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Oh, Alice....! (Or: Snapshots from Down Under)

Welcome to Australia

Annette
2005-08-29 17:59:12

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That would be Alice Springs, of course, in the heart of the Australian Outback. Bright blue sky with nary a cloud to be seen, arid desert vegetation, and a town that has lured many a traveler away from the hustle and bustle of city life. There is something in the name, - a certain pioneering spirit of hearty settlers, of self-sufficiency and down to earth lifestyles. If the name sounds feminine, it could be misleading. A town like Alice would have attracted then as well as now the no-nonsense type, be they male or female. All musings about the history of "Alice" aside, it attracted me.

For years, I had been paying attention to two kinds of animals on my far-flung travels: dogs and camels. Both seemed to be revealing something about the spirit of a certain place; some sort of connection between man and beast, and the pace of life in certain locations. Dogs were one thing in Australia, camels quite another....Surely, there was the odd dingo in the Outback and quite probably many a sheepdog I simply missed. But as a friend told me when queried about the apparent lack of dogs in a city like Sydney "We like people here".....Let me hasten to add that it surely was meant tongue-in cheek and by no means as an offense to my canine-loving readers...As to camels, and particularly Alice Springs' camels - they are worthy of a short yarn.

Every year in mid-July, (in other words, in deepest winter Down Under), the Camel Cup takes place in Alice. "Oh goodie", I thought when I heard about the date of the event. "Perfect timing", was my next thought, and in short order I had booked a flight to Alice Springs. Coming from the muggy heat of the Northern Territories, many a sandaled bare foot got a crisp wake-up call upon arrival at the Alice Springs airport. This is the desert, and as such, winter temperatures fluctuate severely between freezing and pleasantly warm daytime highs. In other words: wear socks and a warm jacket. And then, get ready for a most unusual ...