Back in Alice

I have arrived in Alice.  It took all day as it is well over 1000 kilometres from Mataranka to Alice Springs and I had to stop and take pictures every so often: it is just so GREEN!

Up north I thought it was ‘The Wet’, but when I arrived in Elliot, where I had been numerous times before just two years ago, it was still so lush.  It sure is lovely.  But already, the fire hazard is set at High.  They will be doing a lot of burning once things dry up a bit. 

When I first arrived here I was surprised at how they burn the landscape.. all the time!  In Canada we have controlled burns as well, to regenerate the ground, to control the amount of fuel for accidental fires during the fire season, but here, they burn everything.. all the time!  Trees along the roadside are beseigned with fire, and they look black and a lot of them.. dead. 

But after living here for a couple of years… after the Victoria fires of two years ago.. the Perth fires of two weeks ago (69 homes went up in flames).. well, all that intentional burning makes sense.  The eucalyptus trees are full of oils and they burn hot and fast!  And trees are everywhere!  For so much of the year though, many look sad..  black.. brown.. any leaves they do have seem to be clinging on for dear life.  

But today they are lush, green and lovely.  Especially when the light is just right, which it was for a huge part of my drive yesterday: when you drive for that long you get both the early morning sun and the afternoon light.

I had to stop at Devils Marbles.. these rocks a surely a wonder.  Better than the Bungle Bungles they talk so much about in Kununurra.  The landscape of central Oz is pretty flat, with nothing much to look at until suddenly, piles of rocks appear.  Some balancing on each other.. as though they were placed there as a bit of a joke.  

The road is straight and with cruise control you have lots of time to think.  Which is also rather lovely, but: the speed limit is 130 and when you hit the 100 sign, well, you can't just tap the break and expect it to take you to 100 in time not to get caught. 

By the Highway Patrol.  And he kept asking me why.. why was I speeding?  Who knows why... because I was!  I mean, what is the right answer?    

Tennant Creek: never did like that place.  It is a centre for government handouts and attracts people that are either on the dole or can’t find a job doing anything else but handing it out.  I would bet you the 'copper' that stopped me couldn't write any more than what he needs to fill in the form.. and I'd put big money on wether or not he could read the fine print.  Not... But, he got me and all I could do was smile.  I have learned that anything else can get you a bigger fine.. 

Yes.. I almost got a job there once, but had the good sense to take something else.. which didn’t turn out either now that I think about it!  But anyway.. last time I was in Tennant Creek it was in the middle of a dry dustbowl.  This time it was the centre of lush fields and green forests.. hey: is it any wonder I was distracted.   

And the earth turns so red!  I thought it was red up north, but it turns out I wasn’t getting used to the red, it just isn’t that spectacular up north.  Set against the green of the foliage and the blue of the sky.. breath taking. 

I had to slow down for all the water on the road.. can’t hit puddles that big at 130. 

What was it Dumbledorf had.. a Phoenix.  That is central Oz right now.  Rising out of the ashes! 

Cost me $220 just to look.  But it was worth it.