I awoke early in Yulara at the Ayers Rock resort to take in the sunrise over the desert and the magnificent rock features one last time. For this viewing, I just wandered alone through the paths around the resort to a couple of the viewing outposts. The one in the center of the resorts’ ring road seemed more isolated, but the campground vista appeared to be the most popular. After sunrise, I made a meandering path back to the hotel where we checked out and had breakfast before catching our shuttle to the airport, which was closed. You read that correctly…it had to be the first time I’d seen an airport with strict operating hours, so we had to wait about 10 minutes before being allowed to enter and go through the pre-flight rituals.
A bug staying at our resort 
Operating hours of our airport
The flight from Ayers Rock airport to Alice Springs is just a 45 minute hop, so we were at our new destination by lunchtime. After a brief lunch stop at the hotel and getting things organized in our rooms, we were picked up for the days’ sightseeing tour.
View of the dried up rivers near Alice Spring 
The parents exiting the airplane
Harry, our local guide, gave us an afternoon bus tour of the highlights of Alice Springs. It started at ANZAC (Australia & New Zealand Army Corps) Hill, a war memorial monument sitting atop a hill overlooking the city. From here, the guide could point out most of the notable city locations.
View of Alice Spring (photo credit: DPH) 
The Memorial (photo credit: DPH)
Next we moved to the Royal Flying Doctors Service where we were taught how they provide medical care to those isolated in the outback.
A replica of a plane they currently use
Then we moved into the town center for a stop at an Aboriginal art museum (no photos allowed) before stopping at the School of the Air. School of the Air used to be conducted via radio, but is now up to date with internet communication technology and is how (mostly primary) education is provided to children isolated in the outback. The Alice Springs school provides service to 120 children currently spread throughout an area roughly 2x the size of Texas. Learning about the logistics of life in the outback was enlightening and the exhibits were very well put together.
The excursion ended with a trip to the original telegraph station outside of town which is also the location of the city’s namesake spring. However, Alice Spring was all dried up, as were all the rivers in the city, and is not a spring at all, merely a rainwater collection basin. Also interesting is that Alice, the wife of the boss of the founder of the city, never visited her namesake city. So, the remote outpost original founded to forward telegraph messages passing the middle of Australia is named for a woman who never saw it and a spring that does not exist…only in Australia.
Telegraph Station (photo credit: DPH) 
The “spring” (photo credit: DPH)
The telegraph station is located in a natural park area outside of town, and we were blessed with an eagle-eyed guide who spotted a black footed wallaby and two euro kangaroos…the first wild kangaroos we have encountered thus far on the trip.
Black-footed rock wallaby 
Euro
After the tour, we were dropped in town for a little shopping and dinner at a cowboy themed bar named Bojangles’ Saloon. It was a fun spot with live music and a good sense of humor. Although we were early compared to their prime-time crowd, we enjoyed the ambience and the music with a couple pitchers of beer before heading back to the hotel for the night.
Our dollar bill to be put on their ceiling 
There it is (in the very middle) 
Our outback grill platter (camel, kangaroo, crocodile, buffalo) 
Having some fun on the saddles
Tomorrow we have a leisurely morning before catching a midday flight back the the edge and urban Australia as we make our way to Sydney for the remainder of the Aussie portion of our vacation.
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