Day 86 / 2014 - Uluru to Alice Springs

Leaving Uluru we headed towards Alice Springs back along the Lasseter Highway then turned North along Stuart Highway. Keeping too not travelling many kilometres in one day we decided to stay a night in an overnight rest area about a hundred k's from Alice. Generally when stopping about 2pm we normally get a choice of spots but this one was almost full by the time we arrived. We thought the main mob must be starting to catch up with us but after talking to a couple who past through a few days later said the rest area was empty we must have just picked a busy day.

Next morning we headed off towards Alice Springs we setup a base at the Big 4 McDonnell Range Caravan Park about 5 km south of the town. To enter Alice Springs from the south you need to pass through whats known as the gap which is a break in the McDonnell Ranges where both the Stuart Highway and Railway line pass through. 

The big 4 is a large park with lots of facilities. Being May they wern't busy so were offering special deals such as book for 6 and stay 7 days as well as a Ensuite site for the price of a standard powered site. I imagine this will change during the busy times of June through to September. They offer a number of evening activities for free such as star gazing with a local astronomer as well as a games night, sing along night and wine tasting night. They even host a free pancake breakfast for all guests of the park each sunday morning.

We had only planned to stay a couple of days but discovered there was so much to see decided to stay a week. First was the obligitory shopping day in town but mixed it up with looking at some of the town heritage buildings. Along the Stuart Highway there were lots of information and dedications to the eforts of John Flynn who was most famous for starting the Flying Doctors Service but he was also instrumental in setting up other services. His vision was a Mantle of Safety to all who lived in the remote areas of Australia so Flying Doctor Service was only one of his goals he was also passionate about people of the outback mental and spiritual health. He started the travelling padre service and was charged with building 14 nursing homes one being Adelaide House in Alice Springs which still stands today but is now a museum to the works of Rev John Flynn.

Other buildings we discovered were the Hartley Street School and the Old Gaol. Hartley Street School was the first official school in Alice Springs which finished in 1967 and was supposed to be demolished in 1980. It has now been taken over by the Nation Trust and restored. Students are invited to spend a day and experience what it was like to be a student of the 1960's. The old gaol also has a museum dedicated to pioneer women as well as the Mens and Womens block restored to show life and stories of the inmates in gaol prior to it closing down.

On another day we visited The Transport Museum. We were warned to allow at least half to a whole day and they weren't wrong there was just so much to see. There seem to be sheds and sheds of different vehicles all lovingly restored. There was a huge shed housing every model of Kenworth Truck ever made. There were also vehicles in various states of repairs dotted around the yard just waiting to be worked on. The rail museum is also housed here and has an old diesel engine used for the Ghan as well a history of rail which ran from Adelaide through Alie Springs to Darwin.

The McDonnell Ranges are also another day or more of sight seeing. The McDonnell's are a series of mountain ranges which pass east west through the centre of Australia. They are divided into the East McDonnell and the West McDonnell with Alice Springs in the middle. We had planned to do both but only ended up doing the West McDonnell even then it took us two days and we proberbly could have taken longer. There are a number of Gorges and Pools you can visit. We drove to one end and started with Redbank Gorge which is only accessable by 4WD and then there is a 1km goat track from the car park which had us scrambling over rocks to get there. It was worth the effort but we wished we had come better prepared as some of the gorge required you to swim through.

Other sites we visited were Ormiston Gorge which is easier access with a sealed road and well defined paths to walk along. There is also a climb to a lookout which overlooks the gorge below. There were also the Ocre Pits which where the Ocre is taken from for aboriginal ceremonies and Ellery Creek Big Hole which is well patronised by the locals as a swimming and picnic spot. Standley Chasm as another gorge which requires a walk over a track with a scamble over some rocks near the end. The gorge is quite narrow but if you arrive before noon you can watch the sun pass overhead and light up both walls and the floor at the same time.

A trip to Alice would not be complete without a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor tourist centre located in town. They have a movie which depicts the history of the service as well as museum which includes a life size model of a RFDS plane which you can sit in. There was also a TV screen which showed the location of all the RFDS aircraft in real time. We had visited the RFDS centre in Kalgoorlie and weren't sure if it was much of the same but there was enough difference to make it worth while to visit both centres especially in Kalgoorlie where you get to see an actual plane in the hanger.

The school of the air is also in Alice Springs it is promoted as the largest classroom in the world and has come a long way where remote students learned by HF radio and the mail service. They now all use the internet and computers and not only be able to see and iteract with their teachers but each other as well. The day we were there they held a ANZAC service which was done by the students and included some guests from the Airforce.

Alice Springs was originally the name of the post office and telegraph station which was part of the overland telegraph line which traverse the continent from Darwin to Adelaide. What is now known as Alice Springs was originall called Stuart after the explorer John McDougall Stuart but was re-gazetted as Alice Springs in 1930 where the Postmaster refused to change the name of the post office when it was moved from the closed telegraph station to the town of Stuart 3 KM away. The telegraph station is still there and is restored to its original glory of the early 1900's including period furniture and original telegraph equipment.

 Desert park is another place you could spend a day. It is a compressed version of the surrounding area of central Australia. There are a number of guided activities scheduled at certain times during the day where a ranger gives a talk as well as self guided sites such as the nocturnal house and bird avery.