weekend in alice springs

i have had a great weekend. it's been great. yesterday, i took a trip to the west macdonnell ranges (not the mcdonald ranges that i got so incorrect in my last post - well, i WAS tired...). saw some really interesting stuff. you really get a full sense of the geology of the area in the outback. everywhere you are faced with millions years worth of history. we saw simpson's gap, which is a deep gorge carved by the river (though there's only a river after lots of rain). it was quite early in the morning so there was a really nice light falling on one side of the rock through the gorge. v pretty. and then a bit further on where the ochre pits. apparently, there is only seven sites of ochre in the whole country. aboriginal people use it to paint themselves for ceremonies and general make up. there were amazing streaks of colour in the rock. not sure it's come out on the pic. we then for a walk around ormiston gorge. it was a bit of an arduous task cos i'd come out in my flipflops. we climbed up a hill and climbed down the other side and then climbed across the rocks of the dry riverbed. tricky. it also got really hot aswell. but the view from the top of the hill was spectacular. you could see for miles. and we were then rewarded with a barbeque by a river. the whole group of us set out to make lunch. some cut stuff for the salad. i looked after the sausages. they were kangaroo sausages but they tasted just like normal sausages really. but it felt like a right australian thing to do and it was a heart-warming communal activity. think they should do a barbie for the americans and the iranians. see if that doesn't solve a few things. then, best of all, we went swimming in a creek after lunch. the water was quite chilly but it was hot so it didn't matter. plus, there were warms areas in the water. not quite sure of the science of that. but there was lots of laughs and shrieking, just like in enid blyton. idyliic. we then stopped in a place on the way home where there were rock wallabies. they came down the rocks as soon as people got some food out. they look just like baby kangaroos to me. the whole day felt like a proper aussie day out. i then spent the evening chatting with a dutch and german girl i'm sharing a room with. very pleasant.

and then today i've had a major triumph. it looked stormy so i wasn't going to do the 6km round trip walk to the actual alice springs and the old telegraph station. but then it cleared and i got bored of reading my book by the pool at the hostel so i decided to step out. it was a bit tricky cos you follow the path by the (dry) riverbed and this is where a lot of aboriginal people camp. they hang around in groups and shout at each other and drink and it can be a bit intimidating. it's interesting how australia makes such a tourist industry out of aboriginal people, with the art and books and didgeridoos they sell. but all the aboriginal people i've seen have been these street people and they are a completely separate community and have seemingly nothing to do with the 'other' australia. it's really strange how detached it all is. it reminds me a lot of america. i started to think that maybe it wasn't such a good idea, setting out on my own in the hot sun with only my sunhat and a bottle of water to protect me. i even started composing my own newspaper report of people finding a murdered english backpacker by the river. but i persisted and there were no people around once i got out of town. which then led me into thinking exactly how far the telegraph station would be. i mean, guide books lie. but cyclists kept passing me so i didn't feel completely alone and i eventually found the place and didn't die or anything. and it was a really nice spot. quiet and sunny, i went for a paddle - and then realised afterwards that i may have been offending a million aboriginies as it's another sacred place, i think. oops. i'm such a tourist. but i felt so triumphant after getting there after all my doubts. i learned that it's not actually a spring but a place in the river where there is impervious rock so it keeps its water. plus, the alice who the place was named after was the man in charge of the overland telegraph service's wife and she never came here. fascinating. and then i could enjoy the walk back because i knew where i was going. the scenery was gorgeous. it was really quiet so you could hear the insects and bird calls. and all the bloody flies aswell - soo annoying, never known anything like it. but the sun was hot but not unbearably so and it turned into a really lovely relaxing walk. really glad i made it there.

so it's an early night for me. off early to uluru tomorrow. hurray.