Hey, everyone! I have been in Alice Springs since Saturday, doing a lot of adventuring around. I love it here – the outback is unlike anything I imagined. I always pictured it as very flat with hardly any flora, but that is not the case. Alice Springs and the surrounding areas are surrounded by towering hills, trees, red dirt, shrubbery, the occasional wildflower. It is beautiful. (P.S. these posts seem to be getting longer and longer, don’t they?)

Aboriginal Art Adventure

On our first full day in Alice Springs, Michael drove us around town to get acquainted. To enter the town, you have to go through the Heavitree Gap. The gap is a gorge defined by both the East McDonnells and the West McDonnells. A road, train tracks, a walking path, and the Todd River all run between this gap, leading into the town of Alice Springs.

Once arriving in Alice, we went to “The Mall,” where local Aboriginal artists sell their paintings outside on the grass. There are also travel shops, art galleries, and more there. A lot of stuff is closed down currently. My travel buddy Michael is an Aboriginal art collector so that first day, we were stopping all over the place to see what the current merchandise was looking like. He has been coming to Alice Springs for decades, so he is familiar with the artists and their work. “Hi, Lynette! How are ya?”

Michael had made some phone calls to other artist friends of his and after hanging around the mall, we went for a drive to visit some of them and check out their art.

We went to visit Mervyn. Mervyn had lots of family over. There were also a few dogs walking around, one of whom was pregnant and would probably be giving birth to a litter of pups any day now. Michael mentioned the dogs looked 3/4 dingo. All three were a golden/tan color and certainly shared similarities to dingoes.

Mervyn’s painting was nearly finished and Michael gave it a good look. They settled on a price (Michael is quite the negotiator haha) and shortly after, we left. Michael would be buying the piece contingent on its finalization.

Later in the day, Mervyn called Michael to let him know the painting was finished. We drove over there, and guess what? Mervyn wasn’t there! Hahaha. We waited for a while and then left – Mervyn wasn’t answering his phone (although he had called Michael on probably three or four different phone numbers). We returned the next day to pick up the piece.

Locating another artist was a particular ordeal. We drove to one of the artists’ homes… and after we realized no one was there, Michael called her up. She apologized and said she was over at someone else’s house. So we went there! Once we’d arrived, the artist said the art was with her mom, who was out in the bush for a funeral ceremony (called Sorry Business). It was pretty bizarre, because the artist had told Michael to come by to look at the art… and the art wasn’t even there haha.

I was gobsmacked by the living conditions of some of the people we had visited. Mattresses on the floor, rubbish everywhere. It didn’t seem like they had electricity. And in a few of the places, it seemed like a dozen people were living in basically a one-bedroom house. It really puts into perspective how good I have things in life.

I have learned quite a bit about Aboriginal art since being here (thanks, Michael!) Certain patterns represent “bush medicine,” others are “bush tucker” (which is food). Some are kangaroo paws, river holes, etc. There is also a style of painting called “my country” which is typically a large canvas that represents someone’s hometown.

Men paint different things than women. For example, a man wouldn’t paint bush medicine.

Over the next few days, Michael returned to the mall to buy some more paintings. I enjoyed joining him and watching the exchange between artist and buyer. Michael always asks the artists to sign the back of the canvas, as well as write down what community they’re from.

Michael ended up giving me a few “bookmark” paintings that he has had for a while – they are thin strips of canvas, painted by Aboriginal artists. It was very kind of him and it’s such a lovely (and easy-to-pack) souvenir to remember my time in Alice Springs.

East MacDonnells

Prior to our Aboriginal Art Adventure, we drove to Emily Gap and Jessie Gap to get a taste of nature. These gaps fall within the East MacDonnell ranges – also known as the “East Macs”. Australians love to shorten the names of things haha.

Both gaps were lovely. At Emily Gap, there is a rock painting. No photos were allowed, but it essentially looked like long strips of white lines painted in ochre along the red rock of the gorge. I believe the lines were supposed to represent caterpillars, which are a huge part of this area’s local lore.

Our visit to both of these gaps was rather quick as it’s only a short walking trail, but I got a taste of what I was in for the following day along the West Macs.

We also stopped at Michael’s friend Brenton’s place where we met him and his wife Adriana. Brenton is an art buyer and oftentimes he’ll supply Aboriginal artists with canvas and allow them his studio to paint in – where he and Adriana proceed to feed them lunch. I was able to see three Aboriginal ladies work on their paintings, which was a neat process.

West MacDonnells

This was our big day – a visit to the West Macs. It had rained overnight and we were worried it would be a lousy day, but after twenty minutes or so, the skies cleared up. We drove far outside of town and stopped at a viewpoint looking over Mount Sonder – a gorgeous mountain along the horizon.

From there, we visited Glen Helen Gorge, an area where you can go down a little walking trail that takes you to a river running through the gaps of the gorge. I continued to be in awe of the rich, red rock in this area. It ain’t called the red center of Australia for nothing!

As far as wildlife… an eagle soared overhead. I had my eyes out for a rock wallaby. To my surprise, there were heaps of fish in the river! It seemed like such a small river, but it was actually the Finke River – remember that guy from last week’s post? The Finke River is regarded as one of the oldest rivers in the world.

From Glen Helen, we went to Ormiston Gorge – the “best” gorge according to Michael. And for good reason! I spotted a little skink lizard, butterflies, cockatoos, and other cool birds. After a quick walk to the view of the gorge, Michael suggested I do one of the other hikes that had a steeper incline, but rewarded you with a different perspective of the gorge. Off I went! I’m glad I did it – it was only about forty minutes return, but the lookout was spectacular.

We stopped and had lunch, then continued on. The Ochre Pits were our next stop. After a quick walking trail, I arrived at a wall of earth, decorated naturally in a rainbow of ochre colors. After observing them for a minute, the sun came out from the clouds and suddenly the colors appeared much more vibrant.

The last stop of the day was Ellery Creek Big Hole – a popular swimming area surrounded by… you guessed it, another gorge! So many gorges around here. Michael and I sat down for a while, taking in the scenery, before heading home.

In the evening, we went for a drive to hopefully spot some red kangaroos. Sure enough, we saw two hopping away as we drove past! As it got dark out, there were cows on the road, so Michael was extra cautious while driving. Along the way, you could spot old skid marks on the road – people in the past had clearly needed to swerve to avoid the cows and wildlife.

(For the images below… the middle one is a “paddy melon,” not to be confused with the pademelon marsupial!)

Mount Ertwa

The next day was somewhat chill. We went to check out some more art and after getting lunch, I decided to do a hike near our caravan park. It was a nice hike, but as I got closer to the top, the denser the trees got… and connected from one tree to the next, were more often than not… orb-weaving spider webs! I decided today was not going to be the day I walked face-first into a reasonably sized spider, so I didn’t end up going to the top of the ridge.

Instead, I went on possibly one of my most favorite walks in Alice Springs so far – Mount Ertwa. I walked along an old trail, then continued on to the top of the range. It wasn’t long before I spotted… a red kangaroo! While I had seen them the night prior, it was a treat to be able to see one looking right at me and allowing me to snap a picture of it before hopping off. I saw two along the hike. The hike itself involved walking through along lots of shrubbery and rocks – but it was lovely. Aside from the flies. At times, when out in nature around Alice Springs, the flies remind me of just how awful they were in Kalbarri National Park. They simply would NOT. LEAVE ME ALONE!!! Absolutely relentless. They drive me crazy.

I cut my hike somewhat short because Michael and I were going out for dinner with his friends Brenton and Adriana. However, I returned yesterday and walked in the opposite direction. I saw even more red kangaroos. One of them was resting on a boulder, not noticing me at first. After a few moments, it sensed me and hopped up to attention. He looked at me for a good minute, watching my movement, and then decided I’d observed him long enough and hopped away.

I’m not sure how many kangaroos I saw that day, but it must have been around seven if not more. I was delighted to be seeing the kangaroos. They looked different than the western and eastern greys – their fur was lighter, sort of a red/blonde combination. Their ears looked larger, their faces a slightly different shape. I hadn’t seen any that were INCREDIBLY buff, but I do think they were slightly larger than the other types of kangaroos I’ve seen so far.

Thanks for the up close and personal kangaroo encounter, Mount Ertwa!

(Also – when I first got to Alice, I thought snakes were all hibernating at this point. At tea with Brenton, he goes, “they’re starting to [hibernate]” – which made my second trip up the mountain a little more nerve-wrecking hahaha.)

Telegraph Station and Trig Hill

Yesterday, Michael and I went to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, which was the original town center of Alice Springs. It is located right near the Todd River, which actually had a small spring of water in it at the moment. At times, it is completely dry. The Telegraph Station still has old telegraph poles which transmitted morse code from one area to the next back in the day.

I walked down to Trig Hill which was a nice, easy walk, then continued on to the “Cemetery Walk”. I wasn’t sure if there were going to be gravestones, but I hadn’t seen any.

After Trig Hill, we stopped at the mall and Michael bought some more art. We stopped at the caravan park for a moment, then went to visit Brenton and Adriana for tea. They are such a funny couple. Brenton is an art buyer originally from South Australia – Adriana is from the Philippines. They rag on each other and have nonstop banter going on. I really enjoyed spending time with them.

Miscellaneous

I mentioned in last week’s post that Alice Springs has a bad reputation at the moment for violence, thievery, etc. Well – after our first night in the caravan park, some people had broken into the park and stole from us… a light sensor? The next night, they stole the second light sensor… but did not steal the charger, so what’s the point?! They had also stolen $500 from someone’s unlocked car. Apparently, you are not supposed to go outside at night – much like Cape Town. It is such a shame that people can’t just live their lives and walk around at night without risk of getting hurt.

I think the most aggravating moment for me here in Alice Springs happened at the mall. When Michael buys paintings from the artists, he takes pictures of the artist holding up their canvas. As Michael was doing so with one woman, a tourist walks up and starts snapping pictures, too… as if the Aboriginal woman was just posing with her canvases for anyone to take photos of. She started talking to the Aboriginal lady in a tone that I felt was condescending and offensive. She asked Michael “how much did you pay?” Michael joked “too much.” The lady goes, “Well, you’re helping them out”. She said that right in front of the Aboriginal artist – as if she wasn’t even human. (Although, Aboriginal people were classified under “flora and fauna” up until the 1950s… which is awful.) Apparently, she even asked Michael “do you talk to them normally?” Incredibly aggravating.

In other news… One day, we also saw an old aircraft from the Royal Flying Doctors Service, which my doctor friend Jason is employed by!

Art of the Week

Nothing to share this week, unfortunately! I may draw something today, since I should have some time this afternoon.

Reflections

While I feel a little guilty that I cut my time in Victoria short, I am also really glad that I did. It’s nice to be further north, where the temperature is warmer again and I am surrounded by nature. Coming from Chicago, I don’t think I can properly appreciate “cities” at the moment – I think this year for me is really about nature, wildlife, exploring, etc.

With that said… my time in Alice Springs is almost (maybe?) over. Tomorrow morning, I am taking a bus down to Yulara, which is the area outside of Ayer’s Rock and Uluru National Park. I will be there for at least three nights. I haven’t decided if I will be then taking a bus back up to Alice Springs or flying to Darwin from there. Likely, I will be flying as it would be cheaper than taking an expensive bus + a flight.

I can’t believe I have nearly three months left in Australia. Time has gone by slowly, time has also gone by very quickly. I love it here, but I am also looking forward to catching up with all my loved ones.

That’s all for now. Sending you all my love! xx