Days 1-3.
We decided to visit daughter number two and son in law at Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory and spend a few days having a look around Alice Springs as well. Caught an early flight out of Sydney, on the budget airline, Tigerair. We hadn’t flown with this airline before, but it was a third of the cost of flying with Qantas so we went with it. Seating was tight and I am sure that the airline has squeezed in an extra row or two of seats, but it was only for a few hours and we were landing in Alice Springs in next to no time.
Picked up out Hyundi hire car and headed off to the Gidday Mate caravan park, near Heavytree Gap for the next three nights until Chris and Alison arrived from Tennant Creek.
Drove into town for lunch at the Water Tank cafe, which was nice, and then did some shopping in town. Cooked a barbeque dinner that night and turned in early for a good rest.
There is a bit to see in the township itself, so today we went and visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starting off with a nice coffee and vanilla slice before looking through the museum. There was an interesting video presentation which showed the remote areas serviced by the RFDS and the daunting landing areas facing the pilots. The RFD service is free to all who require it in the remote areas of Australia. The ‘guide’ who gave the talk after the movie gave the wrong information on a few medical terms, but in all, it was a good visit. Dr Google keeps us informed these days, so no mistakes go unnoticed. I cooked spaghetti tonight for the arrival of Chris and Alison.
Yet another morning of shopping and then a visit to the Reptile Park. Ali and Chris are locals so they got in for a fraction of our admittance price. The park is well set out and the displays are very good.
One of the talks encourages participation, in that you get to hold some of the lizards and rather large snakes, if you wish. well worth a visit if you are staying at Alice Springs. There are plenty of things to see and do around the town or within 20 minutes drive so don’t miss out on seeing places you may only see once in your lifetime.
Went to a cafe for lunch, where the theme and name of the place featured a book. The cafe was called Page 27. Chris ate a whole chapter for lunch. We had dinner at Uncles Bar later that night and they had the biggest chicken parmas I have ever seen.
As in many remote areas, there can be a problem with alcohol consumption and that is also the case in this town. There are Police stationed at every liquor outlet and you need to show I.D. and also explain where you are going to consume the alcohol. Spirits and wine are only sold between certain hours. A very sad situation to which the answer is elusive.