Alice Springs

Monday April 8, 2013
We are now up in the bush country of central Australia. The main reason there are any towns in this area is due to the telegraph. That was the only means of faster communication and it was set up in Alice Springs. Alice Springs is about 1,000 miles from the nearest large city and other small towns are even quite a distance. Speaking of distance-education is also different due to the great distance from any school and few children in one area. They have School of the Air. This school began in 1951 and used radio even up to 2005. Now they have satellite, computers and all sorts of technology to reach those students at a distance. The students also must have some sort of tutor to make sure that tasks are actually understood and completed. Some paper work is required that needs to be sent in, corrected and sent back. After a student reaches middle school, they must either attend a boarding school or do correspondence studies.

Tonight was dinner in the bush or in the woods. We stopped en route to see some Rock Wallabies. We were given some food to feed them if we wished and to take photos. They are really quite small.

The dinner was entertaining as well as tasty. The chef prepared a bread type batter in front of us with very loose type measurements. The batter was mixed and put in flour covered pans.It was then cooked with a shovel full of hot coals on top and another shovel full on the lid and left to cook for about an hour. We had a nice BBQ while we listened to some silly Australian songs and jokes while it cooked. It was quite tasty and similar to a scone. The sanitation was a bit questionable, but all in all, it was a fun time. The flies are a bit pesky too, so face nets will be a must for the next several days.





Certainly well camouflaged.


Notice the very sanitary blue glove. :-(



Aren't you jealous of these neat fly nets? Hard to tell, who is the bride and who is the groom?