Tuesday October 27
After several date and time changes we finally left for Alice Springs on QF at 9:30am arriving 11:00am local time. There also had been lots of uncertainty whether or not this trip would go ahead as the NT border only opened to Sydney-siders on Oct 9. We originally booked the trip June 19 when we received a half-price offer for Longitude 131, one of the Bailey Lodges.
We arrived in Alice, passed the border control checkpoint, collected our SUV and checked into the Quest apartment hotel on the banks of the Todd River (which is dry 99% of the time). The Quest is about 1.2 k’s from the town center but all hotels are a bit outside.
We headed into town to do some grocery shopping and find a light lunch - this was a serious challenge - very few options were available but we finally found something. We got groceries for brekkie and cut lunches. Later in the evening we headed out for dinner to Saltbush at the Doubletree hotel about 1.6 k’s walk away. The dinner was pretty good - lamb and salmon. We took a taxi home - $10.
Wednesday October 28
After brekkie we toured the Royal Flying Doctor Museum - the highlight being the virtual reality section. Dieter then had a doctor’s appointment for his persistent leg "rash” - new diagnosis was ringworm - new ointment required. After lunch at home - we visited the Desert Park - quite an amazing place - walking around in the 35C was a bit trying but with extremely low humidity we managed. We went to Tali at the Casino for dinner - again pretty good - salmon and barra.
Thursday October 29
After an early brekkie we drove to the Botanical Gardens around 8am to have a look around and walk up a small hill where rock wallabies can be spotted in the early morning - we were not disappointed seeing at least 6 as well as a few regular wallabies. After a short break we drove to Simpson’s Gap (about 20 k’s outside of Alice) - here we walked into the gap and again spotted a couple of rock wallabies. We then did a short walk to Cassia Hill for a view of the gap and surrounding ranges.
After lunch at home we went to the cultural center, the best part of which was the aviation museum. By this time it was 38C so not condusive to too much activity. Then a bit more shopping, back home and dinner at Saltbush again.
Friday October 30
A perfect day for touring around and doing a bit of walking - high of 30C. First stop was Stanley Chasm where did a strenuous hike to a lookout. Next up was Ellery Creek Big Hole where did a bit of walk but turned around after 20 minutes as it wasn’t very interesting - we had half our packed lunch here sitting at a picnic table but the flies made it very unpleasant. Final stop was Serpentine Gorge where we did another hike up to a lookout (15 minute steep climb) - on top Dieter found a camera and some binos - after debating what to do with them we took them with us - fortunatey Dieter found the owner who was still at the water hole - she had not even realised she’s left it behind. We finished off our sambos sitting in the car. It was then a 100k drive back to Alice. We had another dinner at Saltbush - we were again pretty happy.
