ALICE’S OUTBACK WONDERLAND
My poor geography really knows no bounds. Tell me I’m off to Alice Springs for a few days and I’m thinking of crossing Uluru off my bucket list. Wrong, sort of. You could duck over to Uluru for the day if a 13-hour round road trip takes your fancy.
So what’s doing at The Alice? On the flight, that’s the question that rolls around in my mind as the coast slowly but surely makes way for the red dunes of the Simpson Desert. Sit next to the right stranger on a flight and all these questions and more are answered. The Simpson? Oh it’s the world’s largest parallel sand dune desert. Those white balls? That’s Pine Gap – anyone working there will probably tell you they’re a gardener.
You’ll love it here, my companion says. I’m open, but where to start?
The Alice Springs Desert Park gives new arrivals a well-paced overall feel. A couple of hours suffices, but you could spend an entire day face-to-face with everything from dingoes to death adders. A birds of prey show is excellent entertainment.
Alice really struts its stuff with the MacDonnell Ranges. Locals seem to prefer the harsher landscape of the Eastern MacDonnells, but the Western ranges are an amazing journey into millions of years of natural evolution. A day visiting gorges, chasms and watering holes begins 18km west of Alice Springs at Simpsons, reached by a quick and easy walk from the carpark to a small mirror-still watering hole.
Further along is Standley Chasm, which sets itself apart largely because you could not
get more of a contrast between what you think of the Red Centre and this almost rainforest extreme. A stream of water undulating and unseen, covered over by reeds, ferns and relic trees. Cycad palms, from a time these ranges were taller than the Himalayas, dotted the walk to the chasm itself.
Further along is Ormiston Gorge. About 1500km from the coast, it is the closest thing The Alice has to a beach. This is special, and an hour walk takes you up to a breathtaking view of the area where, looking east, you absorb the scope of these ranges, while facing south, the landscape flattens out to what you would typically expect of an arid environment.
An absolute lock-in for one evening is the Earth Sanctuary, run by the irrepressible Falzon family. A dinner and show involves relaxed dining and drinks, as well as damper making, followed by capturing the majesty of your local galaxy.
Dan Falzon, a passionate advocate of Alice and the environment, talked us through the constellations, identifying and using the Southern Cross to find due south.
That may help when lost in the desert, but it’s more likely better just to show off to your friends. On the night we were there we could identify four planets and an upside down Big Dipper.
In the cooler months, wear plenty of layers because if you’re underprepared all the constellations in the universe won’t be as tempting as red wine and a fire.
Another fun experience is hot-air ballooning, There are few good reasons to get up before sunrise when it’s zero degrees, but this is one of them. That smooth as silk rise before you watch the sun ascend over a landscape of carpeted spinifex is remarkable. A beautiful experience capped off by a glass of cheap champagne — no complaints at all.
A few days here and the scope to see and do so much more is obvious, while Uluru could not be further from the mind.
The writer travelled courtesy of Virgin and NT Tourism