Yesterday we drove from Uluru to Alice Springs, about 4.5 hours through the Outback. For those of you interested in logistics, we took the free bus from the resort to the airport (there are three flights a day out of that airport, so I reserved our rental car for a time that coincided with when the bus would take people for one of the flights; there are no taxis or ubers, so that bus or hitchhiking are the only ways to get to the airport). It was the easiest rental car pickup ever, since no flights were arriving and the employees were happy to have something to do. We loaded up our Corolla Cross hybrid (a little SUV) and headed south.

For the first three hours or so the scenery was pretty much the same–your standard desert. Other than the two kangaroo crossing signs we saw (we did not see any live kangaroos), we could’ve been driving through the desert in California, Arizona, or Nevada. There was Mount Conner in the distance at some point (picture on the right below).

Then we came to the Erldunda Roadhouse–the one place to stop for bathrooms, fuel, food, etc.

After the roadhouse, the West MacDonnell mountain range started to come into view.

We’re going to call those pictures with my reflection in the mirror artistic, o.k.?

Bryan, you asked what we do on our drives. We have a very long music playlist that we’ve been through about 1.25 times so far. In between singing along loudly, I point out things of interest along the road and we chat about what we want to do over the next few days. My things of interest for this drive were mostly rocks that I at first thought might be an animal. As we drove, I kept a list of the things I observed:

1. Many “Wandering Stock” signs because there are unfenced cattle farms along the way
2. Periodic rest stops, which are literally just a picnic table on the side of the road, and many signs telling you to take a break from driving if you are tired
3. Signs reminding us that “We drive on the left in Australia” after every rest stop
4. One dead kangaroo on the side of the road
5. One pile of bones on the side of the road
6. One large lizard in the middle of the road
7. The occasional fence
8. The Cannonball Memorial, which commemorates four men (two racers, two race officials) who died in 1994 during during the inaugural Northern Territory Cannonball Run, an open-road car race from Darwin to Alice Springs and back

That really was all there was to see.

Alice Springs is at the base of the West MacDonnells. Here’s the view from our hotel balcony:

We checked in, unpacked (we have it down to a science now), and headed to dinner at the Tropic of Capricorn beer garden. It was trivia night; we were worried it would be Australia-centric, but there was only one Australian question (about a prime minister), so I think we scored about average.

We were not sure what to expect in Alice Springs because three different Australians from different places told us with great concern to be careful here because Alice Springs has a huge crime problem. This is, they explained, because there is a large indigenous population here that struggles with poverty and alcoholism, so there is property crime and fighting. Frankly, it sounds like any large American city minus the guns.

Being here does not feel the slightest bit unsafe, but the vibe is very different from other places we’ve been in Australia. Unlike our other hotels, the parking lot is behind a gate and you have to have a room key to enter the hotel, even during the day. The restaurant last night had a large man in a security vest at the door and he basically watched people as they walked to their cars in the parking lot. So we’ve learned that Australia has a very low tolerance for crime.

Today we ventured out to one of the hiking areas nearby, but the pool is calling, so I will tell you about that later.

I will leave you with this video of a Truck Train we saw on our drive–this is for you, Dad! This one only had three trailers, but we saw a couple with four. We also saw a truck carrying camels!