Robin's Adventures

Australia & New Zealand 2012
Robin & Steve's Adventures Down Under

Adelaide

Adelaide was a quick overnight stopover. A walk down the main street was like walking down Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley during the 1950s. Even the decor inside the buildings was very retro.

Alice Springs

Alice Springs is a small desert town in Central Australia that is surrounded by the MacDonnell Mountain Range. The Todd River runs through the center of town and is dry most of the year.

Interesting Trees

Alice had a couple of interesting trees. The corkwood tree is very small and gnarled with a thick spongy bark that protects it from fire. It has a sweet nectar and sometimes emu who eat a lot of the flowers can become drunk on the fermented nectar.

The ghost gum tree is one of the close to 700 species of eucalyptus trees found in Australia. It is easily recognizable by the bright white bark that gives it an almost ghostly appearance.

Beautiful Birds

We came across many colorful birds as we explored the Alice Springs area. Shown here are the honeyeater, crested dove, magpie, pink galah, and the ring-necked parrot.

Telegraph Station

This telegraph station opened in 1872 and was the first European settlement in the Alice Springs area. It was one of 12 stations that were established to help the remote areas of Australia keep in contact with the rest of the country.

School of the Air

The School of the Air was established in the 1950s as a means to reach children that lived in areas of Australia that were so remote that they could not otherwise attend school. It began with shortwave radio transmissions.

Now days, they use real-time video transmissions and live blogging. A very creative solution to meet everyone's educational needs!

Rock Wallabies

Rock wallabies are abundant in Alice Springs. If you show up with a bag of food just before dusk, they will come to eat out of your hand. It was really exciting to get so close to these animals and to observe their behavior.

Wallaby Antics

Pink Galah

It was really a kick to see flocks of this colorful parrot flying around throughout Australia.

Alice Springs Desert Park

Spent half a day wandering through the Desert Park. There were different regions within the park that showed various Australian habitats. The aviaries in each region had free flying native birds from that region.

There are lots of beautiful native birds in Australia. Shown here are the tawny frogmouth, the masked owl, the hobby falcon, the dusky woodswallow, and the rainbow bee-eater.