Alice Springs

Well I haven't really done THAT much, but I suppose that an update on location at least is deserved at this point. Monday and Tuesday of this week were great, relaxing, hang out around Darwin in the sun type days. I even managed to get up and out with people on Monday night! My elective class met on Wed. and Thurs. Environmental History of australia - taught by prof. Tony - a friend of professors Ray and Bruce. The first day was a repeat for almost everyone involved - most of the 18 of us are from history, wildlife and conservation, or the Duke program. We have watched some pretty interesting nature-type videos at least. Wed night my roomates and I took it easy and went to bed pretty early. However, Thursday was our last night in Darwin - not to mention Territory Day! Apparently July 1 is the only day that is legal for people to set off fireworks so they have to get a years worth in. Thursday is also the big night for the Mindil beach markets. I don't know if I've described them yet, but the markets start a bit before sunset and continue on until 9 or 10pm. Incredibly like a busy county fair - just replace tenderloin stands with those for chinese and various oriental food and the fried candy bar places with ones for smoothies. You can buy just about anything, from crocodile whips to tie-dyed clothes. At any rate, there was a huge official fireworks display from barges just off the beach. Then the unofficial display started. Along the whole coastline you could see and hear people setting off veritable truckloads of fireworks. Impressive in persistance even if they're just bottle rockets most of the time. Most of my group made a big evening of it, but for some reason I decided to chill out around the pool and just chat with people I hadn't seen for awhile. Friday morning was our flight from Darwin to Alice Springs. A public holiday here so everything was closed and Alice is a quiet town to begin with! Today I got to spend some time walking around, visiting the cultural center, etc. Just returned from the Desert Park where they have restored 3 different desert habitats and have various displays/seminars showing off bush animals. Tomorrow is the exciting 6 hour bus ride to Uluru!! What a summer!