Darwin & Alice Springs

Due to a calendar malfunction, well, our inability read a calendar anyway, we managed to delay our entry into Australia by 1-day. As a result, we missed out on spending 24-hours in Perth, and instead we were forced to spend the night of Gaz’s birthday on the floor of Darwin airport whilst we awaited our connecting flight to Alice Springs. Gaz wasn’t too disappointed by this as it meant that he could spend the lion’s share of his birthday on the beach in Bali. Not a bad place to turn 28, I think you’ll all agree.
After a brief interrogation at the hands of Australian immigration, the next thing that greeted us in Australia was a baggage claim hall over-spilling with American Navy personnel. It was with great pleasure that we knocked over a handful of the smaller American sailors whilst swinging our backpacks onto our shoulders (we were careful not to upset any of the bigger animals). Gaz hadn’t had so much fun since he took out a pushy Chinaman in Hangzhou train station. After a few hours sleep on the floor of Darwin airport, we boarded a plane to Alice Springs and en route we were treated to the most spectacular show as the sun rose over the deserts of Australia. We spent our first morning in Alice Springs catching up on the sleep we’d missed whilst travelling, and then set out to take in the sites of Alice Springs. We were concerned that we’d only budgeted one afternoon to see Alice Springs, but this was more than enough time to see all that the town has to offer. The highlight (for Tara anyway) was a visit to the Flying Doctors museum. One of the things that was most apparent to us in Alice Springs was the friction that existed between the European Australians and the Aborigines. The Australian government only recently apologized for the way that Aborigines have been treated in the past. The government's current policy seems to be to give money to the Aborigines, but rather than improving things this appears to just be generating a lot of alcoholic Aborigines.