Tuesday May 20, 2014

A really early start this morning.   We set the alarm for 3:00 a.m. for the taxi pick-up at 4:15 a.m. The flights leave from Brisbane at 6:00 a.m. to Sydney and then a connecting flight to Alice Springs arriving in Alice at 12:30 p.m.  The taxi driver arrived early, the flight from Brisbane to Sydney was good, we saw the Harbour Bridge and the opera house from the air.  The landing was a bit bumpy in Sydney and not too bad in Alice Springs.  We took the free shuttle from the airport to the Backpackers lodge.

As part of our 3 day 2 night trip to Uluru we received one free night at the Alice Lodge and 2 nights at a discounted price.  The Backpackers is not ever so clean, but we always wash the plates and cutlery before we use them anyway, so we won’t die.  We went for a walk into the Town centre which is only 5-10 minutes walk away.

We popped into the Information Centre to check on any bike hire places and cycle route.  There are a couple of places where we can rent bikes, which we will do on Saturday.  We are both missing being on our bikes.

Alice Town site has about 3 malls.  It gets very hot here in the summer, it is warm today about 27 degrees.  The main shopping area is pedestrianized.  We found a great outdoor store which reminded me of Sojourn our favourite outdoor store in Barrie.  Same name brands that we know and love.  Surprisingly the prices were good.  Ralf bought a hat, it will be good for him for the trip to Uluru and for the summer in Europe.

We have seen more aboriginals in Alice today than we have seen in the rest of the time we have been cycling through Australia.

As we wandered around, Ralf noticed a very strong police presence.  Primarily outside of the liquor stores.  After we came out of the grocery store, Ralf spoke to the policeman that was standing outside the BWS (beer, wine, spirits).

R:         I have noticed a large police and security presence here in Alice, specifically around the liquor stores.

Policeman:       Does that make you feel safe?

R:         No, it tells me there is a problem.

The policeman went on to explain about the liquor laws in the Northern Territory and specifically Alice.  In Alice there is no drinking outdoors at all and no drunkenness.  It is strictly controlled hence the police presence.

We went back to the backpackers, ate our dinner and were in bed for 8:30 pm, under our mosquito net.  There seems to be an abundance of sand flies and no-see-ums, we used the net just as a precaution.

Another early start tomorrow – pick-up is at 6:00 a.m.