We flew from Melbourne, 5.6 million people, with its urbanscape and numerous green gardens to the red sand, salt flats and red-dirt roads near the small town of Alice Springs, 25,000 people. Our first stop was the Historical Telegraph Station. In 1872, Europeans settled in Alice Springs and established the Overland Telegraph Line to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide using Samuel Morse’s code! Long story regarding the name of Alice Springs, but suffice it to know, Alice never made it here and there is no spring.

We visited Anzac Hill Lookout, a memorial for all Australians who fought in wars and a place to look out on Alice Springs. I remember reading about Anzac biscuits put in the comfort parcels that families sent to their military men in Australia and New Zealand. The eggless biscuit is made from rolled oats, flour and golden syrup are still popular in Australia. I have not seen one yet. We are not going into the town’s center because of recent street violence. I’m sure we’ll here more about it to understand the current local conflict.

We stopped at a “bottle shop” where people can buy alcohol. The shop is open limited hours and closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. There is a limit of what you can buy per day. Police check identification at the drive thru area or your identification is checked if you opt to walk in the store to make your purchase. If you have any infraction on your license you cannot buy alcohol.

Tonight we had our dinner at a local golf club and played lawn bowling. Similar to bocce but with a ball, called a bowl, with the goal for one to roll it toward and end up closest to a small white ball, a “jack”. The bowls though have a bias. This means they are heavier on one side causing it to curve when the ball/bowl is rolled. Very interesting trying to determine the best way to roll the bowl. Fun game!

The next day we drove further into the Desert Outback and stopped at Simpson’s Gap in the West MacDonnell Mountain Range. The red cliffs and landscape, along with the warm temperature reminds me of Sedona, Arizona and Moab, Utah. Plenty of hiking and biking trails in this area. For the longer Larapinta Trail, only experienced hikers should be on it.

Standley Chasm is a geologic formation where traditionally only women were allowed to visit. In this area, they would collect bush medicines and perform sacred rites. It is a private aboriginal property and business. There is the trail to the chasm and you’ll end where it is sacred land and you can go no further. Also a cafe and caravan/camping area.

We drove back to Alice Springs. Here’s a peek at what the scenery looked like when we were not looking at red rocks:

A few of us visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service. To be honest, I became aware of these individuals while watching a PBS television program by the same name! I loved the work they in the story were doing and added it to my list of places to check out when in Australia. Here I was visiting their museum and yes, there will be additional tv series. Anyway, there are now 73 planes in the Australian territories dedicated to the health care and emergencies; apparently the flying doctor airlifts 8 Territorians every day. The service also provides dental care, telemedicine, and education so all have access to good medicine.

In the heart of the Outback is a 100 acre sustainable living center where we enjoyed dinner. After selecting a drink, we saw “damper” being made. It was bread made by Australian aboriginals, yet the recipe we were shown was modernized with beer added to self-rising flour and raisins. It was not thrown into hot coals as once done; oven on site was used. The resulting bread was a thick, homemade bread… simple! Our dinner was beef and chicken with roasted potatoes and pumpkin, salads and sticky date for dessert. (I must find out how to make the sticky date dessert as I loved it!)

We were shown a “swag”. It is a rolled bedroll and when laid out you are on a comfortable mattress and able to enjoy star-gazing for hours on end. Unfortunately the clouds were here and we had no stars to see. A musical instrument was also shown, yet I missed those details. Overall, a good visit at Earth Sanctuary where they have groups, school groups and others attend to learn about sustainable living, camping and star-gazing. Another great day comes to an end.