Alice Springs

Alice Springs

• Slept well in Arvi, the nights are cool so we open the windows and have a nice breeze. Can see the moon and stars through our bedroom skylight window. 
• Mojo sleeps well in his bed separated from us by the bathroom door!! When we stir in the mornings he is awake and waiting for a cuddle on the bed! Oh to be a pampered pooch! He had a wash in the automatic dog wash but did manage one houdini escape!!
• Alice Springs  was settled in the 1800's  and is surrounded by a sea of red sand and mountains, the east and West McDonnell ranges. It attracted many famous pioneering characters- legendary explorers like John Mcdougall Stuart who led an expedition through the Centre to the North. Also miners, cattlemen, and prospectors. projects such as the establishment of the  in 1927
• Great tea at an Asian restaurant The Hanuman in the Hilton Hotel. 
• Brother David and wife Ginna flew in and we picked them up at the airport, showed them out campsite and then headed off to the Telegraph Station. The Overland Telegraph Line was to run from Adelaide to Darwin. A repeater station was located alongside a waterhole which was named Alice Springs.  The spring however turned out to be a temporary waterhole which only fills after extended rain!! The line was completed in 1872. 
• Gold was discovered in 1887 in Artlunge 100kms east of Alice.  
• Afghan Cameleers drove camel trains across the desert to provide essential supplies from the rail head at Oodnadatta to Alice Springs. 
• The railway from Adelaide to Alice was completed in 1929 replacing the camel trains! 
• Until the 1930's alice Springs official name was Stuart but was changed to avoid confusion! 
• We had a picnic in a lovely bush setting by the Todd River with wine to accompany the chicken rolls! 
• Sunset at Anzac Hill  which has a great view of the town and surrounding rages and we were treated to a fabulous sunset while we sipped on a white wine  with a cheese platter! It is a memorial to lives lost in all world conflicts but this afternoon was the end of a local bicycle race in which everyone dressed up- think where's wally, the flying nun, doctors in scrubs! 
•  Dinner was at Epilogue in a roof top area with real vertical gardens and open to the sky! It was Open Mike night so were were treated to local talent including our very own Daniel Lyne. who was the best by far in our unbiased opinion. We even had a dance at the end along with some of the soccer teams who were competing at the Masters games on in Alice while we were here.