The next couple of days involved two longish legs of the trip - a six hour bus ride back to Alice Springs and then a 20 hour train down to Adelaide. This truly was shaping up to be a planes, trains and automobiles adventure. I was really looking forward to the overnight train ride as I still have some fond and romantic memories of riding the train to Matisse as a kid. We had to get through the bus ride though and once again our planning involved keeping Alex's stomach happy.
As we boarded the bus in Ayers Rock, Linton and the boys stormed the front seats thus ensuring Alex a place where he could see the road. This was perhaps not as necessary as it might have been on the earlier leg of the journey because as far as I could tell, the road to Alice Springs was going to be straight and then straighter! Unfortunately, just as we pulled out onto the highway we were told that anyone going on to "Alice" would have to change buses because our bus wasn't working properly. After an hour or so - one in which we dodged cows and wild horses wandering all over the road - we got on another coach - without the front seats - and headed on to Alice Springs.
I loved the signs on this part of the journey where gas was "the last gas for 300 kms". Maps also talked about not leaving the road without enough drinking water and if you get lost, "never leave your car". All of these warnings were for more adventurous types than us. Those not reclining in their air-conditioned coach watching a movie and playing Nintendo. Yet we were still "doing" the outback, smack dab in the middle of this enormous continent and the hours of endless scrub and rolling red plains made the place feel remote and possibly, even a little bit extreme. A pee break in a place called the Desert Oaks Resort will make me question the use of the word resort forever and again. A glorified gas station with a bar attached this place had suprisingly clean toilets - no need to condemn - and a giant echidna and frilled lizard. Bizarre stuff. If you had wandered in off the desert you might truly think you were hallucinating.
Although advertised as a six hour drive, time seemed to fly by and without even a gurggle from Allie's little tum and soon we were slowing down in the outskirts of Alice Springs. Another place named after someone's girlfriend and for a pool of water that was not actually a spring, "Alice" is a large town of 28,000 that was originally founded as a telegraph station. Mining interests and the US military have also made it home and its number one industry is tourism. I was surprised with how green everything was but I also had to remind myself that just a week prior they had had flooding deep enough to bury some roads.
We were staying in the Crowne Plaza which proved to be a very big, very nice, but very empty hotel. Once again the boys were in the pool before you could say "Extra towels, please". I set about securing some beverages for mom and dad (pictured) and ordering some room service Thai food. We would leave our exploration of the town for morning.
The next day, our train to Adelaide was departing at 3:00, so we had loads of time to hang out and explore "Alice". To be honest, we both felt that we were not quite the right demographic for the town as the museums and galleries catered to adults, older children and those interested in doing some serious outback trekking. Nevertheless we walked around Todd Mall which is the main shopping area and actually bought a small piece of aboriginal art that we both liked and was sold by a very funny and helpful salesman. He was selling me big time but in a way that was fun, respectful and informative. I pretty well had to buy something! There were in fact many, many interesting stores and cafes and I spent quite a bit of time pricing digiredoos. I think I want one, but I'm not sure why.
The rest of the morning was spent in the pool, and checking email with these very convenient computers that gave you 10 minutes online for a two dollar coin. A veritable steal. But with all of the seeming luxury of internet and swimming pool, the experience in Alice was one of stark contrasts. While we sipped our lattes and admired our clever art purchase, I watched as a very dishevelled aboriginal man in barefeet (they're almost all in barefeet), ask a cafe waiter to open a can for him. I don't know what was in the can, I hope beefaroni, but off he went with a fork stuck in the can presumably to have lunch. The now dry river bed that snakes through town played host to numerous campsites of half clothed aboriginal kids and women. My assumption is that they camped right on the river having come into town from the outback, because the river didn't technically belong to anyone. So there was less chance of getting kicked off. There were no tents. No sleeping bags. Just people, and stuff scattered everywhere in the cool shade of the trees. Quiet, shy, reserved or simply tired of being stared at, I didn't exchange a single word with any of them and yet, I couldn't shake a deep feeling of dismay for the way many of these people have been forced to live their life. I'm not sure what they would prefer, but this can't be it - can it?
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