Alice Springs was an intriguing place. A weird mix of international tourists (predominately French) and other tourists wanting to check out the highly commercial aboriginal art scene, itinerant workers who work sessionally up here and call the van park home and people who have lived here all their lives. Then there are the palpable racial tensions and suspicions between the town camp aboriginals and the ‘whiteys’, something I find hard to deal with, because I want to fix everyone and make it all better. I realised I am way too idealistic for such a deeply ingrained issue. I chatted to all and sundry anyway!
We visited Araluan Arts and Cultural precinct and I visited the Tjanpi Desert weavers. I also visited the Ngurratjuta Litja Ntjarra art centre where I met an inspiring lady who painted with her deformed left hand because the right one had been cut off. I spent a fair time fluffing around in the art galleries that sell work by aboriginal artists. I found this to be incredibly informative and interesting even though I was a little disconcerted by the whole commercial scene. So...with open minds, but not open budgets, Greg and I chose our favourite works, as a momento of our travels. The paintings are by young aboriginal women from Kintore, Tanya Wheeler Napangati and Lorraine Young Nakamarra.
We did a few touristy things like a live reptile show one night and a karaoke show the other. I am kicking myself over not taking the time to visit the Alice Springs Desert Park. Apparently David Attenborough ranked it as one of the best animal parks of its kind in the world. Next time!