March 17

Awoke to sunshine and heat, less humidity but doesn’t matter when it’s this hot.  The buffet breakfast was incredible, Asian and Indian foods, eggs cooked anyway you can imagine, fancy Danish and much more.  Bus to Uluru airport.  Guide handles all our check in.  The top secret military base Aus and US is nearby so they’re a little more careful but nothing like what we go through.  The plane is all tourists heading for Alice Springs.  It’s a 40 minute trip of about 520 miles.  Landed in Alice Springs, nice airport but still pretty small with nice artwork.  We are boarding planes and departing planes from outside ladders so careful with steep steps.  Pam from Aberdeen fell this morning by tripping and has broken her upper right arm in two places.  Must wait until AS to get ER.  Bus directly to a stop downtown for lunch and shopping.  The downtown is small with shops and cafes in a pedestrian area.  The biggest find is the fabric store specializing in AB patterns. It was a candy store for Pat.  In the end only bought a few things, will probably regret not buying more!  A quick walk around the little town.  AB people sitting in small groups on the ground, very distinctive looking and body types.  Guide tells us they did not migrate from Africa 60,000 years ago but from Persia, they are actually Caucasian but skin has darkened over years of exposure.  Their language is not recognizable in any way.  We pick up a few school supplies to donate to the two children’s performances we will be seeing.  The larger religious denominations are instrumental in programs and boarding high risk AB children.  Visit the historic Telegraph office and learn about early days in AS and how communications developed since 1800’s.  Then we stop off at the original school of the air.  It used to be radio to radio and mailed texts and materials. Criteria is a child must live more than 50 miles away.  Now it’s mostly Internet and mailed materials.  The school serves remote children up to year 9.  These children receive very personalized education one on one with teacher.  They tend to be in the top 10% achievement bracket throughout their nation.  The AS school base serves students one thousand miles each way.  There are several other school of the air in various other states. The Royal Flying Doctors is based here too.  This is a volunteer service that flies into remote towns for clinics etc.  Remote stations are required to have landing strips.  Stop at ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Hill, a memorial commemorating all the wars Aus and NZ have served.  Now called peacekeeping and not war.  It is a great view of the whole area including the strange rock formations surrounding.  AS has the purest water in Aus, all below ground in an aquifer.  We arrive at the Alice Springs Double Tree Hotel where we are greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies. The resident peacock named Andrew is posing for a picture.  The grounds are an oasis of water features and foliage.  Nice pool, but no time to enjoy unless we miss the children’s presentation.  At the hotel we are presented with area AB children who drum and dance for us.  Chuck plays one of rhythm instruments.  Our bus then takes us to an outback barbeque.  We drive out of town into the bush and dirt road to a camp set up for cook out and music.  Only desert surrounds us and have to use a long drop toilet (outhouse).  The property sits on the edge of 450k acres of cattle ranch; getting to understand the vast openness of the Northern Territory. Good music with a nod to St Pat Day and food.  We are treated to Speckled Dog made in Dutch ovens over a campfire.  A currant scone type cake eaten with butter and syrup. Yum!  An astrologer is onsite to guide us on the southern constellations.  We are so remote we have no light pollution.  But the clouds have moved and so we will not see the southern cross.  Then all of a sudden the clouds part and there it is!  It is found on the Aus flag (5 stars with 1 big star for Aus). We opt to stop briefly at the Lassiter casino.  We are not fans of gambling but wanted to say we were there.  Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was partly filmed there.  We put $5 in penny slots and walk out with over $25.00!  Walk home with our winnings.  Another plane trip tomorrow heading for Darwin directly north and a little west.  Back into the tropics but in the north and center of the country.  We have entered the Northern Territory and will be in it two more days.  There are some sad aspects for the present day AB people. It seems Euro Australians are making headway in their acceptance and promotion of their health and wellbeing and respecting their land rights.  Aus’s biggest business is tourism and these areas are trying to meet the need.  Alice Springs thrives because of US government support in subsidizing housing and supporting businesses.  The US military is quite an influence here with the shared top secret communications service.  Not sure how we feel about this tug on our taxes!  Off to bed another great day in this fine country.