There was alot more here than I expected.

You really get a sense of where you are even in the town. The hot, dry weather makes you realise you’re in the desert – along with the river that almost never has any water in it, but you can see from the outline it has carved in the land that it really is a river. The ranges surround you – you can see the Yipparinye/processionary caterpillar mountain of the west macs ranges from most places.

It is right smack bang in the middle of the country, and the nearest cities are all along way away, on the coast – adelaide, darwin, brisbane, perth… They have learnt to be self-sufficient to some extent, and to haul stuff a long long way.

There are some cool markets in Todd Mall (which is actually an outdoor street that is blocked off to cars with trees all along it, not a shopping mall like you might expect), some nice cafes and restaurants (shock horror! in alice springs!!!), the desert park, and nobody is in a hurry.

The racism is more overt than in bigger cities, but perhaps no greater (just more obvious), but if you want to learn about aboriginal culture first hand this is a good place to start.

It’s very hard to get fresh fruit and vegetables here, but the Todd Mall markets sell some.

Then there is lots to see in the surrounding areas – uluru and kata tjuta, the west mac ranges, king’s canyon, all quite different and quite spectacular.