The Spring of the Independents
Congratulations to Julia Gillard and the Australian Labor Party, but more congratulations to the three independents from regional Australia for their unexpected but timely moment of ascendancy — and the sense of responsibility they have shown to all Australians by their considered actions. I am celebrating the rise of the independents with another walk to [...]
Honouring the mongrel
In a post a couple of days ago Craig San Roque described Alice Springs as a “mongrel town”, a description that I suspect holds a mixture of affection and exasperation for him. The term came up again in Craig’s memorable introduction to a congress of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists held in Alice Springs [...]
Water Music at Ellery Creek
A tour guide friend tells me that many visitors to Alice Springs are disappointed Central Australia looks so little like a desert these days. In one sense I would have to agree. After our wettest summer in ten years, the Centre is probably a little bit too green for my colour scheme – but that [...]
Have the grebes gone again?
Naturalist and writer Meg Mooney wrote this lovely piece about Ellery Gorge in December last year and I put off using it in the hope I could go out to there and take some pictures of grebes. Floods and other events have made it impossible to do so but I found this snap of the [...]
A visit to Simpson’s Gap
It’s not always true that the best places are the hardest to get to. After some recent research into the history of Simpson’s Gap, I was keen to visit again. Simpson’s Gap is less than half an hour’s drive from Alice Springs. One of the important permanent waterholes for the Arrernte people, it became just [...]
Alice Springs’ own lake district
It was interesting to read on the ABC’s rural news site that a Central Australian “invertebrate specialist” is calling for new national park within the official town boundaries of Alice Springs. The Ilparpa Claypans are best known to locals as simply “the claypans”, and as Jochem van der Reijden points out, are the home of [...]
Surprise floor-show at Glen Helen
Visitors enjoying the full waterholes and perfect January weather got an unexpected bonus at Glen Helen Resort in the Western MacDonnell ranges last week. A metre-long metre western brown snake slithered into the dining room one evening, joining forty other guests dining at the fabled resort. Its appearance provoked varying levels of anxiety, and the [...]
Life in the Hugh
A second excursion to the Hugh River revealed more signs of life as the flow of the river ended and pools developed. I was particularly intrigued by the contrasting behaviours of tadpoles and moths as Noel Ferry and I explored one stretch of the river not far from the road. And once again, lots of [...]
Looking for ducks in Hugh River
Had an unscheduled visit to the Hugh River the other day. We were trying to reach Ellery Gorge, but decided the crossing was not negotiable in Noel’s otherwise trusty old automatic Commodore VL. He and Helen convinced me that the Hugh, about 65 km west of Alice, was a worthy fall-back position and we spent [...]
Alice Springs, AUSTRALIA