Day 44 Around Alice

Got up early and headed about 130k out of Alice to Orminston Gorge. For 60k out we travelled on the same road that leads out to Hermannsburg aboriginal community. There was a few abandoned cars on the road. One we got there it was blowing a gale and bloody cold. Heaps of dead fish in the pool at the bottom of the cliffs. Apparently normal in winter when there is not enough oxygen in the water to sustain the fish. We opted not to walk up to the look out as the wind would have been worse up there. We jumped back in the car and worked our way back to Alice Springs. A few stop offs to visit on the way. Called into the Ochre Pits. I was impressed with the colours of the ochre. I have never seen ochre pits like this before. A few more stops on the way back ( more gorges and water holes). Once back in Alice we had lunch and checked out a few more aboriginal art galleries. I have never been an art aficionado but I was impressed with Tommy Crow paintings, not quite aboriginal and not quite contemporary. Haven’t quite decided which one I like enough to purchase yet. A lot of indigenous in Todd Mall selling aboriginal art prints. I have played a bit with night photos natively from my iPhone 12, now I have downloaded nightcap and a few other apps to manipulate the camera. Looking forward to trying it at Uluru tomorrow. Had a quick read of SA Border restriction changed and it looks like there are no restrictions for us entering from NT. An interesting activity by police in NT (mostly Katherine and Alice) is they are present at every bottle shop. You have to present your ID and explain where you plan to drink the alcohol, ie we had to name the caravan park we are staying at, this is before you enter the store. We also have to supply ID when paying. They record your ID and purchased . Apparently this is to prevent people going to multiple bottle shops, buying bulk alcohol then taking it out to settlements and selling for huge mark ups. Not sure how well this is working as the indigenous person in front of me was purchasing 4 bottles of bundy rum. I asked about purchasing restrictions as there was in Northern WA. There are apparently no restrictions until 6pm when you are restricted to one bottle (or equivalent) of wine.Read more