Alice Springs is like an urban oasis in the middle of the red outback
Oh take me back up north, where you can wear shorts and thongs and the T-shirt is optional. The Red Centre is freezing (well, it's freezing, when it's not bloody hot). It's funny how you dream of cold mornings when you're stuck in the muggy sweat shop they call Darwin, but it's a different matter when you wake up and, no, you can't feel your feet, your fingers just can't get the hang of fumbling the radio on, and your breath is frosting in the early morning air (it gets to 2°C at night at this time of year). I kept thinking of thick walls, cosy fireplaces and warm mugs of ale, but I got something even more delightful: the first cold milk on my Coco Pops since Perth. What a way to start the day!
Despite the temperature, Alice Springs was a delight. Considering how remote it is – there's a rather tacky signpost in the centre of town showing just how remote it is from various famous cities of the world, but no, I didn't waste a photo on it – it's remarkably modern and enjoyable. True, the historic buildings in the town aren't terribly historic, but that's more than made up for by the fascinating Old Telegraph Station, some 2km north of town, to which there's a scenic walk up the Todd River. This is interesting if only because it shows how utterly dry the area is: the Todd River doesn't flow that much, and when it does it's not for long, and when I walked along it, there wasn't a drop to be seen. There's an annual event in Alice Springs called Henley-on-Todd, and – you guessed it – it's a rowing contest. The difference? The boats don't have bottoms so the crews' legs stick out the bottom, and they run along the river-bed; how ironic, then, that the river flooded in 1974, and the regatta had to be abandoned because there was too much water...
The Todd River flows through the centre of Alice Springs and plays host to the annual Henley-on-Todd regatta
The Old Telegraph Station is great – it's a wonderful balance of historical buildings, museum and walking tracks, with a superb guide booklet that you get for your A$2.50 entry fee. This describes the story of the overland telegraph line, built in the 1870s from Adelaide to Darwin to connect the colony to London, and fills out the buildings with considerable historic atmosphere. Actually, Alice Springs does its tourism bits rather well, as ANZAC Hill, a lookout over the town, also had some excellent information plaques explaining the view: they almost kept my mind off the freezing winds whistling through the three layers I had on.
If you don't believe how cold it gets in The Alice, how about this. I've got two mugs that have made it all the way round Australia with me, holding more cups of tea than most mugs would hold in a lifetime. When I brewed up on the afternoon of Monday 19th, after a day's sightseeing, the boiling water cracked one mug from top to bottom. Go on, tell me it wasn't cold...
