Confession time...... Today we have taken no photographs. Zero. Zip. Nada.
I guess it all started with needing repairs to the anderson plug earth wire which had detached and one of the guys from the caravan park offering to fix it. But of course then you are on their time schedule and I'm certainly not ungrateful to have it fixed but it meant we were having to hang around the van until after 2.00pm when he finally came to fix it after doing all the other duties he no doubt has at the park. So while we were waiting I took the opportunity to wash everything that needed washing (with the exception of the dog!) - especially the bath towels which unfortunately while outside drying on our arrival at Stuarts Well yesterday managed to cop a decent covering of smoke from the campfire and smelled terrible.
With the wiring repaired we hopped in the car and ventured in to the city centre as the last time we were here I had missed the opportunity to shop at the Todd Mall and really wanted to have a look around and possibly buy a few mementos.
The interesting thing about Alice Springs for me in particular is that I feel as though I knew so much about it before I had ever been there. When Lakeisha and I moved to Barongarook back in 2000 there was no regular television signal available and we had to sign up for satellite television which included the broadcasts from Imparja - at the time a Northern Territory based provider that primarily came from Alice. Needless to say in the 18 years we lived in Barongarook, our weather reports were depressingly warm from Alice & Darwin, all the adverts were from NT businesses primarily in Alice, and much of the programming content included local images. Lakeisha grew up with Yamba's Playtime - a sort of Northern Territory version of Humphrey B Bear - Yamba being a giant Fire Ant who over the years had some rather interesting co-hosts. I'm pretty sure she (Lakeisha) can still quote the nightly "go to bed" routine from Yamba including the "don't forget to flush".
One of the curious but quite sad parts about the Imparja programming was the infomercials which included - especially in those early days - messages such as "Don't sleep on the road" - "Brush your teeth" - "Wash your face and eyes" - "Don't drink while you're pregnant" and the very common adverts regarding intervention of domestic violence. In the beginning we were somewhat amused by the need to have such adverts, but unfortunately it was all too clear that they were in fact very much needed.
But then of course there were the advertisements. We've spent years listening to the latest news and special deals from a myriad of businesses and Shane and I strangely felt nostalgic driving past and visiting many of these today, including Peter Kittle Toyota, Mad Harrys Warehouse, Elkira Motel, The Gem Cave, Mbantua Art Gallery, Desert Dwellers, Uncle Edys (an ice-cream shop) and Imparja itself, so it was such a walk down memory lane to see these businesses in the flesh again.
I found a few things to buy and purchased some really lovely fabric for a project I'll start when I get home. But in all it was just great to wander through the mall and soak up the atmosphere and if I hadn't wanted to look totally like a tourist I probably would have taken a camera with me. Perhaps tomorrow.
15 km
Total - 3,398 km
Top today 20°c - expecting overnight 3°c
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