And Then There Were Two

Aug 17th:  Sharie stayed in Cairns to shop for custom made bras and we flew to Alice Springs, located in central Australia.  Our flight from the Cairns Airport was delayed to the extent that our airline offered all passengers a free meal at any of the airport eateries.  Goran and I ordered nachos at a cafe closest to our gate; but, just as we sat with our food, an announcement was made, "Would Mr Harris and Mr Simic please proceed to gate 2.  Your flight to Alice Springs is at final boarding."

What?!  Less than 20 minutes had passed since they'd announced the delay and given us our free meal offer!  With a forlorn expression, Goran threw napkins over our plates and we raced to the gate.

A little over 3 hours later, we landed in Alice Springs, or just 'Alice', as the locals call it.  Alice has somewhere between 25-30,000 residents and there doesn't seem to be anything special about it.  The central Australian town has mostly single or 2 level buildings, with low hills and a parched looking landscape. 

Running through town is the Todd River, or more accurately, the Todd Riverbed.  It has little more than a few puddles here and there.

We dropped off our things at the hotel and went out to explore. 

There was a monument of some sort at the top of a rocky set of stairs and we figured it would be a good place to have a look-out over the land.

Plain little 'Alice' just isn't a kickin' town, and with the light fading quickly, we made our way back down the hill.  It would be an early night, as we're heading further into the desert tomorrow morning for an over night stay near Ayer's Rock.

'Downtown' Alice was a ghost town. 

As we searched for a dinner venue, we walked by a hair salon and, suddenly, I wanted to get a cut.  There was a young apprentice available who claimed she'd only been cutting hair for a year, as if to apologize beforehand for whatever resulted from her efforts.  She didn't lack for confident, though, as she attached the back of my head with her clippers.  Goran gasped loudly from his seat by the door, 'Gymmy, that's too short!'  I tend to be fairly casual about haircuts, since my hair grows fast and I keep it short enough to get clean-ups every 10 days or so, but even I was relieved when the salon owner stepped in to salvage my 'do'.

Dinner was at 'Sporty's', then to a gas station for water, where we quickly learned about the cost of freight weighing the price of everything brought into town.  A liter and a half bottle was easily $5.  Welcome to the Outlback!