The Todd River “runs” through the center of Alice Springs and is described as an “upside down” river meaning the water runs underground most of the time. The river only actually flows when it rains. The river bed is lined by beautiful white gum/eucalyptus trees (there are hundreds of eucalyptus varieties in OZ). A humorous annual event attended by thousands of people in Alice Springs is the Todd River Regatta. Townspeople construct elaborate boat floats and trot them down the river bed in a race to the finish. One year the event was cancelled because…imagine the audacity… the river had water in it!
the Todd River...bed
Nic, our trusty tour guide, told us tales of Albert Namatjira, Australia’s most famous aboriginal painter, who grew up in this area. Outside of the Red Centre, people thought his use of color was not realistic and that it probably indicated he was on drugs. Art critics initially called his use of red color in his paintings “irritating” and his use of purple “dangerous”. In 1957, Namatjira was the first aboriginal to become a citizen. Sadly, citizenship also gave him the right to buy alcohol. He was charged with supplying alcohol to other aboriginals, put in jail, and died shortly after being released. We got to see several of his marvelous paintings, which are landscape watercolors and not typical aboriginal pattern and symbol paintings.
We have encountered many aboriginal peoples in Alice Springs. Mostly the impressions have been sad. Many on the streets are alcoholics and appear homeless. When Mark bought a bottle of wine in the bottle store, he was carded. The clerk explained that all liquor stores in AS are computer linked so that how much anyone buys is tallied and controlled. We observed aboriginals being escorted out of the bottle shop empty handed. According to our guide Nic, AS is a magnet for any aboriginals who have nowhere else to go. There are, of course, many local aboriginals who are contributing members of the community. However, our hotel overlooked the dry Todd River and groups of aboriginals could be seen day and night just sitting in the grasses in the river or wandering up and down the dry river bed. We were warned to not walk in the riverbed.
Being in OZ, we, of course, have had to try the local foods or rather meats. For lunch one day, Mark ordered the Bushman’s platter which included emu, camel, and kangaroo meats. Here are our impressions: the emu was smoked but looked and had the texture of corned beef although we thought it tasteless; the camel was like well done roast beef and tasted similar although mostly dry; the kangaroo was a gamey tasting red meat. We liked the kangaroo enough to buy some more to cook ourselves. Some folks find the smell offensive, apparently, but it didn’t bother us. On top of that it gets the Heart Association’s seal of approval because it is very high in protein and has only 2% fat. Might be a little hard to come by back in Washington, however. One other very yummy food was a desert called a Lamington (after Lord Lambington apparently) which is white cube shaped piece of cake with cream or fruit filling completely covered in chocolate and fine coconut. Mmmmmm....
Mark contemplates dinner??
Fun OZ words…. Brekky is breakfast and as in NZ always seems to include grilled tomatoes, bacon or ham as we know it, grilled or fried mushrooms, and sunnyside up eggs. It also includes baked beans or spaghetti as well. Odd breakfast choices to us.….
G'day to you as well.
ReplyDeleteFun to read a new one!
Barb