I couldn't imagine a visit to Australia without a trip to the 'red centre'. Despite the temperatures reported in the high 30s and 40s I had to book a flight to see Alice Springs or 'the Alice' as it is known affectionately. It does not disappoint. Alice delivers everything you would expect on a Saturday night in a frontier town. By the time we drove to the town centre it was late afternoon and the town was red hot due to the afternoon sun, but also the Valentine's Day celebration and the usual Saturday whoop up between the police and the aborigine population. Alcohol is strictly controlled requiring a passport or ID to purchase and limiting your purchase of wine and beer to once a day. The police constantly patrol the centre of town making everyone a little uneasy. I was negotiating with the local artists selling their art works on the sidewalk when I first noticed the patrols. I started to wonder if there was a problem with the transactions, but they didn't interfere. Negotiations weren't going that well for the piece I wanted. The illustrious artist 'Delorus Furber' left a price with one of the other native women and they didn't have the authority to negotiate. I had to come back three times for that piece and I never did meet Delorus, but I finally agreed to the asking price and have a great canvas representing the type of art you normally see in this tribal area (lots of dots). Generally the natives sell the art for less than the galleries and the quality was good. Aside from well known artists who likely only sell in the galleries and sell for very high prices. You are probably better off buying directly and cutting out the cost of the agents. Once you buy something you have a lot of desperate last minute sellers trying to unload for Saturday night celebrations and this makes Mike uncomfortable. I found them to be quite charming. At one point I asked 'Maggie' when she had painted one of the two pieces she had laid out on the sidewalk (thinking she would say during the winter or last year) and she replied around 2 o'clock. She was moving her stock quickly. Mike had also asked one of the artists if the piece was signed and she immediately called for a pencil so she could sign it for him. It's quite the cottage industry for the women. i think the men enjoy the proceeds though!
We took our purchases back to the hotel and I wanted to go to the 'Bojangles Saloon' for dinner. It took a bit of convincing to get Mike back to the centre of town given the police patrols but in the end we were well rewarded with a simple, but delicious bush tucker dinner - the action started outside. As we exited two large security were trying to pin a belligerent female guest to the brick wall until the police arrived. It was unclear what she had done but she wasn't going peacefully. A little further down the pedestrian mall we encountered Darcy and Timothy (two aborigine Alice residents) who had clearly started the party early in the day. We had a great conversation about their life in Alice, but I started to get a little uneasy with Timothy's urging that we come to visit his station and lot's about his guns and hunting wild camel that he boiled. It was time to say goodnight!
The atmosphere is laid back in Alice despite the fact that you always get the feeling you are living on the edge. You are also at the centre of aborigine tribal culture and the largest population of aborigine people. It is really important to carry enough water due to the heat and lack of facilities once outside of town. You are really isolated. Alice is really a very small city with somewhere around 27,000 residents, but it services a vast area and is the only sizable community between Darwin at the top and Adelaide to the extreme south. It's raison d'etre was to bring communication (originally telegraph services from the outside world).
There is much to see in Alice including the telegraph where we met 'Alec'. Alec is a guide and caretaker at the telegraph museum who loves to tell you about the place. He was one of the mixed race 'lost children' who were sent off with the missionaries. Born in 1936, Alec's grandfather was one of the original founders and station masters and his mother was a native who was only 15 years old when he was born. Alec tells us there were hundreds of children of mixed race who were abandoned by their white fathers and taken in by the missionaries. Alec had been sickly and his native mother could not care for him. By the time he was old enough and well enough to return, he had no interest in returning to a tribal life with his mother who had 8 more children with a native man. He had a very interesting life story about his experiences during the WW11 and his life in Sydney. He returned to Alice because he likes the weather and clearly loves his job at the museum.
The traditions and beliefs of the native aborigine people are all about their attachment to the land. Many of the land features have a mystical quality and there are many sacred sites in and around Alice and Uluru. We explored the gaps and water holes in the East MacDonnell Mtn range and saved the last part of our trip for the magnificent Uluru and Kata Tjuta to the south and west This area of Australia is very remote and took over five hours of driving to reach. It might have been a bit shorter if we hadn't missed the turn to Uluru and drove another 75km south before we realized we missed the turn. Sounds hard to believe, but there are very few signs along the way. Despite the long drive we managed to get refreshed with a dip in the pool at the Ayers resort and made our way to Uluru. This imposing monolith rises out of the flat plane as an eerie giant that changes shape and color as you drive round the base. There are many different angles and shapes to it, but the overall look is one of a smooth rock surface. It really is a remarkable landmark. There are many powerful and sacred sites around the rock and the native guides give interpretive stories. We watched the setting sun cast shadows and lights over the many crests and crevices. it was a large crowd watching from the viewing area, but everyone spoke in hushed whispers lending a feeling of sanctity to the moment. Because it is so isolated the stars are unbelievable at night. Mike and I sat in the dark on our little balcony and just watched the nigh sky until we were too tired to stay awake any longer. Watching the shooting stars and the every changing night landscape we both agreed it was better than anything on TV.
In the morning we left our hotel in the dark to watch the sun rise over 'the Olgas' or Kata Tjuta which means many domed heads in the aborigine language of the tribal ancestors and caretakers of the sites. The Olgas were as impressive but less well known than Uluru. We watched the sun rise over the mountains and wished we had more time to explore the many gorges and walks available, but we had to head back to catch an afternoon flight to Adelaide. We were sorry to leave 'the Alice', but picked up a copy of a book written about the last nomads and headed off to Adelaide.
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