We flew into Alice Springs without a hitch.

We found our hotel and were cleaned up and presentable soon enough. The town is a small dusty spot in the middle of Australia.

It has been around a while. The spring is what determined its location. Eventually a telegraph line and the railroad arrived and brought in more people. Gold was soon discovered nearby. It was then on its way to becoming a small town.

There were the local aborigines there to meet us. That is to say that they were doing what everyday people do in a small town and we were scoping them out. They are an interesting and clever people who have survived off of this hard land for thousands of years.

There is a wonderful documentary about the origins of mankind and where we lived in the past on Demand on one of your local cable network.

When the water level was lower, due to one of the the ice ages, people lived in areas that are now under water and traveled between the continents more easily since the seas were smaller and or frozen. Humans were able to populate all of the continents due to these factors and others. It is worth watching.

My wife brings small toys and other items for the children that we see on our trips. Stickers are a favorite of most children. The young aborigine are no different. However due to their natural lifestyle and their dusty environment, the stickers were a failure. Too much dust, not enough sticky. The children were cute as all children tend to be.

We went to an animal preserve and met some new friends. They seem friendly at first, but when the food runs out, be careful.

This trip was taken while I was still working and was shorter than those after 2013 when I retired. 

Also the technology of laptops made keeping travel journals much easier.