We arrived at Alice Springs around 12am. Next to our intended Youth Hostel was a night club in full swing. We got off the bus to be greeted by an argument between some huuuge guy and the police. The hostel was shut. Everywhere else was shut. We got back on the bus. The driver thought the only places open would be the more upmarket ones. Okey dokey! We ended up in a flash hotel for the night, expensive but now and again it doesn't hurt. In the morning we walked back into town to the hostel. They had no record of the booking and no room for us. It looked a bit dire anyway so we rang another place and booked in, it was only over the bridge apparently. 5 mins walk. I took the wrong bridge and we ended up walking for over an hour around Alice Springs with our backpacks on in the heat. But when we finally got there it was a really cool and chilled out place with a garden and pool where they pumped relaxing music into throughout the day. "You're in one of the caravans tonight", said the owner. "Which one?", "The one with the clouds painted on it.". Of course. So stayed here for a couple of nights before our flight and it really was a cool place with some decent people too. Alice Springs itself isn't that great.
As with everywhere throughout Australia, the land was Aboriginal. Here, more so than other places, the presence of the white man has been fairly recent. Since the laws on banning Aboriginals from the town centre were lifted it's been even less time for the Aboriginal people to get used to a westernised culture. It makes for a very odd situation.
The Lonely Planet guidebook declares Alice to be dangerous at night due to the Aboriginal populous here but signs at our hostel declared otherwise. The main problem is Aboriginal violence on each other rather than anyone else and that isn't too common, besides it seemed fine every night we strolled about. I don't think I could get used to the place though. It's strange. There's absolutely no intergration between the Aboriginals and the rest of the population. They don't have jobs, probably because no-one would employ them, and they don't really do anything other than wander the streets, in their droves. Not that I'm trying to be unkind but it really is like being in a zombie movie. Walking around with these invisible people just moping about, some drinking alot, some just staring blankly and looking lost. It's weird. We heard that the Australian government give money to the Aboriginals just so they'd make it by but you can't help thinking they had a much better life before the white man came along. I'm not sure how long a situation like this can go on for but it really paints Australia in a bad light.
We again met up with Clive, the English guy we got talking to in Uluru, and ended up going for a meal with him at night. It transpired that he was going to Adelaide at the same time as us and stopping in the same Hostel. We arranged to meet again.
The main thing with Alice Springs is the telegraph station, as far as white man settlement goes. This was a great achievement for Australian communication as joining up a telegraph wire from north to south through Alice really meant that news could be reached to Australia from England in much quicker time. There's apparently an under water cable running from Singapore to Darwin in Australia and this is carried on south to Adelaide.
Alice was also a halfway stop for the Ghan. This is now a train but it previously was the Afghan camel train which took supplies up and down the country.
When water was found here, by the white folk(Aboriginals had known for years but the white man thought them a simple race who were very ill informed), it was in a spring and was named after the wife of the founder of the town. This was the first spot were we saw kangaroos. It was pretty odd but cool. They were just lolloping around not doing much, surprising big beasts that they are.
There is a good vantage point over the town on ANZAC hill. ANZAC is everywhere in Oz, it stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. Memorials are everywhere from the first and second world wars and other skirmishes that have gone on over the years. The hill looks over the town and is a great spot to check out the sunset. It's a fairly small place but not too bad. It did grow on me but there's nothing really to do after a couple of days.
One story we got told from an Australian later on in the trip was quite odd. Whether it's true I don't know but here it is. The main river through Alice is called Todd River. Most of the time it's totally dry and you can walk across it, as we did. Some Aboriginals live and sleep on the river, not sure how they put up with the mammoth ants. Anyway, when it rains it really rains and the river flows fast. We were told that under the bridge in town there are metal fences, I never noticed, and apparently these are to catch Aboriginals in. The water comes so fast down the river that they get swept up whilst asleep or drunk and to stop them being washed way down river they're pinned up against these fences so that the emergency services can fish them out! It sounds odd but could be true for all I know, it wouldn't surprise me.
As with everywhere throughout Australia, the land was Aboriginal. Here, more so than other places, the presence of the white man has been fairly recent. Since the laws on banning Aboriginals from the town centre were lifted it's been even less time for the Aboriginal people to get used to a westernised culture. It makes for a very odd situation.
The Lonely Planet guidebook declares Alice to be dangerous at night due to the Aboriginal populous here but signs at our hostel declared otherwise. The main problem is Aboriginal violence on each other rather than anyone else and that isn't too common, besides it seemed fine every night we strolled about. I don't think I could get used to the place though. It's strange. There's absolutely no intergration between the Aboriginals and the rest of the population. They don't have jobs, probably because no-one would employ them, and they don't really do anything other than wander the streets, in their droves. Not that I'm trying to be unkind but it really is like being in a zombie movie. Walking around with these invisible people just moping about, some drinking alot, some just staring blankly and looking lost. It's weird. We heard that the Australian government give money to the Aboriginals just so they'd make it by but you can't help thinking they had a much better life before the white man came along. I'm not sure how long a situation like this can go on for but it really paints Australia in a bad light.
We again met up with Clive, the English guy we got talking to in Uluru, and ended up going for a meal with him at night. It transpired that he was going to Adelaide at the same time as us and stopping in the same Hostel. We arranged to meet again.
The main thing with Alice Springs is the telegraph station, as far as white man settlement goes. This was a great achievement for Australian communication as joining up a telegraph wire from north to south through Alice really meant that news could be reached to Australia from England in much quicker time. There's apparently an under water cable running from Singapore to Darwin in Australia and this is carried on south to Adelaide.
Alice was also a halfway stop for the Ghan. This is now a train but it previously was the Afghan camel train which took supplies up and down the country.
When water was found here, by the white folk(Aboriginals had known for years but the white man thought them a simple race who were very ill informed), it was in a spring and was named after the wife of the founder of the town. This was the first spot were we saw kangaroos. It was pretty odd but cool. They were just lolloping around not doing much, surprising big beasts that they are.
There is a good vantage point over the town on ANZAC hill. ANZAC is everywhere in Oz, it stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. Memorials are everywhere from the first and second world wars and other skirmishes that have gone on over the years. The hill looks over the town and is a great spot to check out the sunset. It's a fairly small place but not too bad. It did grow on me but there's nothing really to do after a couple of days.
One story we got told from an Australian later on in the trip was quite odd. Whether it's true I don't know but here it is. The main river through Alice is called Todd River. Most of the time it's totally dry and you can walk across it, as we did. Some Aboriginals live and sleep on the river, not sure how they put up with the mammoth ants. Anyway, when it rains it really rains and the river flows fast. We were told that under the bridge in town there are metal fences, I never noticed, and apparently these are to catch Aboriginals in. The water comes so fast down the river that they get swept up whilst asleep or drunk and to stop them being washed way down river they're pinned up against these fences so that the emergency services can fish them out! It sounds odd but could be true for all I know, it wouldn't surprise me.
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