Day 36 Alice Springs

Day 36

Last day in Alice today.  Yesterday was the one of the few warm days we have experienced on this trip.  The temperature maxed out at 26 and it was probably warm enough to wear shorts instead of jeans, not that I tried.  Today however, it was back to winter.  Cold and cloudy this morning with the temperature this afternoon not getting above 16.  So it was a morning for sitting in a coffee shop enjoying a really nice coffee, not that we spent the whole morning doing this.

Bev wanted to have a good look at some fabrics in a quilting shop while I was keen to have a look at an old building known as The Residency.  It was built in 1926 when it was intended that Central Australia would be separated from the Northern Territory and that a Government Resident, a type of vice-regal position, should be created.

The building is a typical example of inland large house architecture.  It is single storey and made with thick stone walls surrounded by wide, fly-screened verandahs and split through the middle by a breazeway thus taking advantage of every bit of cooling breeze that may have been available in the hot weather.  Each major room was also equipped with a fire place to combat the chill of the Central Australian winters.

The idea of an independent centralian political entity didn't take off and so a Resident was never appointed and the house was occupied for a short time by a personage known as the Deputy Administrator.  After this post was abolished, or rather, never legislated for, the house become the official residence of the District Officer.  It was occupied by various District Officers and other high level government officials until 1973.  Even the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh stayed here for a couple of nights in 1963.  As you can imagine, the Residency was the centre of polite society and entertainment for the whole of this period.

In 1973, Alice Springs became a locally governed municipality and the house became a museum.  Parts of the house now serve as a cafe, while the remainder has been restored to its 1920's appearance.

So that was our day today.   I should point out that we did some food shopping in order to take advantage of the cheap Alice Springs supermarket prices.  I also made a visit to BWS (a large Australian chain of liquor outlets, known more familiarly as a "grog shop").  I picked up a couple of bottles of what is fast becoming our favourite shiraz.  I have to admit, it is not Australian shiraz, being imported in bulk from France and marketed under the label " The Arrogant Frog".  How can you turn down a wine with a label like that (saving the presence of my French readers).

Well that's about it.  Tomorrow we will be driving out into the "Never Never" to a place called Wycliffe Well, which is just a road house 400 odd kilometres up the track towards Darwin.  I am not sure that there is any mobile phone coverage there so I may not be able to send a post tomorrow night, but will try.  Sorry that there are no photos today, perhaps tomorrow.