Alice Springs Day 6

We are all packed and ready to go, well we should be! Instead it was a sleep in and decisions about what we were going to do for the day.

We had previously seen and been told about the Alice Springs Desert Park but had not made it there. We now had the time and so decided to go and visit! Thank goodness we did. We went with no idea of what to expect, the best way to be sometimes, and were not disappointed with the park.

When you enter the park, you pick up a set of headphones and a type of radio that you carry around and push the appropriate number as you arrive at a specified location. What a great idea, not only because it gave you a running commentary, as your pace, it also became a game to spot the numbers and kept you from worrying about how far you had gone, or how far you had to go.

We started with a movie on the development of the environment and then walked around and visited areas and a nocturnal house. There were many snakes, lizards and animals in this area and so we got to see them in a miniature version of their habitat.

We saw many different types of desert landscape, each with its own story and information for you to hear or read about. Cathy was fascinated by the different uses of the many plants around the desert and became an expert on the different plants and their uses.






This place was well worth the visit and filled in the morning nicely.

After lunch it was off to visit the location of the Alice Springs School of The Air and get an insight into how many of the children in remote areas deal with their education from prep to year seven. After this they either attend boarding school or do their schooling via correspondence from Darwin. It was a shame the kids were on school holidays and so we did not get to see any classes in action, but we did get to see how it happens.

Chels and Josh were asked if they would like to do schooling this way and Chels said no, Josh yes. Chels was not happy about not being able to talk and play with her friends, once we explained this to Josh, he quickly changed his mind as well. After all, who would he play footy with at playtime?

I had heard nothing about the car and so chased what was happening to hear that the part had arrived in Alice Springs and so the car would be ready tomorrow afternoon. This now meant we started planning around a Friday departure and so worked out what the next few days had in store.