A town called Alice

I love the Jam, but their greatness doesn’t come close to matching that of the Town called Alice.

BY Ian Armitage

The Outback is vast, remote and arid. It’s a tough place. Newspaper headlines and radio and television bulletins regularly report of massive searches in bushland or in remote Outback regions for one or more people who have been lost or stranded. Most of the time, these searches end in success. Sometimes they don't.

Recommending a trip to the Outback might seem a bit strange, you’d think, given what you’ve just read. But don’t fret. This isn’t the real, outer Outback: and Alice Springs is a thriving town, and a big draw for many tourists.

Yes, she has a name like a pornstar, but Alice is beautiful and rises out of an endless expanse of red dirt and rugged ranges from all sides. The remote town is the second largest in the Northern Territory and owes its existence to accomplished inland explorer John McDouall Stuart and a bid to revolutionise the communication network. In 1861, he trekked right through the centre of Australia from north to south, navigating and mapping the country for white settlement. Alice Springs began its modern history as Stuart, a telegraph station on the Adelaide to Darwin line, and the end of the Ghan railway. It has now developed into a modern low-rise metropolis.

OUTBACK LOOK

Alice is famous for her remote location and many local buildings are dressed with corrugated iron and other rustic touches to add to that outback look.

The population is around 27,000, less than you’d expect to find in most Premier League football stadiums on a Saturday. But, although they are few, the locals have big personalities and, as you may have expected, have a touch of Mick “Crocodile” Dundee about them. But this isn’t Bushwacker central; it’s the main town to Uluru (Ayers Rock), so tourists can outnumber locals six or seven to one.

LOTS TO SEE AND DO

Alice is a national hub for Aboriginal art, with a glut of galleries and arts-related events: The cafés and shopping centres often make you forget how isolated it is.

To remind you that it is essentially an outpost, the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base and the School of the Air are well worth a visit. You get a real sense of the important role air travel has played in Alice’s past.

If you are a fan of the Bourne films – we all are - nearby is Pine Gap. Haven’t heard of it? Well, it is a highly secretive satellite-tracking station has been listening in to the world since 1965: think of it as an Australian Area 51. A significant pocket of Alice’s population works for the CIA at this US installation. Don’t get too close; we wouldn’t get you into trouble. You might find it amusing that all its employees refer to themselves as ‘gardeners’.

Other attractions include the Todd Mall, the Overlander Telegraph station, the dry Todd River, the Kookaburra Memorial, Alice Spring Desert Park, Alice Walker Arts Centre and Araluen Centre.

If you are looking for adventure, the MacDonnell Ranges are on Alice’s doorstep. Stretching east and west from the centre of town, this massive series of mountains offers up an alluring melange of landforms and features, which include gorges, creeks and waterholes.

Alice is of course in the never-never and you can’t come all the way out here without going to Uluru – you’d be mental not to visit it. Yes, it is over 400 kilometres away from Alice, but you have to go. The sacred aboriginal site deserves its reputation as one of the true wonders of the world.

In summary Alice Springs is a must. A quirky place, no doubt about it: Eccentric, yet laidback.

ABORIGINAL HISTORY

Before white settlement, Alice Springs was inhabited by the Arrernte Aboriginal people. Mparntwe is the Arrernte word for Alice Springs and was created by the actions of several ancestral figures including the caterpillar beings Ayepe-arenye, Ntyarlke and Utnerrengatye - the MacDonnell Ranges being but one of their creations.

Creation stories also describe traditional links with areas as far afield as Urlatherrke in the West MacDonnell Ranges and Port Augusta in South Australia. Arrernte people continue to live in Mparntwe.

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Surrounded by desert plain as far as the eye can see and flanked by the MacDonnell Ranges to the east and the west, Australia’s most famous Outback town is right smack bang in the middle of, well, pretty much nowhere.

Distances in Central Australia are huge; you have to drive for hours to get to the next town and most visitors to Alice use it as an access point for Uluru even though the big rock is more than 400km further down the road.

CLIMATE

Central Australia is a continental desert environment and has an arid climate with hot summers and cool winters.

During winter (May to September) the nights can quite cold (below freezing) and the days are crisp, cool and bright. Over winter clouds are a rare sight. Warm clothing is essential at this time of the year.

Summer is wetter, but rain is still rare. Often summer rainfall is preceded by humidity and accompanied by spectacular thunderstorms.

In summer maximum daily temperatures can top over 40 degrees for a number of days. Hats and sunscreen are essential outdoors in summer. Most locals avoid going outside when it’s really hot and tend to congregate at the shopping centres, the pool and the library when they aren't at work.

GETTING HERE

Car

Alice Springs is a long way from everywhere. From Mount Isa, in Queensland, it’s 1180km; from Darwin to Alice Springs is 1490km (15 hours); and from Alice Springs to Yulara is 441km (4½ hours).

These are outback roads. It’s wise to have your vehicle well prepared, particularly as you won’t get a mobile phone signal outside Alice or Yulara.

Train

The Ghan train runs from Adelaide to Alice Springs and now Darwin. Okay, it is an odd name for a train, but in Australian history, it is a living legend. It’ll take two nights.

Air

Qantas (www.qantas.com.au) flies between Alice and Adelaide, Darwim, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Yulara.

For more information visit www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au.