Our Time In Alice

We are now on our way to Darwin so I thought I would do one last blog about things we have done in Alice Springs and then it will be all new places and adventures!

Alice Springs Reptile Centre:


We had a great time here, we walked around having a look at some of Australia's most dangerous snakes, they have 18 of the top 20 most venomous snakes here, we also got to see a croc, listened to a talk about reptiles and even got to hold some of the stars of the show!

Simpsons Gap:

Just the other day we visited Simpsons Gap, which is only about 20 minutes from Alice, is was an extremely windy day and a little overcast but it didn't stop us getting some great shots.

Brent getting sand out of his shoe!

It's only a short walk to Simpsons Gap from the car park so it doesn't take all day.

On the way home we saw this little fella on the middle of the road!

We didn't want to hit him so we stopped and I got out to get him off the road but only made matters worse when he ran under our tyre!

We got a stick and flicked him off then were on our way again, minus the lizard!

Gigs In Alice:

We were lucky enough to get a few paid gig’s on Alice which was exciting.

Our first gig was at ‘The Rock Bar’ in town,  the owner Dom was a great guy who was very passionate about live music and put us on without even hearing us!

Apart from The Rock bar we also played at a backpackers called ‘Annie’s Place’ which was a great little bar with vintage lounges and old movie posters all over the walls, there were about 200 people there, including about 15 of our friends but it was such a great night, plenty of people up dancing!

Direct from???

We also had an article in the  Advocate newspaper about us:

So now that we have an article and have played a few gigs we are hoping to do a few more, who knows it might even pay our way around!

Desert Park

We made sure before we left Alice we visited the Desert Park which is only 15 minutes from town.

We got there about 9:30 am because we heard there was a bird show on at 10 a.m and you get to see them  feed the eagles and hawks, it was great, they even an owl in the show!

You can walk around the park at your time but we decided to spend the morning doing a few of the talks and then spend the afternoon just looking around at our own pace.

The next show we went to was the nocturnal animal talk which was very interesting but you go into a VERY dark enclosure at one stage and unless you’re a nocturnal animal yourself you can hardly see!

A few of the friendly animals in the nocturnal house!

From there it was straight to the ‘Desert’ area for a talk with a local Aboriginal woman about how they survive in the bush, a few of the tools they use and the food they eat, we even had a look at a big fat witchetty grub that they eat, not sure I could stomach it unless I was desperate, but the honey ant I may be able to handle, after that talk we were left to our own devices and we put on our special head set and wandered around to check out the wildlife.

Cheeky little bird.

They have a heap of bird aviaries at the park and some you can even go into, Brenton and I went into one and had a little friend who was very interested in our shoelaces, he was very  cheeky!

We are lucky enough to be in Alice to see the wildflowers coming out, an amazing sight in a place that is considered the desert!

There is even one type of wildflower which smells like chocolate, it was so yummy you would think it was edible!

The chocolate bush, yum!

We also met some red kangaroo’s that didn't seem too enthused about anything, it’s a great walk around as you experience all types of habitats and the audio they give you is very informative, we didn’t leave until about 3:30 p.m and on the way out we even got noticed by one of the workers who had seen us play at Annie’s, it was great feeling famous for a whole five minutes!

FOOTY IN ALICE:

We found out one of the guys from the caravan park played footy in Alice so we decided to go along with our other travelling friends to watch him in action, it was the grand final and the Federals (the team our mate played for) were playing Santa Teresa, a community footy team.

As Brenton and I were walking into the ground we noticed a HEAP of Police cars, about 8 of them and we had to be metal detected before we got in, which seemed slightly odd to us but after we got in and caught up with our friends we found out the teams that played before us got in a huge fight and a policeman was stabbed, as well as a spectator and a 14yr old umpire was bashed! In Melbourne the whole footy would have been cancelled, but not in Aice they just played on!
It was a good game but unfortunately the feds lost by 7 points! 
It’s a great ground with lovely views of the ranges in the back.

STORMS IN ALICE

The weather was fine most of the time in Alice but we did get a few nasty storms, this is one we photographed happening on the top of Anzac Hill , it came over so quickly, we even got soaked running back to the car!

HENLEY ON TODD:

We were asked by my boss at Priceline to work and hand out sunscreen at the infamous dry river bed race, “The Henley On Todd regatta”, it was a great opputunity to go have a look for free and all we did was sit the suncreen on a table and let people apply themselves, then took in the sights.

We did have rain a few days before and were worried that it might be a real boat race! But the weather must have known and it ended up beng a scorching day!

The races were hilarious, I liked the mouse wheel one the bext, it must have been tough the sand was so thick!

The homemade boats were also funny though and a few people stacked it and although we found it very amusing Im sure it would have hurt!

Our German friend Kai slacking off!

At the end three big ships that are on cars and tanks come out to fight, they have water and flour bombs and try to destroy each other, it was funny to watch but even the crowd copped the flour all over them!

It was a great day and Im glad to be able to say we experienced it!

ALICE SPRINGS BIKE RALLY:

The last weekend in Alice there was a Harley Davidson Rally and the town was a buzz with bikies from all round, we heard they were riding through a pub in town and decided to check it out. 

We got to Bojangles and the street was lined with fancy bikes, even one with a dog as a sidekick! 
Then we went to get a spot inside to watch the action happen, it was so loud in there, and the bikes were flying through and even doing burnouts, our friend Megan even managed to get herself on the back of a bike!

At the end we had to leave because the whole place filled with smoke from burnouts and you couldn’t see let alone breathe!

ALICE MARKETS:

I loved the Alice markets on every second Saturday, even when it was wet every one was out in force! Brenton loved the food!

FRIENDS IN ALICE:

We have been so lucky to make a heap of friends in Alice, most of them I met working and they became our band cheer squad, showing up to nearly every gig!

We hit the town and went to parties and had a great time!

Nicole and I

Me and the hot work girls!

Our cheer squad!

At Bojangles.

Kay's daughter little Abby, so cute!!

Our cheer squad at Annies Place

We also made some friends at the caravan park, two other young couples who are also travelling Oz, Carly and Jake who have been in Alice since March and Stuart (A bulldogs supporter) and Megan who arrived 10 days before we left.

After Jakes football game they also game to watch us that night at Annie’s and then the night after, even though we were a little hungover we cooked dinner for them at the carvan park, morrocan chicken with coconut rice, whilst we shared experiences about what we had done and where we were heading!

We were excited to learn that Stuart and Megan were leaving on the same day as us and we were heading the same way so decided to do it together, we are even going to catch up with them in Darwin for the footy Grand final and the Powder finger concert!

It was sad to say goodbye to all our new friends  although we know we will catch up with many of them again on the road.


Goodbye Alice! xxx