Waited for my bus with Bridget and a French guy I met. He was going onto New Zealand next so wanted some pointers for which route to take and what to see. I was chatting to him for a while and it turns out he had driven up to Ayers Rock from Adelaide, which is a fairly hefty drive! Bridget offered to show me around Hong Kong when I arrive there in July which is nice.
Got on the bus around mid-day and headed to Alice Springs which is around 460km or about 6 hours. The ride was interesting seeing the desert. Along the way I saw:
- Several burnt out cars
- A makeshift grave with newly dug earth on top and some fresh flowers
- A dead ox (cow?) with crows feeding on it
- Loads of tyres
- The odd solar powered station (apparently so truckers have hot water to stop off and shower)
Just as we arrived into Alice there was a broken down car with 4 aborigines hanging around. One was on the ground and looked like he had keeled over from the heat. I had heard stories about Aborigines doing this kind of thing and then robbing people (or worse) who were good enough to stop and try to help. Spoke to the driver and he was telling us that those guys had been there 3 days earlier, in exactly the same spot. If they had really broken down they would be dead by now! Makes you wonder.....
Alice springs is a pretty amazing town. Its completely self sufficient in providing its own water, gas oil and electricity. It's enclosed by mountains and desert and is pretty much in the centre of Australia. The town itself is reasonably modern, they have most of the big shops and good supplies of pretty much everything. I checked into my hostel here at around 7pm and am now in a 10-bed share. Fun times! Managed to bag a decent bed and got some food at the bar. Fish and chips for only $5! I felt obliged to get a couple of beers as well as apparently the town relies on tourist income to survive, so I had to help. Went out to the garden/pool area and they were showing Gladiator on a big screen. Picked a spot on the grass and watched the movie. Looking up you have the clearest view of the stars (I guess because were in the middle of no-where). It was pretty wicked.
Got some decent sleep until around 7am when randomly we had beethoven and Mozart pumped into the hostel sound system. Not sure why. But it was an early start then. Had a shower in the 1 shower to 10 people bathroom. The lock doesn't work so I figured it was just a matter of time before somebody walked in on me. I guess hostels kind of get you used to that kind of thing, so I wasnt too bothered. As it turns out nobody did, but glancing out the window I realised I just showered in full view of the other block. I guess you close the blind BEFORE you shower. Ah well.
Its bloody hot today. Just been for a wander round the town and had a full english breakfast. It's culture week today which means theres a big fair type thing in the middle of town. Lots of people selling junk to the tourists. I wonder if its culture week every week? Or maybe thats just the sceptic in me. Not much else planned today, might take a wander out into the bush (but not too far as its hot). This evening they are playing Amelie, so not sure if thats worth bothering with.... Tomorrow I'm getting the Ghan train up to Darwin, with a brief stop off in Katherine. Its about 1500km and takes around 24hours on the train (inc. the stop off). So I have a book ready for that.
Will probably post again in a few days.
Bye for now.
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