DAY 17 - A DAY IN ALICE SPRINGS

We woke to a very cold morning in Alice Springs this morning with the temperature dropping to -1 degrees. 

Very cold morning in Alice Springs

Too cold for us sunny Queenslanders.  It was to be a pretty chilled out sort of day today in Alice Springs…We had tons of washing to do, clothes, towels, sheets and between the three of us I think we did about 4 or 5 loads of washing still and that was using the even the big washing machines that did double loads.  Washing is expensive out here at $5 a load.   We took up quite a bit of clothes line space when we hung it all out too.  

 

Getting the washing done.... a big day of it.

Steve and John and little jobs they wanted to do, so they both took up heading to places like Bunnings, Supercheap and ARB.  They were gone for most of the morning whilst us girls did the washing.  Ian chilled out back at the van.

By the time the washing was all done and hung out, then it was time to tackle the cleaning of the van.  Bed needed to be remade up with clean linen, floors vacuumed and mopped ( of the job of cleaning a van and not a house).  Once that was done, Ian, Kathy and I headed into town to do a grocery shop whilst Barb chilled out at home and tried to catch up with her Blog.

We mainly needed fresh fruit and vegetables as we still had plenty of meat from our shop in Mt Isa.  John and Barb had also been cooking meals for us, so we hadn’t used as much meat as we had planned. 

We have been eating very well this trip with gourmet meals most nights.  The beauty is that we are all taking turns at cooking, so it is no big burden for anyone and our meals together at night are times we look forward to as we share stories and laughs from our day.

We are all getting on remarkably well, considering that Ian and Kathy and John and Barb didn’t really know each other before this trip away. Feeling very blessed indeed that we get to share this adventure with such wonderful friends.

 

After lunch we decided that we better tackle a little sightseeing around Alice Springs.  The Old Telegraph Station near the banks of the Todd River was just up the road from where we were staying at the Caravan Park, so we decided to go visit it and check it out.  After lunch we headed out to see the Old Overland Telegraph Station on the outskirts of Alice Springs near the banks of the Todd River. The Todd river was completely dry, as it usually is at this time of year. In fact they hold the annual Henley-on-Todd regatta ONLY if the river is dry! We were told if you dig down for a metre or two fresh water wells up, which is why it was mistakenly called a spring by the early explorers.    I found it really interesting.  It was a pretty big challenge to find a route from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the North and Stuart attempted it 4 times before finally making the complete journey.  In fact on his second last attempt, we got within 400 miles of Darwin before he turned back.  

The old cattle yards

We also realized that Australia was really a forerunner of modern Technology with the building of the overland Telegraph lines and we found the stories interesting and fascinating.    The Old Telegraph Station is situated on the banks of the Todd River, ( if you can call it that, as it is just a dry river bed)

Apparently when they discovered the current site for the Old Telegraph Station, Alice Springs had just had a lot of rain so the river was flowing, which led the explorers to think that there were springs underneath supplying the water.  This is how the town received it’s name.  The name Alice came from SA Governor MacDonald’s wife’s name and the Springs came from the fact that they thought there were springs there supplying the water to the river.   We also heard that Alice MacDonald never did visit the town that was named after her.  Maybe this had something to do with her having her hands full with 8 children.

After the tour, we wondered around for a little longer and checked out all the buildings in the Precinct, taking photos, before we left.  We did buy a postcard at the gift shop and I wrote Willow and Max a card so that we could actually post it from the Post Office at the Old Telegraph Station.

Inside the Telegraph Room

The old telegraph wires

 we listed to our tour guide tell the story of the Old Telegraph Station and he was both interesting, informative and entertaining.  It is hard to believe that this station was still in operation until the 1970's

Rory our tour guide

We also realized that Australia was really a forerunner of modern Technology with the building of the overland Telegraph lines and we found the stories interesting and fascinating.    The Old Telegraph Station is situated on the banks of the Todd River, ( if you can call it that, as it is just a dry river bed)

Apparently when they discovered the current site for the Old Telegraph Station, Alice Springs had just had a lot of rain so the river was flowing, which led the explorers to think that there were springs underneath supplying the water.  This is how the town received it’s name.  The name Alice came from SA Governor MacDonald’s wife’s name and the Springs came from the fact that they thought there were springs there supplying the water to the river.   We also heard that Alice MacDonald never did visit the town that was named after her.  Maybe this had something to do with her having her hands full with 8 children.

After the tour, we wondered around for a little longer and checked out all the buildings in the Precinct, taking photos, before we left. 

Gift shop where we bought a few postcards to send home

Posting cards to the grandchildren from the Old Post Box at the Old Telegraph Station

The original Post Box

Posting the card to Willow and Max

   We did buy a postcard at the gift shop and I wrote Willow and Max a card so that we could actually post it from the Post Office at the Old Telegraph Station.

growing wild up on Anzac Hill

 We left the Old Telegraph Station around 5pm and decided to take a drive up to the lookout on Anzac Hill to see the views of Alice Springs.

 

  The views were also quite spectacular, gave us a good look at Alice, and helped us find our bearings…  There were lovely views of both the East and West MacDonald Ranges. 

  What a lovely drive up the hill it was.  There is lots of memorabilia to remember and commemorate the soldiers who have fought for our country.

the Northern Territory Flag

Anzac Memorial

John and Barb up on Anzac Hill

Steve admiring the view

Steve and I

us girls - Barb, myself and Kathy

Group photo

 From here Barb and John took off to go visit Woolies as they wanted to pick up a few supplies as they were going to cook us pizzas for dinner.  Meanwhile, Ian, Kathy, Steve and I went for a drive out through the Heavitree Gap to see a little more of Alice Springs.

Heavitree Gap

                It was nice to have the night off from cooking dinner tonight.  We are definitely spoilt with John being around as he looks to cook, and we are being spoilt with wonderful meals when he does the cooking.  Whilst John was cooking dinner, us girls went and had our showers before it got too cold, and Barb and I also downloaded the photos that we had taken today our travels around Alice Springs.  We needed to get both the Webbers out to cook the pizzas, so figured that whilst we had them out I would make some blueberry muffins to take on our drive out to the West MacDonald Ranges the following day.

It is a bit too cold to be sitting outside playing games at the moment, so after we have tea and clean up we retreat to our vans somewhere around 9pm.  By this time of the evening, there is a real nip in the air and it actually becomes quite unpleasant to be outdoors.