30 June - Town Like Malice - The Jam

(I had to have that tune didn't I?)

After a major rugby game that finished at 10pm, I was up this morning at 4.30am to catch the coach to the airport. Talk about 'No sleep on Tour!' I have no idea of the actual time, as flying from Melbourne to Alice means that Alice is half an hour behind - I think that means I don't get to bed until later. My phone has a different time to Facebook on the iPad which has a different time to the Internet. I guess it won't matter until Tuesday when we move on to Uluru desert resort.

When I was at School, we read 'A Town like Alice-Neville Shute. I remember enjoying it at that time, and if you have read the book, the heroine, Jean Paget, opens an ice cream parlour. Although its in the middle of nowhere, because of this book, I've always wanted to visit, and have an Ice cream in a parlour here. Weird bucket list job, I re-read the book on the two plane trips I've taken in Australia, and the ice cream wasn't in Alice, it was in a town LIKE Alice called Willstown. Perhaps, I should have stopped looking out the window at school. Anyway, I was still determined to do it, and I found Eddy's Ice Cream Parlour, so it was still a job to be done.  I had Fig and Almond, and Salty Caramel, as these seemed the most unusual flavours. The salty caramel was well worth it- it really works if you see it, try it.

Alice is the capital of the Outback, the red centre of Australia. It is also an important centre for the Aborigines, and there is some fantastic art shops selling the best of Aborignial art. Alongside these shops, poor Aboringines try to sell one piece of work. I've never come across the culture before, and it made me feel uncomfortable, and guilty, as seeing poverty always does. Some didn't have shoes on, and they had these really thin ankles, and I noticed that one or two have plaster casts on them. I don't know if this is a genetic thing, as they were not thin as such. They also walked around with shoulders that stooped, this made them look beaten. I need to understand more.

Alice is not a massive city, probably around 20-30 thousand, so I've done it in an afternoon, the most significant thing I saw was the Flying Doctor Base. Returning to the hotel, it was time for tea...

('What's that Skippy, you were for tea tonight?) kangaroo meat is dark, low in fat, and best eaten medium rare, perhaps our closest meat is venison.