Day 15 - Last Day in Alice
Alice SpringsSaturday, 6 August 2011
Cathy was planning to leave at 9:45, so we got up and had breakfast and started our packing. The taxi arrived on time and we said a tearful goodbye to our dear friend who had looked after us so well.
After we had waved her off, we left our cases in the hotel luggage room and walked into Alice.
We went to the bus depo to book our airport transfer and then got in a cab heading out to the original telegraph station on the outskirts of Alice Springs.
We spent about an hour looking around the telegraph station. This station came into being in 1872 when the telegraph line between Adelaide and Darwin was joined here. This meant that news could now be transmitted from London to Adelaide, although every word of the news had to be transmitted through Alice Springs via Morse code. The station had several station-masters, all of whom worked around nine years and had a fairly isolated existence. There are interesting photos to look at and buildings to walk around.
Afterwards, we walked back to Alice Springs following the Todd River (which is, of course, dry). We did see the original Alice Springs (Alice was originally called Stuart but Charles Todd renamed the town after the springs and his wife, Alice, who actually never visited).
The walk was about 6km and was dry and dusty but.... we saw two kangaroos in the wild, which was amazing and more than made up for me missing the kangaroo from the bus. The first roo, was sleeping under a tree and, ignoring the protests of my family, I crept up to it to get a good photo. When it sat up it was obviously a big male and I beat a hasty retreat whilst whistling 'Waltzing Matilda' quietly. The second roo was sitting by the pathway and seemed to hop along with us as we walked. Cool.
When we got back into Alice, I had a sudden urge to buy a didgeridoo and we did. It's quite a big one and hard to play (perhaps it's broken, but strangely the man in the shop seemed to be able to play it) but we're all going to try and learn when we get home.
We picked up our bus transfer, and headed for the airport. The bus driver had a few minutes to spare and very kindly took us up to the top of Anzac Hill so we could take some photos before doing the rest of the pick-ups.
Our flight left at 17:20. The flight was only half full so we could stretch out and we arrived in Cairns at 20:35 (there is half an hour time difference). We picked up our hire car, a silver Mitsubishi Outlander 4x4, and drove to Palm Cove which is approximately 14km north of Cairns. Our hotel is called Mango Lagoon and we have a two bedroomed apartment which is huge, modern and pretty luxurious. it is actually a wellness spa and there is a 25m lap pool just outside our door.
A quick drink then off to bed.
 | Telegraph Station Info [Map] |  | Telegraph Station [Map] |
 | Original Alice Springs [Map] |  | Walking back along Todd River [Map] |
 | Big male roo! [Map] |  | Stalking roo [Map] |
 | Peepo! [Map] |  | Anzac Hill [Map] |
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I remember visiting the Telegraph station in Alice. I love the light in the centre of Australia - I don't think there's anywhere else quite like it. You were lucky not to get boxed by that large kangaroo - maybe it didn't like your rendition of Waltzing Matilda and kept it's distance. Sue x
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