A Town Called Alice
“Theres no money in there, it’s all frozen mate… bloody cold enough anyway….”, shouted a local, as I was using a cashpoint in the centre of Alice Springs. Alice has a reputation for being stiflingly hot and overrun by swarms of flies; but winter happens even here. Yes it is a bit on the chilly side, but by all accounts the absence of the notorious flies is a blessing for everyone apart from perhaps the shops selling the biggest range of nets and sprays on the continent.
I left Sydney once again on the Indian Pacific, changing in Adelaide a day later for The Ghan, a legendary train named after the Afghan camel men who, with their animals, were the first to transport goods across the Australian outback in the 19th centrury. A second overnight journey and I’m here, half way across the continent; in the heart of the Outback.
