The Old Ghan

Today we spent some time looking at old trains.  This is one of the first places that Jamie, Grump and I visited when we arrived in the Alice, but we hadn't been back and Daddy hadn't seen it.  Old Ghan Historic Railway. 

It has some really neat old trains.

And an explanation of why its called the Old Ghan...

Jamie and Jethro

Were the camels a clue???  Yes, those are live camels.  There were two of them here today - Jethro and Oscar.  They are big and smelly and make a really weird, loud grunting noise.  Fortunately, neither of them spit on us.  We've been told they like to do that.

So, why are there camels in the middle of Australia?  Surely, they can't be indigenous?  You're right, they're not.  Surprisingly, Australia now has the last herds of wild Arabian camels on Earth. Originally brought to Australia by Afghan traders in the 1840s, camels were once the mainstay of travel between places like Alice Springs, Darwin, Adelaide and Perth and their outlying townships. The advent of Australia's railways saw a decline in camel usage, but the railways used the trails started by the Afghan traders and their camels, hence the nickname of Commonwealth Railways as the Ghan.  If you're interested, you can come visit and take a camel ride out into the desert for a meal or even an overnight camping trip.

Alice Springs Desert Park

So far, one of the best things about living in Alice Springs is the perks of being a local.  For most attractions, you only pay once and then you can go as many times as you like for the next year for free or reduced admission.

The Alice Springs Reptile Centre is a really neat little place.  If you like scaly things, that is.  And, of course, Jamie LOVES it.  They have dozens of lizards, some of them wander freely around the centre and you can pet them.  Others they will let you hold, but others you just look at in their little indoor/outdoor habitats.  There are a number of snakes, as well.  You can hold some of them, but most you wouldn't want to.  The biggest attraction is Terry.  Terry is a very large crocodile in an outdoor aquarium with an underwater viewing window.  Jamie thinks it would be neat to pet him, too, so I keep having to explain that crocodiles don't really like to be pet.

I mentioned the Alice Springs Desert Park before.  This is truly a wonderful place to spend a day.  There are three different desert habitats represented:  Woodlands, Sand Country and Desert Rivers.  Here are a few pictures from the Desert Park.

Red-backed Kingfisher

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos

Rainbow Bee-eater

Black and White Egrets

Cool Dude

Gavin and Braden

Perennial Yellow Top

Blue Mallee





Poached Egg Daisies

MacDonnell Range

Spencer's Goanna

The term Goanna is pretty interesting.  Apparently, some early settlers saw them and thought they looked like iguanas, but couldn't remember the name.  So, they called them Goannas.  Another name for them is Monitor Lizards.

Second Week in The Alice

It continued to rain almost every day of our first two weeks in Alice Springs, so Jamie and Grump spent some time with Play Doh on the back patio.

Here are a few pictures of the Todd River flowing.  When it finally stops flowing, I'll post some pictures of what it looks like most of the time.

We also got a rare evening out to attend a formal event with Ian's work.  Unfortunately, the "Evening Under the Stars" got moved inside because of rain, but we had fun anyway.  We were just lucky that my parents were still in town to babysit!

The babies also turned three months during our second week here.  So we continued the tradition...

Braden

Gavin

Every other Sunday there is an open air market on the Todd Mall.  We took the opportunity to stroll around.  We were looking for the homemade donuts guy, but never found him...

Can you tell by all the jackets that its actually a bit cold?  Summer is coming they tell me, but ...

Our First Week in The Alice

We left Virginia on Tuesday, September 7th and arrived in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia on Thursday, September 9th.  The trip went as well as it could with no hassles, delays or lost luggage.  The boys were all tremendous travellers.  They ate, they slept and they charmed passengers and airline personnel at every turn.

This is just a portion of the luggage we brought with us...

Ian and Mike heading out for Ian's first day of work...

While Ian was working, the rest of us went exploring.  We found an amazing park called Araluen Park.



At Heavitree Gap, there is a hotel that sells food pellets that you can feed to Rock Wallabies.  Jamie loved feeding them.  He even got to pet a mama and her baby!



We also found the Alice Springs Desert Park.  This is truly an incredible place and we have been back many times.  I think we go at least twice a week, it is Jamie's favorite place to go.  On our first visit, we saw a Long Nosed Dragon sunning itself on a rock.  We've seen him a couple of times on our subsequent visits.  Somehow, seeing the animals outside of the actual exhibits is a little more exciting. 

More about the Desert Park in future posts...

One Month Ago...

One month ago today, we embarked on our journey to The Alice.  In these first four weeks, I've already learned so much.

The desert in springtime is breathtakingly beautiful.  It rained for 11 of the first 12 days we were here and it is raining again today.  The Todd River has now flowed twice since our arrival (one more time and we are locals!). Rain in the desert is not usually so common, but it makes the outback come alive.  There are wildflowers everywhere and it is actually green.  

I thought I would use this first post to recap what I've learned so far.  I'll create a few other posts to post some pictures and explain a few of these things. 

1. Very few people actually say, "G'day Mate." They say G'day and they say Mate, just not usually together.
2. Ants. Better learn to love them, they are EVERYWHERE. Big ones, small ones, black ones, red ones.  I swear there are at least a million ants for every resident of Alice Springs.
3. Driving stickshift left-handed, while driving on the left side of the road requires a special level of attention. I still try to grab the door when trying to grab the stick shift.
4. Living in the desert is like living at the beach, just without the water.

5. Hungry Jacks is Burger King.  Although, the Aussies aren't very familiar with "have it your way." They are more inclined to take it how it comes.
6. The radio station loves Tom Jones - good thing, so do I!
7. Having the Aussie Dollar at a 2 year high makes things really expensive.
8. Having Fairy Martins live on the house is loud, messy and still kinda cool.  Even though, I really don't like birds.

9. Faucets are not "righty tighty - lefty loosey."  They go whichever way the plumber decided when they installed them.  Consistency is not key here!
10. Toilet water doesn't swirl in the opposite direction.
11. The Australian Wave is very real and I'm getting very good at it.  And, I thought the ants were everywhere, the flies are worse.