Major news flash from Alice Springs

[Tracy]

Two evenings ago, it rained. A local South African resident sat bolt upright in bed around midnight wondering if her air-con had exploded or she had forgotten to turn the washing machine off!

Unfortunately the towns people did not have a carnival to celebrate the momentous event or even take the day off work. Very strange.

Alice is a very different town…

3 evenings ago, Alice had an almost total power blackout. The same South African resident thought that Eishkom had entered into a bi-lateral training programme and was worried. Not to be! About 2 hours after the lights went out, along came a ruddy great big truck with crane, and simply deposited the biggest diesel generator this new immigrant had see! A few wallops of heavy things and away it went; gently chugging through the night and the next morning so everyone had power. This was simply unheard of where she came from!

And the amazement didn’t end there…the generator hadn’t been stolen nor the cables stripped of copper in the morning!

Alice is a very different town….

But now for the bad news.

This same (?) immigrant had her mobile phone stolen from the seat she was sitting on. It happened at the basketball stadium and was taken by a bunch of indigenous boys sitting behind her. She seemed to exhibit recently forgotten tendencies to want to physically tear the limbs off each of the 7 boys behind her, but she stopped just in time to realise that she may jeopardize her visa…..

Her own students were very supportive, but even after several attempts to either bribe, cajole, growl and even threaten physical violence, none of the very obvious gang of culprits owned up.

Very, very VERY bloody annoying.

The upside was that replacing SIM cards and even buying a new phone, is all done at the presentation of her new NT driver’s licence. Amazing.

Alice can be a very normal town…

Edited October 24, 2007 by Tracy

[Guest wilna]

Hi Tracy

Ek het gestraand na 'n program oor Alice Springs gekyk op die Travel channel. Toe hulle die program adverteer het ek dadelik aan jou gedink en moes dit kyk.

Ek moet sê ek was verbaas, die dorp en omgewing lyk baie oulik, weet nie waarom ek gedink het dit moet soos 'n woestyn lyk nie.

Groete Wilna

[Bob]

Sounds like your starting to learn about Aborigines. . . . . well, at least the ones that have drifted into the towns dotted around Australia's Outback. . . . and the Alice has more than its share of them.

I've travelled around four continents pretty extensively in my ttime, but the one and only time I have ever been robbed was when I took a ride across the Hay Plains with a car full of young Aboriginals. My back-pack was missing my transistor radio and a few other things when they dropped me off with my backpack in the next town.

That was back in the 1970s and I haven't forgotten it.

Unfortunately, Alice Springs is one of those places where you can't leave your car unlocked, as a result.

Roxby Downs in South Australia and Paraburdoo in Western Australia, mining towns in the Outback with no indigenous Aborigines around is a different kettle of fish.

There you have Australian miners and everyone knows each other.

In these towns, people leave everything lying around and it's still there tomorrow. . . . mowers and kid's trampolines and bikes on their front lawns, groceries in their unlocked cars, bikes outside shops, etc., nothing locked up and bolted down.

No need.