This morning was a relaxed get up, then a lovely continental breakfast at the hotel. It felt good getting both blogs up yesterday, though not sure if the singing dingo video every got added. We ran out of time and I didn’t want to buy any more. Telsat has a monopoly with the hotels in Australia, so can and do charge just about whatever they want.
Anyway – after breakfast we went exploring Alice Springs. It is an interesting town with a great deal of focus on the Aboriginal Community. We opted not to take a tour, but use our feet. We wandered down the Todd River – which, as you can see looks more like a stream.
Our guide/driver yesterday told us that it is an ‘upside-down’ river in that, with the exception of very wet times like now, the river is always dry, 
but if you dig down about a half a meter you find lots of water. The water table in Alice Springs is very close to the surface – hence the vegetation – albeit vegetation that only grows in arid climates. The gum or Eucalyptus trees that grow along the river bank are very old, some as many as 400 years. They are in danger from the changing climate and the increasing levels of salt in the artesian wells below ground.
We stopped in at the local mall where they have a traditional Aussie Christmas display.
Our guide/driver yesterday told us that it is an ‘upside-down’ river in that, with the exception of very wet times like now, the river is always dry, 
but if you dig down about a half a meter you find lots of water. The water table in Alice Springs is very close to the surface – hence the vegetation – albeit vegetation that only grows in arid climates. The gum or Eucalyptus trees that grow along the river bank are very old, some as many as 400 years. They are in danger from the changing climate and the increasing levels of salt in the artesian wells below ground.We stopped in at the local mall where they have a traditional Aussie Christmas display.
After exploring all the gift shops and galleries we had a bite of lunch at the Jolly Swagman Café and then walked over to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. Here we saw a wide variety of native plants, and had the opportunity to talk to the horticulturalist that was tending the plants. It was very interesting and hot – 34 degrees. This picture of Harry is with a desert Oak tree that I spoke about in yesterday’s blog. This is a tree somewhere a little over 25 years old. It’s trunk is beginning to fill in, and it is quite tall though still looks like a feather duster. No traditional Oak leaves here! 
We headed over by cab to the airport for our flight to Cairns and the next segment of our journey. As we landed in Cairns it was raining, and Barb was thinking – good thing I have my sweater handy, but as we stepped from the plane, despite the rain – it was hot – something akin to stepping into a sauna. Once we got to our hotel – The Balinese Motel it was dark, and we were glad for the air conditioning. We took a wee venture across the street to buy some necessary mix for drinks, and as Harry walked out of the air conditioned Convenience store – his glasses steamed up (and Barb had nothing to do with that!).
We have a rented car for the balance of our trip, have nothing planned after January 2nd except our flight out of Melbourne on the 20th of January. The distance is in excess 3000 km – there are a couple of must sees along the way – but it should be fun! Stay tuned!
By the way – if you had checked out yesterday’s blog earlier, we have subsequently added a wee video – about a Dinky the Singing Dingo – for a good laugh – you might want to click and watch.
We headed over by cab to the airport for our flight to Cairns and the next segment of our journey. As we landed in Cairns it was raining, and Barb was thinking – good thing I have my sweater handy, but as we stepped from the plane, despite the rain – it was hot – something akin to stepping into a sauna. Once we got to our hotel – The Balinese Motel it was dark, and we were glad for the air conditioning. We took a wee venture across the street to buy some necessary mix for drinks, and as Harry walked out of the air conditioned Convenience store – his glasses steamed up (and Barb had nothing to do with that!).
We have a rented car for the balance of our trip, have nothing planned after January 2nd except our flight out of Melbourne on the 20th of January. The distance is in excess 3000 km – there are a couple of must sees along the way – but it should be fun! Stay tuned!
By the way – if you had checked out yesterday’s blog earlier, we have subsequently added a wee video – about a Dinky the Singing Dingo – for a good laugh – you might want to click and watch.
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