Monday 28th May - Alice Springs

Around Alice



Gecko at Desert Park, Alice Springs

Today we did not venture too far.  I went to the Desert Park just on the edge of town and John attended to some housekeeping duties.  A couple of things needed fixing in the caravan and the car windscreen needed repair as it was chipped by a flying stone a few days ago and we didn't want it getting worse.







4 trailer road train in Alice Springs

John saw the biggest road train yet driving through Alice.

The Desert Park is run by the NT government and enables visitors to see animals that live in the desert at close quarters.  As many are nocturnal this is the only way to see them.  The park is very well presented and I was amazed by the diversity of small marsupials that live in the desert.  They range from tiny mouse size creatures up to cat sized mala wallabies.  They are all nocturnal and mostly live in burrows during the day.



In the afternoon we visited the Pioneer Women's museum which is housed in the former Alice Springs jail.  Very interesting and sobering to realise how tough those women had it trying to raise families and hold it all together in such a forbidding environment.

Ghan at Alice Springs

We finished the day taking a look at the Ghan which comes through from Adelaide on Mondays and stops for about 4 hours before continuing on to Darwin.  The total journey takes 48 hours.  Anyone can wander onto the railway platform so we went for a closer look.  We estimated the train to be about 750m long and it includes a railcar to transport vehicles as some people make the train journey one way and then drive back.