Day 9 - Wednesday February 21, 2024 - Touring Alice Springs

By Ellen Outten

 

Alice Springs Desert Park

It was a really busy day, today.  The heat, 192, and the flies, don't forget the flies, made it a bit challenging. 

We left the hotel at 7:45 am and headed to a zoological park.  We had a private guide that gave us a wealth of knowledge of the Aboriginal tribes that have inhabited Australia for over 40,000 years.  

On the bus ride there, our driver stopped because he didn't want to run over a train of caterpillars crossing the road.  This train has  over 50 caterpillars joined together in order to cross the road.

The straight line is the train of caterpillars

Later in the park, we saw another one, smaller but I was able to take a close up picture.


We learned about some of the plants and went into a nocturnal building housing many critters, including some snakes that come out only in the dark.  

Australian Bustard

One of our group demonstrated how they hunted and gathered seeds to grind and make flour.

From there we walked to an amphitheatre where we watched a bird show. The trainer was able to have them fly just over our heads by feeding them mealworms.


Barn owl


Eagle  cracked the Emu's egg behind him with a pebble that he picked up with his beak and kept dropping it only egg in order to crack it. Then he ate the egg inside.

The bird trainer

We left the zoological park at 10:30 and we're driven to Stanley Chasm.  There was one and a half mile walk come around trip to see the cliff cliffs and the chasm in between. By that time it was after 11:00 a.m. and I passed. 

The heat of the day and the ferocity of the flies, made me take shelter in the cafe eating area. It wasn't air conditioned, but they were overhead fans which kept most of the flies away from us.

We had lunch there and were back on the bus at about 1:00 p.m.  We made another stop for just a short 30 minute hike at 102° to see Simpson's Gap. I passed on this one too and stayed on the bus. Our driver was nice enough to leave the air conditioner running on the bus during this short period.

Simpsons Gap from the bus

The rest of the day was pretty good as far as heat goes. Our next stop was at the Alice Springs School of the Air. Since Australia is so large and there are people living hundreds and hundreds of miles away from any form of town or city, they have, since 1951, had a online school. It was really interesting to hear how it was started and how many children attend the school, back in the beginning by two-way radio and, now of course, bye satellite transmission.

We saw a movie and then were able to go into the studio where the teachers transmit their classes.








From the Alice Springs School of the Air, we were driven to Anzac Hill. (Australia New Zealand Army Corp).  This is a war memorial dedicated to all of the battles that Australians have fought in. The monument and the plaques showed how many wars the Australians have assisted with. It's so easy for us Americans to forget the assistance we received from many of our allies.







Our last stop of the day was at the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Again because of the vastness of this country, there are people needing medical assistance that don't have any kind of doctor nearby. You can call or radio this service and they will fly in, assess you and if needed fly you to a hospital which might be 300 miles away. There was a great story about a pregnant woman who, at 24 weeks, lost her water. Had they not called the service and been able to pick her up, her baby certainly wouldn't be alive today.



What a day. It was long and hot and don't forget the flies! BWe leave here, tomorrow, at 9:45 a.m.  We get to sleep in, if only we could.   We are being flown to Sydney where there are far fewer flies and cooler temperatures. Tomorrow it looks like Sydney will be in the high 70s.









Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2024 at 6:25 AM

    Caterpillar train, School of the Air, and Royal Flying Doctor Service very cool 😎

    ReplyDelete

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