Alice Springs Australia
is a great
desert town right in the middle of Australia.
It used to be a telegraph station like Barrow Creek, Tennant Creek and
other small places along Stuart Highway, but somehow it took off and
today it is a thriving city with 25,000 people.
The old telegraph
station is still here, and other places to visit are the Cultural
Precinct and Museum of
Central Australia; Boomerang Art Gallery, the Billy
Goat Hill lookout point, and the famous, and excellent, Alice Springs
Reptile
Centre. Alice is a great place to use as a base while discovering the
Red Centre.
Alice Springs view from Anzac Hill by c_neuhaus via Flickr.com
Todd Mall and Adelaide House - Alice Springs Australia
As with many Australian cities, there is a pedestrian shopping mall in
the middle of the city, called the Todd Mall. It’s a nice central
shopping
mall with restaurants, markets and shops in Alice Plaza; the John Flynn
Memorial Church and the historical Adelaide House, one of the town's
heritage buildings which was built in the 1920s and is now the museum
of
John Flynn who founded the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame - Alice Springs
Australia
North of the Todd Mall is the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame
where you can learn everything about the early women in Australia. If
you like Halls of Fame (the most famous one is the Australian
Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach),
there is another one:
National Road Transport Hall of Fame 14km south of Alice.
Todd Mall. by katgerste via Flickr.com
Alice Springs Cultural Precinct and Museum of Central
Australia
West of the town centre there is an area called Alice Springs Cultural
Precinct which includes many historical and cultural attractions. The Museum
of Central Australia has exhibits of Aboriginal
culture, meteorites and
natural history including Australia’s extinct megafauna fossils.
Museum. by mazzle278
via Flickr.com
Boomerang Art Gallery - Alice Springs
Australia
The Alice Springs Cultural Precinct also includes the Araluen
Arts Centre with the famous Albert
Namatjira Gallery which has paintings from West
MacDonnell Ranges and
other spectacular desert areas around Alice Springs. Alice is in the
middle of the colourful outback country with red soils and sunsets
which inspire artists and there are many other art galleries in the
town
such as Desart, Mbantua Gallery, Gallery Gondwana and Boomerang
Art Gallery and Artist Studio.
Museum. by Johnsyweb via Flickr.com
Alice Springs Aviation Museum - Alice Springs Australia
Other places to see within the Alice Springs Cultural
Precinct
are Alice Springs Cemetery, and Alice Springs Aviation Museum, which
exhibits the history of pioneer aviation in Northern
Territory. Not
far from the Aviation Museum is the wreck of a plane
called Kookaburra that crashed in Tanami Desert in 1929. In the Alice
Springs Cemetery there are tombs of the famous artist Albert Lamatjira
and prospector Harold Lasseter who died here in harsh conditions while
looking for gold deposits.
Billy Goat Hill and Alice Springs Reptile Centre
There are two lookout points with good views over the town centre: Anzac
Hill in the north, and Billy Goat Hill
in the south. Near Billy Goat Hill south of the city are the Royal
Flying
Doctors Service, which flies doctors to the remote outback farms when
needed, and the Alice Springs Reptile Centre
- one of the best places to get close to Australian
reptiles, including snakes.
School of the Air - Alice Springs Australia
There is another interesting
institution in Alice that is unique to the Australian Outback. With
distances too long for remote kids to go to school, they are connected
to teachers by radios (and nowadays of course computers) from their
homes. You can visit a School of the Air
in Alice and see teachers talking to kids over thousands of kilometres.
There are also guided tours and you can have a look at kids’ drawings
in the world’s largest classroom.
Royal Flying Doctors Service. by Rita
Willaert via
Flickr.com
Alice Springs Telegraph Station - Alice Springs Australia
North-east of Alice Springs is the historical Telegraph
Station
from the 1870s when Alice was
nothing but just that – a telegraph station.
There is also a blacksmith
shop and a homestead; and the starting point of the long
bushwalking track Larapinta Trail that
goes all the way to West
MacDonnell Ranges National Park.
The Old Telegraph Station. by SplaTT via
Flickr.com
Alice Springs Desert Park - Alice Springs Australia
Five kilometres west of town towards West MacDonnells Ranges is the
Alice Springs
Desert Park – the
best attraction in Alice Springs according to many travellers. The
region’s plants
and animal
life is presented in
different habitats such
as woodland, sandy desert and riverine ecosystems. There are walk-in
aviaries to see birds, and a nocturnal house to watch nocturnal
animals. There are ranger talks about the animals in the park, and it
is
only a short walk from the town. Just south of the town across the
Todd River is the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens
where you can explore more Australian
desert plants.
The Desrt Park. by mazzle278
via Flickr.com
Hotels in Alice Springs Australia
There are lots of accommodation available in and around Alice Springs:
Alice on Todd
Appartments, Alice Tourist
Apartments, All Seasons Oasis Hotel,
Aurora Hotel,
Aurora Red Centre
Resort, Best Western Elkira
Motel, Bond Springs Outback
Retreat, Comfort Inn,
Crowne Plaza Hotel,
Curtin Springs Station
Hotel, Desert Palms Resort,
Desert Rose Inn,
Diplomat Motel,
Erldunda Station Hotel,
Haven Backpacker Resort,
Heavitree Gap Outback
Lodge, Heritage Caravan
& Tourist Park Cabins, Motor Inn, Mt Dare Hotel,
Plaza Hotel,
Stuart Caravan
& Tourist Park, The Swagmans Rest Motel,
Toddys Hotel,
Vatu Sanctuary,
White Gum Motel.
Restaurants in Alice
Springs Australia
Some good Alice Springs restaurants include Pub Caf, Casa Nostra,
Bluegrass Restaurant and Cafe Mediterranean Bar Droppio. There are also
some good drinking holes in town, a popular one is Bojangles.
The Uncle's Tavern. by jemasmith via
Flickr.com
Henley on Todd and other Alice Springs Events
There is a surprising amount of festivals
and events in Alice
Springs, the silliest one being Henley On Todd in late September where
bottomless boats are carried along the dry Todd River in a race, but it
is fun and a lot of beer is consumed. Other Alice
Springs events include Alice Springs Cup in May, Finke Desert Race on
the Queens Birthday Weekend in June, AS Beanie Festival in June-July,
Camel Cup in mid July, and AS Rodeo in August.
Airport. by jimmyharris via Flickr.com
Here's an Alice Springs map, where I have
tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on
the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the
map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move
around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth,
click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
Disclaimer: Although
best efforts have been made to ensure
that all the information on this site is correct,
gondwananet.com is not to be blamed should there be a mistake.
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