Flying to Alice Springs

Saturday morning, May 29, we were out front of our apartment by 6:50 in the gray morning light and rain. Our airport shuttle was late and we had a few moments of panic but all was well. We arrived at the airport with time to spare and easily caught our 9:50 flight to Alice Springs. Alice Springs is very nearly in the absolute center of Australia.  After leaving the coast and clouds behind us, we could see stark, rocky, dune-like landscape below us. We could also see some huge shimmering areas which turned out to be water. The entire Red Center, as the heart of Australia is called, has had ten times more rain than usual and massive lakes in the desert are actually full of water.

As we approached Alice Springs, we saw more and more green mixed in with the red rock in the landscape. We were to discover that our experience of Alice Springs and The Red Center would be different than most people’s due to the presence of more water than usual. The desert was alive with flowering and growing things while the animals were much more difficult to see because water was everywhere instead of only at the traditional water holes.

On landing we discovered that although the flight had been 2.5 hours, the time had changed only by 30 minutes!! How weird is that? We caught the shuttle bus into town to our studio apartment and set out walking to purchase a few groceries, to find the visitor information centre, and to book a day trip to the Western Macdonnells, a nearby low mountain range.