Alice Springs Sight Seeing

After checking out the local temperatures, it seemed that yesterday was a good day for walkiing around the Alice Springs Desert Park. The forecast was showing a maximum of 33C -a far cry from the hot and humid 38C that we have been experiencing in the far north of the Territory. Not only that, but the Ghan train arrives in Alice Springs on Sundays and the park is a popular place for its passengers. We avoided the crowds with our choice of day.

The Desert Park is not far out of town and provides an opportnity to see and experience some of the desert fauna and flora of the area. The Park covers over 1,300 hectares and is designed to replicate three distinct desert habitats: desert rivers, sand country, and woodland. It had a good network of smooth paths that Jill could easily roll around on her mobility scooter.

We were surpised to find the we had spent nearly three hours wandering around looking at all the exhibits. With the weather being relatively warm, we were not surprised that the mammals (dingos & kangaroos) were hiding in the shade. The bird life was plentiful although the smaller birds were hard to photograph as they flitted here and there very quickly.

Here are a few examples of the hundreds of birds that we saw in the Park.

Spinnifex Pigeon

Painted Firetale Finch

Budgerigars

Grey Headed Honeyeater

Emu

Red Tailed Black Cockatoo

Australian Bustard

Orange Chat

We left the Desert Park after a late lunch in the cafe and decided that it would not be far to travel the 40 kms to Standley Chasm. 

Standley Chasm is owned and managed by the Angkerle Aboriginal Corporation and Iwupataka Land Trust and you ned to pay a $10.00 entrance fee. The walk into the chasm along the river bed takes about 20 minutes. It becomes progressively more difficult as the gorge becomes narrower and narrower and the boulders become larger. The best time for photography is at noon. During my vist the sun was on one of the sheer cliffs but the other was hidden in shadow.

Although it is now owned and run by the local indigenous community the chasm still has the name of Mrs Ida Standley, Alice Springs’ first school teacher and, according to local folklore, the first white woman to walk through the gorge.

Back in Alice Springs, we had time visit Anzac Hill, just to the north of the town. Signboards provide a good overview of Australia’s involvement in many wars all the way back to the Boer War in South Africa, riight up to the modern conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan.

From the hill, there is a good view over the main city area and down to Heavytree Gap in the south.

My dad spent some time here at a supply base in WW2 before moving further north up the road to Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek. He woud have arrived on the old Ghan train from Port Augusta. This journey on the original narrow-gauge railway line typically took around 48 hours. The exact travel time would vary due to factors such as weather conditions, track maintenance, or other delays. The train’s route included many stops along the way, and it travelled through some very remote and rugged parts of Australia, which could also impact travel times. 

Last time I was here, I called my Dad from the top of Anzac Hill and asked if he could remember the location of his Supply Company. His response was to look to the left and see a blue sign that would point out the location. Of course, after seventy years, the sign had long gone.

Thanks to some help from ‘Colonel Google’, I was able to find out that prior to WW2, the population of Alice Springs consisted of only around 500 people. World War Two changed this with several thousand soldiers being camped under Stewart Hill to the north-east of the city. Amongst them were two transport companies and a supply unit. Much of that area is now residential housing.