Alice Springs, Australia
Australia's most central provincial city, Alice Springs, is a place that oozes with character, colourful outback culture and ancient Dreamtime lore.
Alice Springs is a free-spirited, sunbaked, open-skied city that sits between the east and west MacDonnell Ranges.
The locals are the friendliest you'll find - chat to them and you'll discover that many were once just visitors who fell in love with the town while on holiday, and couldn't leave. And why not? The climate is warm, the air is pure and the pace is relaxed.
Established in 1862 with the installation of an overland telegraph line, Alice (its popular shortened name) now boasts a population of 30,000. The arrival of The Ghan railway in 1929 gave the town's development a much needed kick. Cattle stations grew in number as settlement expanded and gold was discovered. Now it is a town that you can visit either on your way to the red centre's outback icons, or enjoy for its own unique charm.
In and around the city centre the Arrernte people share insights into their culture. And right outside the city, the Alice Springs Desert Park brings you face to face with the mysteries of the desert communities, rare plant life, scurrying native fauna and free-flying birds of prey.
Adventure is never far off. Some 18 kilometres out of town is Simpson's Gap, a walk through rocky gap and steep ridges, and tours frequently leave for other wonders such as Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), Uluru, Kings Canyon, Finke Gorge, Ormiston Gorge and Pound and Rainbow Valley.
Few people who tour Uluru return unchanged. When you arrive at the rock, it's easy to see why it and its surrounding land have such huge spiritual significance for the Anangu Aboriginal people. It lies in Australia's red centre like an enormous, moody heart.
Uluru is 9.3 kilometres in circumference, and the icy-green and grey vegetation at its massive feet offer a refuge for wildlife. It is immense in size - yet more than two thirds of the rock is actually hidden beneath the ground. Then there's its sheer beauty: it outshines even the brilliant sunset, arraying itself in a multiplicity of hues from black to purple, blue to brown, orange and red throughout various times of day and weather.
Uluru's cousins, the Olgas, or Kata Tjuta - a collection of 36 steep, rounded, russet domes - make another sacred site just 32 kilometres away.
Both these splendours are encompassed by Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. At its entrance you can find all sorts of accommodation for your voyage of discovery, from campsites to luxury resorts.
There are so many ways to encounter the land around Uluru. A hike up the rock, or a campfire dinner, where you can savour barramundi, emu or kangaroo underneath an incomparable starlit sky. Drink in the sunset while you sip champagne, or encounter the landscape on a Harley Davidson. Or see it from a grand height - either a light plane or from a camel's back!
School of the Air
The School of the Air is located at 80 Head Street, Alice Springs. Learn how this unique school, with a broadcast area of 1.3 million square kilometres, serves the needs of isolated children living in the outback.
Touring the school, you will share in the experience of one of the most unique educational facilities in the world. The school provides daily lessons by HF Radio to isolated children living on cattle stations and Aboriginal communities, in road houses and national parks.
Royal Flying Doctor Service
Visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service to see first-hand how outback Australia benefits from the medical assistance provided by the RFDS. Uniquely Australian, the RFDS story is forever linked with that of its founder, Reverend John Flynn - a story of achievement that gave courage to the pioneers of the inland. At the RFDS visitor centre you can learn about the history of the service, and how it maintains its vast network today.
Alice Springs Desert Park
Just 10 minutes drive from the centre of town, the Alice Springs Desert Park showcases the landscapes, animals and plants of Australia's deserts and their traditional use and management by Aboriginal people.
Indigenous Cultural Centre
For 40,000 years, Alice Springs has been a traditional 'meeting place' for the trading of artefacts, knowledge, art and culture by the Arrente people. Visitors can experience this vibrant culture at the Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre, in Alice Springs. There, the Arrente people share their art, craft, food, and legends that give meaning to their culture. Visitors can learn to play a didgeridoo, throw a boomerang, and discover some of the symbolism behind central Australian art or bush tucker.
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