Alice Springs Desert Park

There is a kangaroo rescue center located not far from Alice Springs where, amongst other things, visitors get to hold bay kangaroos and feed them. There’s no better day than that for my travel companion, and more than enough justification to fly all the way to Alice Springs. That may explain the very unhappy camper I have on my hands today, as things in the Outback appear to run with a very different sense of urgency than we are used to, and much to her disappointment, the rescue center is only open a few days a week (none of them matching the days that we are here). Add that to the news that, outside of Queensland, you can’t hold koalas and it’s one of those days you tread very, very carefully.

It is Sunday here, which makes am already slow town even slower, but we manage to cobble together a plan to visit a local market, the Alice Springs Desert Park, and then head out for a few hikes in the mountains (or what pass for mountains in these parts) to some swimming holes.

Like the town, the market is small, and were it not on the same street as a few art galleries, we’d probably be through in 30 minutes or less. 90 minutes later, Joey is on the edge of revolt, meaning it’s time to move on.

Most of the exhibits at the park are centered around birds, which aren’t really our thing, but critically, they have kangaroos. During the day, they mostly just want to find a shady tree and move as little as possible, which makes them pretty easy to sneak up on.

I have to point out to Joey where all those bottle openers come from because he’s 11 and, well, I pretty much act like I’m 11.

There are also some dingos and emus to see, but like the kangaroos, they’re just trying to stay cool, so not really that exciting to see. We all enjoy the exhibit of nocturnal animals (wallabies and such), in no small part because it is in an air conditioned building.

We finish up around 2pm, and with the the temperature up over 105 degrees, I my merry band of travelers has lost all interest in heading further out into the mountains. They instead opt for a McSpider run and a temperature controlled hotel room. Joey has been talking for days about a game called Name That Soup, which I’m sure he would be thrilled to tell you about. Mom refuses to take seriously, but it turns out she’s not very good at it, so I think that must be why.