Our Rockpatrol-Guide Robert greeted us in Alice Springs with the words: "Welcome to the Alice". I kinda like this sound. My days in Australia are counted and I will be leaving in a few hours to Singapore. Right now I am sitting at Darwin's Airport and waiting to be allowed to clear customs.
But back to thursday evening. After arriving in Alice Springs we were greeted with cold air and some rain. All in all the weather in Alice was not that great. It is still the desert but this year Alice received more rain than the few previous years together. Strange things happening right now. I did not expect sand dunes like Robert insisted of this desert. But still being in the green Red Center of Australia is a bit strange.
After checking in we took a taxi and went to Annie's Place to have a nice evening with our other fellow Rock Patrollers. After six days it was the last evening spent together. A few met up the next evening while others where No Shows.
On Friday Morning I wrote a lot of my previous Blog Entries till I finally was hungry enough. Antoine and myself went to find something to eat. We were greeted by a small provincial town. Surprisingly I did not expect a bustling city, but with the reputation I really hoped for something more. We walked around almost half an hour before we settled for the first cafe we encountered.
The most surprising sight in Alice are all those Aborighinis. The poor people have nothing to do but to buy alcoholic beverages and drink themselves to oblivion, even while there is a strict alcohol ban in the central town. I considered them somehow dangerous. This is really the first time I had this feeling of being at the edge and being ready to do something like running or defending my way out of there.
But there are a few nice things too.
I am still more than 14k km from home. Somewhere at the other end of the world. After breakfast Antoine went to the library while I was trying to do some shopping. On my quest for new shoes (failure) I went into a Didgeridoo Shop, that is owned by one of the internationally acclaimed masters of the instrument. I forgot his name. After having a quick peak around I was about to leave again, when Stefan, a swiss guy I met on the beginning of Rock Patrol, intercepted me and said "Don't leave yet, Klaus. There will be an Didgeridoo Workshop for free in a couple of minutes." Nothing better to do I stayed. I so don't get it how to get my lips vibrating that the instrument gets nice clean sound. And the breathing exercises somehow are really challenging my mind. Tough work to master this instrument even when you get all basics in an half hour workshops. I had fun and this was a really nice experience.
After that I was walking around in a city where I see strange sights like the Todd River.
They say that You are considered to be a local if you see the Todd River running water at least twice in your life.
In the evening a couple of us went for the new Robin Hood movie. What a waste of time. Nice Hollywood Movie but otherwise there are a lot of Robin Hood movies out there and this is one of the bad ones.
After a quick Dinner we went to the Bojangles Saloon. The single most important party point in Alice. There where several highlights. Dancing the night away with our Rock Patrol Group and losing one of our members to the doorstoppers. They threw him out, because puking in the toilet is frowned upon. The security was really fast with getting people back on to the streets. Even a brawling was broken up rather fast. While I was watching and getting a bit tense about how we will get to the hostel in one piece, the others where still having fun and dancing. After a few minutes I just decided to stop worrying. Die fast, die young. ;)
The special thing about the Saloon is, that they have a webcam. And you guys at home can buy your mates in the saloon a few drinks while watching them partying and thanks to the different timezone, being at university or work.
We left around half past three in the morning (2100 CEST). After saying goodbye to Win (he slept in another hostel) we went to ours without any problems. Win on the other hand caught a few from a couple a Aborighinis. He should have taken a taxi. Or at least walked in a group.
After sleeping in on Saturday we made our way to the museum of the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
It was interesting but it barely kept us occupied for half an hour. After finally convincing myself that I wanted to cook again for a crowd I convinced the others and a few us went shopping for one of my Nasi Goreng variations. For those of You who have eaten my cooked stuff, let me put it that way: It was one of the worst dinners I ever made. (The rice was just to wet in the end.)
But somehow all of them liked it. Maybe to many evenings eating Pasta with Tomato Sauce will do that to you. They treated that ordeal like it was a feast. I still don't know what I should make of this.
Sunday we finally went up Anzac Hill and having a view of Alice from above.
I am happy and sad. Happy that I am leaving Australia today and sad that I am not seeing my constant company of the last ten days anymore. Most of them move on to Darwin or will end up together in Cairns, while I am going to SE Asia. But I can't take Australia any longer. I really like to see something totally different and spending less money than while travelling OZ.
Australia. Been there, done that, moving on. ;)
