B & E California Bound: Exploring Australia, February 2016, Part 2

As a decade birthday gift for Erick, we signed up for "Exploring Australia and New Zealand," a University of Michigan Alumni tour coordinated by Odysseys International. This post covers the Alice Springs, Standley Chasm and Simpsons Gap portions of our trip. (You can click on a photo to see a larger version.)

Day 6: Flew to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (the Outback, Never Never). Visited the Royal Flying Doctors Centre and the School of the Air. People are spread out widely over Australia and delivering health care via the air is essential. Children in the Northern Territory often live far from physical school buildings – online and correspondence courses make education possible.

Australia's Red Center, the Outback, from our plane

On the way from the airport to Alice Springs

Near the old Alice Springs site

While stopping by the original Alice Springs site, we saw our first kangaroo in the wild (a rarer sight now than it once was).

Click to enlarge the photo, and see a kangaroo with a bird on its back

We stopped at ANZAC Hill on the outskirts of Alice Spring - one of many memorials in Australia and New Zealand honoring soldiers who fought in WWII, WWI and more recent conflicts.

Alice Springs from ANZAC Hill

The Royal Flying Doctors Service - health care delivery over a large country with cities and towns spread far apart:

RFDS plane

Hologram movie of the founding of the RFDS

Anniversary quilt - founder John Flynn in the center

The School of the Air - Australia's way of educating students who are spread over a wide geographic area. The School started back in the days of radio and now uses the Internet to connect teachers, students and their home tutors who are often their parents.

School of the Air staff members shows where students are from

Quilt with student panels showing scenes from their home areas

About the environment of Alice Springs:

Water flows below the surface of the rivers. Dig into the sand in the
right place and find that the hole fills with water from underground.

Crested pigeons

Bearded dragon

Day 7: Our day in the Outback included an introduction by local guide Andrew to the culture of the aboriginal people living nearby – the implements used for hunting and gathering, a boomerang demonstration, and a chance to meet dot painting artists. We bought two paintings – one depicting “bush tucker” (food that the women gatherers find in the wild), the other snakes and lizards.

Andrew explains how aboriginal tribes manage marriage arrangements
among them using 8 basic names - 4 for males, 4 for females

Demonstrating aboriginal implements for gathering and hunting

A tour member about to try his hand at a boomerang used for hunting

Aboriginal dot painting artists in their shelters

A dot painting representing bush tucker
- witchetty grubs (white), bush tomatoes, plums and other edibles

Getting ready to sample roasted kangaroo tail, a bush tucker delicacy

On the road to the day's hiking sites:

Stanley Chasm (Angkerle Atwatye, its aboriginal name represents the food and water to be found there) provided an occasion for a hike and then lunch. The site is privately owned and managed by an aboriginal cooperative.

Photos from the part the trail I hiked, the easy part. Near the chasm the trail is more challenging:

Sweaty but happy hikers

Stream bed along the trail

A photo of the end of the trail, courtesy of Travel Advisor
A deep red cleft in the Western MacDonnell mountain ranges,
carved by a tributary of the Finke river system.

Lunch at the Standley Chasm kiosk provided welcome rest:

Table with aboriginal dot painting design

A noisy, mooching raven

Simpsons Gap, one of the most prominent gaps in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Located a little over 10 miles from Alice Springs, it features the towering cliffs of Simpsons Range. This time I hiked the whole trail and was rewarded with a view of the permanent pool at the end.

Entrance to Simpsons Gap

A reminder

In the evening, we enjoyed a bush barbecue prepared by Cath, got a lesson in baking “spotted dog” from her husband Jim, were entertained by Tim – with a guest “appearance” (we never actually saw it) from the poisonous but rarely seen King Brown snake. Later Andrew pointed out stars in the Southern Cross.