Day: 076
Date: Tuesday, 15 September 2020
Start: Alice Springs
Finish: Alice Springs
Daily Kilometres: 0 (click here for Julie's Strava and photos of our walk)
Total Kilometres: 7843
Weather: Very warm, sunny and breezy
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Eggs Benedict, bacon & hash browns
Lunch: Chicken salad rolls
Dinner: Mexicana schnitzel, salad & chips/House special schnitzel, salad & chips, ice cream
Aches: Nothing significant
Highlight: The Parrtjima Festival indigenous-themed sound and light show at the Alice Springs Desert Park was superb and busy on a balmy evening. Apart from some brilliantly-lit standing exhibits, the main show, during which lasers were used to light up the bush and high mountain backdrop, was spectacular. They told a story of the land and seasons from the indigenous perspective accompanied by low-key commentary and appropriate music. We heard the festival, which had been postponed from earlier in the year because of COVID-19, wasn't as big this year, so maybe we'll have to come back.
Lowlight: None really
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
The day started lazily, with breakfast at the motel cafe at 8:30am, after which we set out to walk to the old telegraph station via Anzac Hill. It was another beautiful morning and after a short climb to the top of Anzac Hill we had exceptional 360° views over the city and out to its surrounding mountains.
We then descended to the Riverside Walk, a shared cycle/pedestrian path, and followed that north alongside the dry Todd River through beautiful desert country. The muted greens of the tree foliage contrasted with the pure white of the ghost gum trunks, the orange reds of the soil and boulders, the clear blue skies, and occasionally the yellows of blossoms. After a detour via the Bradshaw Walk through rocky terrain, we reached the historic Telegraph Station, the oldest structure in central Australia, dating from the mid-1870s. It is located next to the original "Alice Spring" and was a critical part of the telegraph line built at that time to link Adelaide to Darwin, and from there, to the rest of the world. It was an incredible engineering feat, given that the first explorer, Stuart, only made the journey for the first time less than 10 years earlier.
The historic buildings were well preserved and labelled, and although the site was officially closed today for some maintenance work, one of the rangers offered to let us inside the main buildings to look around. We were the only visitors to the site and enjoyed our leisurely look around the very interesting buildings and displays.
By the time we walked back into town, it was lunchtime and we ate at a bakery in the Todd Mall before picking up some supplies for tomorrow and returning to our motel for an easy afternoon.
After taking advantage of the Tuesday night schnitzel specials at the motel's tavern, we walked to Todd Mall and caught a shuttle bus 8km out to the spectacular Parrtjima Festival at the Alice Springs Desert Park. It was well worth the visit (see above), even though we had been keen for an early night. We happened to catch the same shuttle bus to and from the park as an English couple who had migrated to Australia in the 1970s ("Ten Pound Poms") and had lived in Alice Springs for 43 years. We had a nice chat, and they confirmed our impression that it was a good place to live. We were back at the motel by 8pm, so still got our early night.
No comments:
Post a Comment