Alice Springs - The Centre of Australia

Leaving Rainbow Valley just after 10.00AM we were in Alice Springs by lunch time and booked into the G’Day Mate Caravan Park. After lunch it was into the visitors centre and then to Coles for supplies.

Sunday morning found us driving the road into the East MacDonnell Ranges but we only visited Emily and Jessie gaps and Corroboree Rock before turning around and returning to the caravan. That afternoon we went to the Botanic Gardens in Alice Springs where I observed a Western Bowerbird trying to encourage his lady friend into his bower. The lesson I learnt from this is that it is a female trait in all females be it man, beast or bird but there was no way that that female bower bird was going to be temped. She was not going to enter that bower. He was tempting her with all his trinkets but nothing worked.

The Western Bowerbird. Bowerbirds are the engineers of the bird world. Not only do they build a nest to lay their eggs and raise their young, The male bird also builds a a stick structure called a bower which is a love shack where he encourages the female into this bower and they mate.

Monday was a visit to the Desert Park which kept me amused. I was really impressed with the birds of prey display where the handlers work with hawks, falcons, owls and even a magpie.