The Hopefully long awaited part 5 Darwin to Uluru

[Yowie]

Hi all, thanks for the replies. Hope all of you are well.
This part will be the second last installment to this trip as Alice Springs and Uluru (the rock ) both need a post each.

Last time I left you driving off to Alice from the Devils Marbles. Heading south the land is not a barren desert, lots of small trees shrubs and grass pepper the red dunes. One of the early Australian explorers was surprised to not find desert in the middle of Australia ( Alice Springs is not technically the center but is but is so close its not worth the worrying) but to find a "lightly grassed plain". The only thing that is missing is wildlife. The Northern Territory, has nearly every Australian native animal plus Water Buffalo and Camels all over it. So far apart from all the Crocodiles behind thick glass, the only animals I have seen are one semi domesticated Dingo and lots of birds. Wedgetail Eagles (about the size of a Bald Eagle) and lots of smaller hunting birds.
About and hour into the trip a smudge on the horizon so reveals itself to be...

Start of the McDonnell Ranges

These Ancient ranges kind o f split Alice in two. They are not very tall but bloody rugged. Luckily there are a few gaps to go through because I would not want to drag a horse up and over them.

After 2 hours we cruised into Alice about lunchtime. Lunch was Subway, always a safe choice and an early checkin at our hotel. After our Minimum security cell the night before in Tennant Creek, this was a huge surprise, Modern with kitchen two bedrooms and bathrooms. Civilization! (of course it had your standard central Australian 8 foot security fence with 2200 lockdown). We were booked in for two nights. To be honest we needed the break, after check in, a shower and a couple of restorative brews, Mum and Dad and I decided to go for a wander through town.
Alice Springs in a bit of a surprise to be honest. Originally settled as a relay station for the overland telegraph (from Adelaide to Darwin), it was and important piece of Australian history as this linked us to the rest of the world. Named for the wife of a forgotten South Australian governor, Alice Springs today is a largish town (about 15000) with all modern amenities. Largely dependent on tourism there are lots of art and souvenir shops and decent restaurants. Like all of Australia, it is infested with European backpackers (tongue in cheek guys, backpackers are the best tourists in the world). We had a German girl from Munich for our waitress that night

Panorama of Alice Springs from town lookout

More of Alice

After our little wander, dad and I decided to check out the Todd River. Every year Alice Springs have the famous Todd River Regatta........

The Todd River?

Dad and me standing in the middle of the Todd River

If you haven't guessed the Todd River is dry most of the time ( It is treated more like a park). The Regatta is lots of drunk guys carrying cardboard boats as they race up the sand. It only gets canceled if there is water in the river

Seriously :-0

I am off to get dinner, will finish Alice in a bit
Yowie

[housil]

The Regatta is lots of drunk guys carrying cardboard boats as they race up the sand. It only gets canceled if there is water in the river

Hahaha

[rationtin440]

Awesome pics, Yowie! I'm curious if you might know about this; I have a friend who worked for Phillips Labs back in the 1980s and he told me that the Australian gov't gave his company permission to build an identical HAARP facility in Australia, actually in one of the desert areas. He could not discuss much more but I have heard from other friends of mine who were in the air force (ours and yours) that Australia has their own version of Area 51 as well. Have you come across any info on this and/or are there any places that you know of which have a reputation of being restricted, top secret, HAARP related?

[dirtbag]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Gap

[rationtin440]

Thanks for the link dirtbag! Although I do think my friend was full of sh#@, because not only is there no mention of a HAARP facility at Pine Gap, I'm not at all sure that his superiors would appreciate him discussing stuff like that, not that it is really new technology (captured German documents during WW2 allegedly hinted at HAARP but it was called something else). Of course the sign photo on that link makes it pretty clear that tourists are not welcome.

[Yowie]

Thanks Dirtbag, I have been trying to think of Pine Gaps name all day. Its not even on a map.
The Wiki article on Pine Gap is pretty accurate on what is publicly known about it. Apparently the CIA run it with the Australian DSD (Defense Signals Directorate). The DSD was not even acknowledged as existing by the Govt until a few years ago, when they put a full page ad in a national newspaper inviting people to apply for a job. They seem to have been around since the 70's.
Years ago I heard a rumor that once a week a large cargo plane flys in from Guam at the dead of night and air traffic control is told to ignore it.
I think Pine Gap is also a base station for JORN (Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar Network). Jorn tracks air and sea movement over the North of Australia . Rumor has it that it can detect stealth aircraft and can track Singapore Airports traffic.

Other Tip Top sneaky bases around Australia include Maralinga. the British tested their nukes there in the 50's and 60's. It is a restricted area (It does glow in the dark ), but i think there are still conventional weapons tests going on there.
Woomera Test Range has been in the news recently, where the Brit's have been testing their new TARANIS drone. Most of our aircraft and weapons are tested there as are Hypervelocity (scramjets and the like) platforms. Again like Area 51 everyone knows its there but what actually happens there is only trickled out. The TARANIS footage look like a promotional ad for bumping up sales.
Both Woomera and Maralinga are in South Australia way out in the desert and I am sure both have the same welcoming signs for drop in visitors

Delamere range in the Northern Territory is apparently used by B2's out of Guam for test as well.
Can't think of anymore off the top of my head

[dirtbag]

One of the guys I work with was stationed at Pine Gap for quite some time, doing unmentionable things...
He said that aside from being a thousand miles from anywhere, it was a nice place to work.
Free housing, free car, subsidized food, and best of all, no taxes !
Nowhere to go, nothing to spend money on...

[rationtin440]

Thanks for the info Yowie! Unless you have noticed really bizarre weather patterns over the years, it would be hard to determine whether or not a HAARP array even is deployed in Australia.

[Name_not_found]

Very nice, thanks for posting!

Beautiful pics