18 December 2008 - Alice springs

2nd December

The alarm went off at 5am, we all had a quick shower, cup of tea and thanked them both for a great evening and comfy bed. The traffic was already bad on some parts of the freeway we were at a stand still, we were also certain we had taken a wrong turn or missed the turn off so again it was a pretty stressful drive to the airport.

Despite the traffic and as usual poorly signposted streets we arrived at the airports long stay car park with time to spare!! It was $65 for 5 days in the car park which we were quite impressed with as it wouldn’t damage our pockets too much!!

Check in went smoothly and after a coffee we were ready to board the plane for our 2 ½ hr flight. I had a window seat so I was able to see the great expanse of red that was visible almost the entire journey, oddly enough some parts had quite a lot of greenery I wasn’t really expecting this but logical considering the recent high volumes of rain fall.

The heat as we got off the plane was immense, Sarah was scared to stay out in it for more than 5 mins as her sensitive skin would just burn!! We pick up our luggage and waited 15mins for the free shuttle to our hostel. By 1pm we were all settled into our dorm room, there was only 1 other person in with us so that was nice.

The hostel staff gave us a map so we could ventured into town, it was almost like being back in south east Asia with the intense heat, but it was a nice break from all the rain we have been having. There are more aboriginals here than I have seen in any other town, they have a large community who have decided to live and integrate with the ways of the western world.

A good many of the aboriginals have been rejected or abolished from their group they were born into, often this is due to continual law breaking or unwillingness to abide by traditions. Some of these people have had a leg amputated, we were told this is due to a punishment they have received from their leader before being rejected from their group. We have been told that of the serious punishments involves stabbing the offenders thigh with a spear then twisting it a number of times to ensure the muscle is completely damaged so they are unable to walk for a number of months. By doing this the offender then has a few months to contemplate his wrong doing as he/she is unable to under take any normal day to day living/chores. As a result many of the offenders end up having their leg amputated as it get left untreated till it is too late to save.

After a wander round the town we did a quick shop for goodies that we would have over the next few days whilst on our rock tour. We got back to the hostel and made the most out of the good weather and swimming pool. We made a couple of new friends who were also enjoying the pool, Brian a guy from Lemington Spa and Leila a girls from Langton Green!! It was quite strange meeting someone from the same area as us, as we chatted we found out that we were all going on the same tour in the morning.

That evening we bought a meal from the hostels restaurant with Brian and Leiyla the headed back to the room for an early night ready for another 5am start!!