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We arrived in Alice Springs in the campervan, and I never thought I would ever perceive Alice Springs as a place of Civilisation, but for a few minutes I did. We parked the camper outside the Hostel, and the other 2 was happy to sleep in it for one more night, but I wanted my shower and a nice bed for the busy day tomorrow which consisted of us cleaning the big mess and handing the keys back over to the campervan hire company. I had the longest shower of my life, and did all the boring stuff like washing all my clothes and bag out. 'YHA Alice Springs' was about to become my rehabilitation centre for the next 2 days. There was a still a few flies and crickets hanging around, but it was still luxury to what I had been used to. I went to have a quick walk around the town and get some food and ended up chatting in the local takeaway. The woman in the takeaway advised me that I got a taxi back even if it was only a 5 minute walk, as it just wasn't safe at night. I ignored her advice, and walked back to the hostel. With the amount of police I saw walking around carrying batons; it looked more like a Leeds and Millwall game than it did a Friday night in a small dreary town in the outback. Some of the coppers were on foot, some were in vans, and some were on bicycles, they were everywhere.
We all woke up the next morning cheerful. I was freshened up, and Jamie and Antony had a half decent nights sleep free of charge and everyone was safe and sound. My job was to clean the dishes, and it involved a whole of scrubbing those dirty dishes. I just could not wait until we handed that bludy camper in.
After we got rid of the camper, I met my friend who has lived in Alice Springs for just under 5 years. He originally flew over from London, and he actually loves the town, but he can understand how backpackers and tourists alike don't like it. If it wasn't for Ayers Rock, very few people would visit this town we both agreed. He greeted with me "I can't believe you've come to visit my town" in one of the strongest cockney accents I have ever heard. We then went for a quick swift half (you practically only get a half here anyway, even if you do ask for a pint). The famous Alice Springs pub we visited was called Bojangles, and apparently the glass case that was across from us housed a snake in it. We looked out of the pub window and Joe said how dead the 'town' seemed. This was obviously due to Alice Springs expecting the tail end of Cyclone Yasi that had just devastated parts of Queensland a few days before. As we were speaking, a truck full of sandbags passed went past the window.
My friend left after only a brief half an hour chat to catch up on where I've been doing on my travels (it would have so much easier if he had just read all my blogs like everyone else). I then went on the search for food, and I noticed every shop had a security guard in, and to my astonishment, every food outlet in the shopping centre was closed, bearing in mind this was 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. I'm not an expert of aboriginal lingo, but I'm sure what they kept asking me was "do you have a cig pal". I found a local takeaway in the end and got some Indian food in there. I sat there reading the local newspaper and nearly half the paper consisted of crime stories. For example one of the stories was how some local aborigines vandalised the local Christmas tree every night without fail, and another was how people wrecked a pub and stole all the beer. I remembered how Joe told me once about how some aboriginal kid threw a stone at his car on a red traffic light. He told me how he ran him over and he doesn't know to this day if he is dead or alive. I say put big Joe in charge of fixing Broken Britain, he would get it sorted it in no time. I did warn you all before the start of my travels, that not all of my blogs would be completely 100% politically correct, but I do try hard. Something else I will remember from my takeaway experience in the town of Alice Springs is when a group of indigenous old and young came in and asked for free food and when the takeaway owner refused, some seemed to get angry. Apparently they get free food every Saturday at 4pm, but the takeaway owner refused at that specific time due it to only being quarter to. When he did give them the food, one man just snatched his hand off. Is this really a well developed country? It seemed a completely different world to me, compared to the city glitz in Melbourne and Sydney. These people looked so poor, just walking aimlessly around the streets. My picture to the left is not exactly a pretty picture but to me, it sums up my Alice Springs experience. One lad managed to beg for free food in his Ralph Lauren designer jacket to my slight amusement.
I wouldn't say I disliked the place; it was actually a pleasure to experience something completely different and something that I have never experienced before. Okay, pleasure may have been not the correct word to use there, but you get my drift, it was most certainly interesting. I am in no rush to go back, and probably never will, due to me actually wanting to walk around the town centre, either in the day or at night, without people shouting at each other or crowding together in what some may perceive as an intimidating atmosphere. It also did get me thinking if Australia really is as well developed as some people may think. You wouldn't see some of what I experienced in Britain.
I had a fantastic two weeks, with luxury in Adelaide with my relatives, and then a complete contrast squeezing into a mosquito infested campervan venturing into what some perceive as the 'real Australia". If I were to ever go back into the outback I think I would set up my own radio station and call it "ITMOAN", which would stand for "in the middle of absolutely no where". I don't quite no how we managed to go without any music for such a long period of time.
To summarise, I had a fantastic experience travelling from Adelaide to Alice Springs in a campervan seeing so many interesting things on the way. Looking back, I think I would have found it rather boring just flying into Alice Springs or Ayers rock resort and seeing Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon. I appreciated the whole surroundings, and the journey through horrible places such as William Creek, was what made it such an enthralling, exciting, and truly memorable experience. I would definitely recommend the campervan experience, even if I now never want to set foot in one for at least another year. No one believes us at the moment when we now tell them how many camels, sheep, cows, we had to stop for in the middle of the road. For years as a child, you see the films but you do wonder yourself what driving in the outback is really like, and now I know what the 'real Australia' is actually like.
Hope you all enjoyed reading in detail my road trip experience from Adelaide to Alice. Next Blog Brisbane (again).
Takecare....Richard
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