Day 9, May 3, Alice Springs

At 6:15 in the morning, under the full moon and at dawn (the sunrise was at 6:53), we set off on a short 3.5 km hike around the Devil's Marbles. The landscape was impressive, the large red rock formations bathed in the morning light. It was also striking how few animals we saw: Aside from a gigantic, nearly hand-sized orb-weaver spider, I can't recall anything else.

Shortly after sunrise, we had a cozy breakfast of eggs and bacon at camp, then we embarked on the slightly over 400 km drive to Alice Springs, the heart of Australia. Alice Springs is a large city in the Northern Territory, very modern with many nice supermarkets. It has about 25,000 residents and several hundred thousand tourists each year who come here to visit Uluru, Ayers Rock, which is still about 400 km from Alice Springs and also from any major city, and other attractions of the interior.

But now, first, there were the good 400 km to cover, mostly on a straight road through flat bush. Bush, not desert! Bush with trees, shrubs, and the famous spinifex grass, a tough, mostly indigestible grass for livestock containing silica needles that sting unpleasantly into the skin. And there were hardly any waterholes, although some riverbeds had a bit of water at the moment; it was clear that these would be dry in a few weeks. And the dry season still has several months to go until October!

Next to the road, then the first highlight of the day: A large snake, probably run over. I turn around, park on the side of the road across from it. It is alive, apparently, and huge: A python, I think. As I approach the well 2-meter-long and nearly (Lindelani) arm-thick creature, I see that it is dark brown with black markings and a clearly black head. Perhaps it really is a highly venomous brown snake? But my first impression was correct, it is the rare black-headed python, which only occurs in the dry interior.

Near a riverbed in a bush with berry-like fruits, the highlight of the day: Three cockatoos were enjoying the fruits! These magnificent birds are found only in Central Australia. Their wings are beautifully white, a light pink on the breast and head, and their strongly serrated white crest has a kind of flame in the middle, a red elongated oval with a yellow center. Fortunately, the animals were not very shy and allowed for some photos.

At a parking lot next to the highway, which by the way are all quite clean and friendly, I then saw one of the most common birds in Australia, which nevertheless, due to its small size, is very easy to overlook, and had been a main target for me: The tiny zebra finch, the most commonly kept pet bird in captivity. The splendid male with a bright red beak was in a bush right next to me, but of course flew away when I returned with the camera. Later, at another parking lot, I was able to photograph a significantly less colorful female.

At around 12:30, we arrived in Alice Springs and first went to the Apollo branch. The second battery, which powers the fridge and lights, had been dead after just 5 hours last night, which shouldn't be the case. It had already happened in Litchfield, but we thought it might not have been charged properly, and since then we had always been plugged into power. Well, the battery was replaced without any hassle or paperwork in less than 30 minutes. We were really glad about this excellent service!

Quick shopping at Woolworths, then off to the G'day Mate Tourist Park, a nice campsite a little outside Alice Springs. There we rested briefly, then at 14:30 we went to the Alice Springs Desert Park, a kind of zoo with desert landscapes. Highlight for me: A zebra finch with a nest in a tree hole, which was very photogenic. The flight show was okay, the nocturnal animal house was very good, the dingo show was canceled, which neither we nor the dingoes knew, who were not seen at 15:00 but were excitedly waiting for the showtime at 17:00.