Alice Springs is located in the center of Australia, 980 miles south of Darwin, 920 miles north of Adelaide, with basically nothing but bush in between. We flew in from Darwin, and were pleasantly surprised by the very moderate temperature, about 75 during the day, and high 50’s at night. We are told that in the summer the temp gets to 100-120.
People refer to this area as desert, and I was expecting sand and cactus like the US southwest, but the terrain surrounding Alice is a semi-arid climate (10” annual rainfall) with lots of bushes and scrubby trees. Alice Springs itself was surprisingly green, with streets lined with 40’ eucalyptus, and even a few yards with lawns.

Our B&B, less than 1 km from town center, was a very nice ranch-style home in a suburban neighborhood which backed-up onto the ”bush”. Wallaroos show up in the backyard at 8 am and 5 pm everyday to be fed by Deborah, our hostess. Very cute (the wallaroos), especially the mom with baby. There were also about a dozen Galah (white cockatoo with pink chests) flying around the yard and screeching incessantly

Deborah suggested we go to dinner at a nearby bistro to sample local cuisine. I apparently committed a politically incorrect act by ordering kangaroo steak, which appears to have offended Deborah (vegetarian and wallaroo-lover) and other (unnamed) family members. It was quite tasty but a little chewy, a reasonable alternative to steak if you don’t mind offending people. I took a pass on the offer of a grilled camel wrap for lunch the next day.
No worries, mate. More to follow.