This morning, like the morning before I flew to Darwin, I was nervous about my next destination --Alice Springs -- and about booking a tour once I got there. I have no idea why I've been nervous the past two times I've changed locations. Darwin and Alice Springs are certainly two of the easiest places to visit, and I really hadn't been nervous at any other time, even when I didn't know where I'd sleep once I arrived, or what I'd see once I got there. /shrug/ Anyway, the feeling of nervousness disappeared as soon as I got off the plane. Australians continue to be very friendly, and most fellow travelers are too. I say "most" because there was a drunk french woman at the hotel last night, annoying everyone hanging out in the lobby. She was such a stereotype -- too skinny, chain smoking, and drinking too much wine, although I normally don't think of the french as drunks. It could have been worse. She could have started to mime.
The weather in Alice Springs is wonderful. From what I could tell from flying over it, it's a city in the middle of nowhere. The landscape of the surrounding territory has some rocky areas, but most of the land looks fairly flat. There's low humidity and it's warm but not hot. And the air is among the freshest I've experienced, rivaling the great plains and mountain states in the U.S.
My hotel is in the category I think people in Australia refer to as a "backpacker's inn" or maybe a budget inn or even hostel. If I hadn't already mentioned this, and I probably did because I'm really uptight about money, Australia is pretty expensive, even by U.S. standards. Even by Washington, D.C. standards. So to save money, I'm staying at shabbier places than I've grown accustomed to. (And I'm still not saving money, because even the budget inns are more expensive than the nice places in Asia.) So far, neither of my hotels has been bad, but they have shared bathrooms and pretty spartan living quarters. Some of the rooms are group rooms with bunkbeds (which are cheaper than singles, but I'm not poor enough, or young enough maybe, to chance bunking with a pack of drunk college kids) and other rooms are singles or doubles. The hotel I'm in in Alice Springs is pretty comfortable, although half of the rooms here are either in (1) trailers or (2) converted sheds. (Mom and dad, if times get tough, just add a porch to your shed and rent it out.)
My 3-day tour to Ayer's Rock, which from now on I will strive to call Uluru, like the locals, starts on Saturday, so I have this evening and tomorrow to explore Alice Springs. From the looks of it, Alice Springs has even less going on than Darwin, but I budgeted 6 nights in the area so I'd have plenty of time to get to Uluru and back, before heading to Sydney. Unless my evening excursion into town tonight turns out to be really interesting, this will probably be my only post of the day.
The weather in Alice Springs is wonderful. From what I could tell from flying over it, it's a city in the middle of nowhere. The landscape of the surrounding territory has some rocky areas, but most of the land looks fairly flat. There's low humidity and it's warm but not hot. And the air is among the freshest I've experienced, rivaling the great plains and mountain states in the U.S.
My hotel is in the category I think people in Australia refer to as a "backpacker's inn" or maybe a budget inn or even hostel. If I hadn't already mentioned this, and I probably did because I'm really uptight about money, Australia is pretty expensive, even by U.S. standards. Even by Washington, D.C. standards. So to save money, I'm staying at shabbier places than I've grown accustomed to. (And I'm still not saving money, because even the budget inns are more expensive than the nice places in Asia.) So far, neither of my hotels has been bad, but they have shared bathrooms and pretty spartan living quarters. Some of the rooms are group rooms with bunkbeds (which are cheaper than singles, but I'm not poor enough, or young enough maybe, to chance bunking with a pack of drunk college kids) and other rooms are singles or doubles. The hotel I'm in in Alice Springs is pretty comfortable, although half of the rooms here are either in (1) trailers or (2) converted sheds. (Mom and dad, if times get tough, just add a porch to your shed and rent it out.)
My 3-day tour to Ayer's Rock, which from now on I will strive to call Uluru, like the locals, starts on Saturday, so I have this evening and tomorrow to explore Alice Springs. From the looks of it, Alice Springs has even less going on than Darwin, but I budgeted 6 nights in the area so I'd have plenty of time to get to Uluru and back, before heading to Sydney. Unless my evening excursion into town tonight turns out to be really interesting, this will probably be my only post of the day.
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