. I'd thought some things I'd like to do would be beyond me, as a solo traveller. As serendipity would have it, while I was away, friends did a Kimberley tour. Robyn was so enthusiastic, both about the tour and the possibility of doing it as a solo, that I investigated. In the end I settled on a two part trip, two parts basically to fit in my leave at work around other people, seeing as I had first choice of leave in 2011.

Now, I'm about to set off for eight days in Central Australia. Later, in August-September, I'll take 3½ weeks to travel through the Kimberley, starting at Alice Springs, crossing the Tanami Desert to Broome, then through the Kimberley itself to Darwin.

I've been training (a rather overblown description), so now I'm as fit as I'll ever be to tackle the Centre, starting on Saturday. I've re-read “A Town Like Alice”, not that that's got much to do with Alice at all, but it was every bit as enjoyable the second time around as it was the first. I'm feeling apprehensive – Has my 'training' been enough? Will I cope with my first-time-ever camping experience? … a whole two nights out of the eight that I'm away! Why do I seem to have so much to take? … to cover the warm days and cold, very cold nights.

If nothing else, I hope to learn by experience so I'm better prepared for the second part of this next great adventure.

So … hey ho, off we go!!!