Our Affair With Alice

Last weekend saw us adventure back into civilisation for a weekend away from cattle station life. We had a few things to restock  so with a couple of days off now was a good as time as any. We decided to go the extra distance and venture to Alice Springs verse Mount Isa! We had only been at Mt Isa several weeks early and it didn’t light any fire of desire to rush back.

There is something about Alice that Shaun and I keep coming back too.I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly! I love that it is in the red centre. The capital of central Australia really. The mountain ranges that surround it create a scenic landscape and some naturally beautiful tourist stops. These reasons could be why we like it so much. More so our love for Alice probably  stems from actually getting there in the first place. To come through Alice in your travels you have to come the long way. Simply because there is no short way. You either have cross the Plenty like we did this time. Or you could have crossed the Simpson Desert, been out admiring the grandeur of Uluru, wandering on the rim of Kings Canyon, digging for opals in Coober Pedy or travelling through somewhere else in remote Australia. This is why I think when we have got to Alice each time we have said: “Bugger it!” Booked a hotel to relax in luxury after days of dust, heat, corrugations and flies.

This trip to Alice was mostly to re-stock on boring necessities. We also planned on  acquiring some warmer apparel as the desert we reside so close to is becoming colder by the day. Yay for me – I detest the cold. Although I also detest early mornings and so far I am coping just fine with those. So who knows I may even come to love the cold!!

While in Alice we decided to head to the Start/Finish Line of the 2012 Finke Desert Race. Wow what a rush. Would love to head to another Desert Race and camp along the track for the few days. It was a real buzz. For those who don’t know the Finke Desert Race is one of the biggest sporting events in the Territory which sees hundreds and hundreds of competitors on bikes, cars, buggies and quads complete an off-road course from Alice Springs down to the small community of Finke. The course is one of the remotest in the world and runs 230km one-way. The competitors race down one day and come back the next. That is one hell of a long ride.

For more info on the Finke Desert Race head to their website http://www.finkedesertrace.com.au