Alice Springs Desert Park 12 August 2013

Today we headed out to the Alice Springs Desert Park which I fully suspected was going to be just another tourist trap. The entry fee did nothing to change my mind - $25 a skull to look at some desert. Hadn't we already driven through that?
It's lucky I'm typing this as you would have trouble understanding me talking with a mouth full of semi eaten hat :) This place is a must visit next time you are in Alice. We spent four hours walking around the different habitats, looking at the animals (ants, crickets, rats, all sorts
of marsupials from the smallest of mouse like beasties up to red kangaroos, and birds that have to be seen and heard to be believed. Fantastic!

The place is spread out over several acres and you get an audio tour device to tell you the story about the different areas. This was exceptionally well done with just enough Aussie vernacular to make you laugh, but not enough to induce any cringe.
Got a phone call from Peter Suhr while we were there. He thought we might catch up for a coffee since he had a meeting up the Paris end of town this morning. Gee I felt bad having to decline - not. Anyway had a good chat and found out the sobering news that Marita, William and Luke all now have boat drivers licenses - good on em.

Followed all this excitement up with a quick visit to The Residency which is the house set up for the Government Resident in the capitol of Central Australia in 1926 (yep, Stuart which later was renamed Alice Springs was the capitol and Central Australia was a separate entity to the Northern Territory). The Queen (bless her little cotton socks) even stayed there for two nights during her first royal tour down under. All in all a very impressive place.

Off to the East McDonnell Ranges tomorrow