Alice Springs

After leaving the Reptile Center, we hit up a couple more museums in Alice Springs. First stop was the Royal Doctor Flying Service museum. As in Broken Hill, we took the tour but learned little new information. There was lots of focus on John Flynn, the founder, since he lived in the Northern Territory. We did get to see inside a mock up of one the planes. This is a little startling. The space inside small when you consider that there will be times when the patient will need serious assistance and this is going to be tricky.



After the RFDS, we headed to the Pioneer Womens Museum. This is a place dedicated to honoring the many strong, ambitious women that helped bring the Northern Territory and Australia into the modern world.

Rather than show you photos of women or details that require long explanations to have make sense (we did some reading here), I'll just show so drawings make by a woman (for women) in the CWA. The Country Women's Association is the largest women's association in Australia and played (and continues to play) a central role in supporting successful women in an uncompromising environment. This images show a light hearted look at the role of women and the life they share.

Today we did some scouting about town to see a bit of it. Not much here even though this is the second largest town in the Northern Territory. In fact, it is a bit like Johannesburg: all the properties have fences (although without razor wire at the top). Our hotel has a gated parking lot that lock at dark and we have to use our keycard to get in and out. The Northern Territory has the highest crime rate in the country and Alice Springs is the murder capital of the nation. We are busy being careful.

Things here are expensive, understandably, since it is a long drive to get here. Fuel is cheaper than on the Great Central Road, but still well above $180/liter.

On a trip to the grocery in a small shopping center, we parked under part of the building in the shade. When we returned to the ute, the gps would not turn on. It seems to have died. Since we are in the middle of a month long road trip, it seemed prudent to react and replace it. No way to use Google maps on a cell phone out here. There's no cell service between towns. so we bought a new gps.

It turns out that the old one had only overheated and shutdown to protect itself. We found about a week later that the old still worked and we've been using it ever since. We are now trying to sell the new one since it only has Australia maps. It does have a delightful lilting accent that is pleasant relief from the flatter voiced American one.