Camel Cup | Alice Springs Camel Cup | Tourist Attractions - Pyndan Camel Tracks Lasseter's Alice Springs Camel Cup The first Camel Race was run in 1970 in the dry Todd River Bed as a bet between two mates, Noel Fullerton and Keith Mooney-Smith, and was an added attraction at the Alice Springs Centenary Year Celebrations. The Camel race proved so popular and hilarious that plans were made by the Lions Clubs to hold the event on an annual basis. The first permanent venue was Traeger Park, but low fences and a grass track were thought to be too dangerous, so in 1975 the event was moved to Arunga Park Speedway, with some success. Since 1979 the Camel Cup has been held on its own arena at Blatherskite Park, a section of the Central Australian Show Society grounds, with a commentary and judges' tower being erected, for telephone contact to the 'pits' and 'centre arena' to keep the crowd informed. After the Camel Cup, you'll be inspired to join our sunset came ride!

Lasseters Camel Cup 2017 in Ilparpa, NT | Everfest Location Unconfirmed Blatherskite Park Showground|15 Len Kittle Drive Ilparpa, NT It all started in 1970 when Noel Fullerton challenged fellow Lions Club member Keith Mooney-Smith in a letter to the editor in the local paper to settle a bet. Two men racing on camels down the dried bed of the ephemeral Todd River proved a mite too hilarious to pass up again, so the Lion’s Club made it an annual event, turning it into a 44-year fundraiser for local charities. A Bit on Alice Springs Alice Springs, aka “The Alice” in Aussie parlance, is a small funky town in the middle of the Red Centre. Founded in the mid 19th century (1871) by telegraph station workers who came upon the Todd River while they were stringing cable for the cross-continental telegraph line, they thought they had discovered an oasis, in what is a hot, arid, and very red desert region of central Australia.

They settled in only to discover that the river is more often dry than flowing, so the “town” at the time consisted of only a few huts surrounding a switching station near a dusty riverbed. The town didn’t really boom until 1887 when gold was discovered and Alice Springs grew. It’s remained small for the entirety of its existence, never rising above 30,000 residents. In addition to hosting the Camel Cup, Alice Springs is also home to another kooky race—the Henley-On-Todd Regatta: every August, people race boats by carrying them down the dry river. There must be something in the lack of water there. Okay, but Why Camels? The Red Centre is a dry landscape, with hot winds and little water. What better mode of transportation than a camel? The first camels were shipped to Australia in 1840 and breeding camel farms began cropping up in the 1860s. The country, colonized at that time by Brits, brought over camels and immigrants from the Pathan tribes of present-day Pakistan (then known as British India).

Because the national rail system didn’t arrive in Alice Springs until 1929, camels were often the ride of choice. When the railroad was built, many camel breeders relocated to Alice Springs and established farms. With the arrival of modern transportation, camels fell out of favor and whole herds were released into the wild. A pack of over 200,000 feral camels now roams the Australian Interior. The Race The Camel Cup (officially the “Lasseters Camel Cup”) always takes place on the second Saturday in July, with Blatherskite Park opening at 10:30 am before the parade of camels and their jockeys. Then it’s a series of races between noon and 4pm.

Events include traditional man-on-camel races, rickshaw races where two people sit while the rickshaw is pulled by two other people (then they switch positions halfway around), children’s races (don’t worry, the kids aren’t racing camels, they’re on foot riding wooden hobby-camels), the “Honeymoon Handicap” where the rider has to pick his wife up along the race course, and assorted interstitial events like belly-dancing to keep the crowd entertained. Add food stalls, a weekend day with families, and it all has the feeling of a county fair. The highlight of the day is the actual camel races. Camels, not known for their outgoing personality traits, can be stubborn. In fact, the official rules of the race read: 19. (a) Troublesome camels in the start will be moved to the rear and outside of the track on the field for a sitting or standing start at the discretion of the starter. (b) If camel is still sitting down at the starting line when the rest of the field is racing/has raced, the rider will dismount and is encouraged to walk the camel around the track to the finish.

It’s man versus nature at its silliest, and the greatest joy comes from watching the riders struggle to control their beasts.

Alice Springs Events and Festivals in 2014 / 2015: Alice Springs, Northern Territory - NT, Australia Alice Springs Calendar of Festivals and Events 2014 / 2015 January Australia Day - late January, local celebrations around the Telegraph Station, including a flag raising ceremony February Get Physical Triathlon - early February, a 100 m swim, 5K bike and 1K run April Alice Springs Cup Carnival - mid-April, a major horse racing event at the Pioneer Park Racecourse Heritage Festival - mid-April, celebrating the rich European heritage of the area, including guided tours of historic buildings May Wide Open Space - first weekend in May, outdoor three days of art, desert culture and music Bangtail Muster - first Monday in May, with a parade of carnival floats heading down the Todd Mall in central Alice Springs Molly's Bash - second Saturday of the month, popular fundraiser event for the Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame June Refugee Week - mid-June, celebration of the importance of refugees in the community, including film screenings and live music event Tatts Finke Desert Race - Queen's birthday weekend, a 240 km / 150 mile two day race around Finke

 with more than 400 motorcyclists, dirt bikes and buggies Alice Springs Beanie Festival - four day event in mid-June, held at Witchetty's at Araluen, with displays, workshops and awards related to woollen beanie hats July Alice Springs Show - early July, annual agricultural show, with many side stalls and attractions NAIDOC Week - mid-July, a festival about the indigenous culture around the Northern Territory (National Aboriginal and Islander Observance Committee) Camel Cup - second Saturday of the month, camel racing held at Blatherskite Park, attracting large crowds Mick's Memorial Ride - first held in 2014 this is a motorcycle and car ride in tribute a rider who was unfortunately killed supported by the Rider Awareness NT August Frontier Services Old Timers Fete - second Saturday of the month, Alice Springs' largest annual fete with craft stalls, cakes and entertainment Harts Range Amateur Race Club Bush Sports - early August, with a variety of horse racing events held at the Harts Range Alice Springs Running Festival - third Sunday of the month, including a fun run, 10km run, half marathon run and walk, and the marathon Henley-on-Todd Regatta - mid-August, a bizarre

 bottomless boat race along the dry Todd River Desert Harmony Festival - mid to late August held in Tennant Creek, NT.

A ten day festival of art in various forms including film,dance and music Still Got Talent - late August, first held in 2013 this event show cases talent from the over 50 years old Council Night Market - held at the Todd Mall one Thursday in the month September Desert Song Festival - first held in 2013, this is a ten day event held at various locations throughout Central Australia and Alice Springs Alice Desert Festival - a five day event held in early September, with general festivities and entertainment King of the Mountain - fun run or walk on the second Sunday of the month Council Night Market - held at the Todd Mall one Thursday in the month October Masters Games - seven days of popular sporting events at various venues in the town Council Night Market - held at the Todd Mall one Thursday in the month The Central 10 Wearable Art Awards - held at the Araluen Theatre November Council Night Market - held at the Todd Mall one Thursday in the month Wrapt in Christmas - late November, a festive craft market held to promote local crafters and designers December Christmas Shopping Market - early December, Yuletide market stalls based around the centrally located Todd Mall Carols by Candlelight - early December, family event that includes a fireworks display Christmas Carnival -

 first week in December, markets, performance and activities for children around the Todd Mall Lasseters Commits to Three Year Naming Right Sponsors for the Camel Cup | Lasseters Lasseters Commits to Three Year Naming Right Sponsors for the Camel Cup Back to the list Fri, March 30, 2012 Lasseters Hotel Casino has extended its naming rights sponsorship commitment to Australia’s most unique racing event, the Camel Cup for the next three years.

The Lasseters Camel Cup is set to bring the desert to life in July, when thousands of spectators are expected to gather in Alice Springs for the quirkiest event in the Northern Territory’s entertainment calendar. The Lions Club of Alice Springs has run the Camel Cup for the last 41 years and in 2012 it will be handed over to the Central Australian Apex Club. The active Lions Club members have agreed to assist the Apex Club with the running of the Camel Cup for the next three years. Monies raised at the Lasseters Camel Cup are donated back to the community of Alice Springs. The Lasseters Camel Cup with support from the Australia Lions Foundation raised a total of $62,335.66 in 2011. Seven admirable local community organisations were presented their cheques at a ceremony in the stunning Ghan Foyer at the Alice Springs Convention Centre on Thursday 29thMarch. Chris Sartori, Lasseters Hotel Casino Chief Operating Officer said, “Lasseters is thrilled to continue our support for such an iconic and exciting event that has raised over $1 million for the community in the past 41 years.

We are looking forward to working with Apex to grow the event in the coming years to raise even more money for the Lasseters Camel Cup grants program.” First held in the dry bed of the Todd River in 1970, the race is regarded as Australia’s premier camel race and it has grown rapidly in popularity since its inception and is now held at a dedicated 400 metre camel race track at Blatherskite Park. Attracting over 5000 local, interstate and international visitors each year the Lasseters Camel Cup is held on the second Saturday of July every year. In 2012 it will be held on July 14th. . Go to for more details. · July 8, 2016 · The Alice Springs Camel Cup is an amazing race that is iconic, quirky and its reputation reaches far beyond Northern Territory soil. The Cup is held annually on the 2nd Saturday in July in its own arena at Blatherskite Park. The family and fundraiser event is well known for its unpredictable and very entertaining camels as well as the brave and crazy riders.

Saudi Aramco World : Camels Down Under Photographed by Steve Strike Additional photographs by Arthur Clark In central Australia today, you can "take a camel to dinner," and have a meal at a vineyard-bordered chateau after a two-hour ride. Or race a camel around a 400-meter (quarter-mile) track against international competition. Or buy 100 camels - or 1,000 - from outback entrepreneurs, including Aborigines, whose derring-do outdoes Crocodile Dundee. In Australia? You bet. The one-humped dromedaries, roving in the only wild herds of their kind in the world and reckoned to number between 43,000 and 60,000, are descendants of camels imported into Australia, beginning in the mid-1800's, to help lay the foundations of the nation. Shipments came largely from the Indian subcontinent, but animals were also landed from Muscat, Yemen, Iraq and the Canary Islands. Arriving in a trickle that swelled to a flood by the early 20th century, the camels were often guided and cared for by Muslim cameleers.

Handlers came from lands as far away as Egypt, Turkey and Persia, though most - with their camels - hailed from northern India and what today is Pakistan. But the men were all, almost always incorrectly, called Afghans or simply "Ghans." The name stuck to a section of the 2,900-kilometer (1,800-mile) transcontinental Central Australian Railroad linking Port Augusta in the south to Darwin in the north. Camels hauled material and supplies to the men building that line beginning in 1879, and the segment of track from Port Augusta to Alice Springs was called "The Ghan" until it was relaid about a decade ago. In fact, it could be argued that the town of Alice Springs owes its existence to the hardy camel and the equally hardy cameleers. It was founded in the early 1870's as a repeater station for the Darwin-to-Adelaide Overland Telegraph Line - which was also built by men who depended on dromedaries for supplies and equipment. Plodding camels not only helped establish "The Alice," they brought it civilization - or at least music.

The first piano arrived in the 1880's, the story goes, strapped to the back of a camel. Aptly, the city holds a state legislative district, a primary school and a major thoroughfare all named after cameleer Saleh "Charlie" Sadadeen, who came to Alice Springs with his team in 1890. "Children were enthralled with his distinctive, flowing robes and intrigued with the long-stemmed pipe he smoked," reports the Alice Springs Centralian Advocate. Men like Sadadeen came to Australia on two- to three-year contracts but often lived out their lives in the country, writes American geographer Tom McKnight in The Camel in Australia. While a handful became wealthy, deploying "thousands of camels organized into the backbone of corporate business," most toiled from dawn to well past dusk for low pay, and lived near outback towns in little communities distinguished by the "tin minarets of their hastily constructed mosques." Wherever the cameleers settled, writes McKnight, "they would soon construct a place of worship.

In every case the mosque was a focal point of community life in Ghan Town." Australians first heard about camels in 1837, just 49 years after Europeans arrived on the continent, when the governor of New South Wales received a report recommending the importation of camels from India to Sydney. The Sydney Herald (today's Sydney Morning Herald) took up the call, arguing that camels were "admirably adapted to the climate and soil" of the unexplored country. Though it wasn't until the 1860's that dromedaries were brought Down Under in any numbers, the first camel - named Harry - arrived in 1840, the sole survivor of a group of four loaded aboard ship at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. And though they would soon prove vital to the country's development, their first representative hardly set a good example. On a surveying expedition to the Lake Torrens area of South Australia in 1846, Harry bit the tentkeeper, grabbed a goat by the back of the neck and "chewed a hole in a bag of flour, leaving a white trail along the route," according to an account of the journey.

But the straw that broke Harry's back came when he bumped his owner, John Horrocks, just as Horrocks was loading his rifle. Horrocks lost two fingers and several teeth in the ensuing blast, and died a month later of gangrene. The camel was executed at his express wish. In May 1841, between Harry's arrival and his premature departure, two female camels acquired from the Imam of Muscat arrived in Sydney via India - the fourth and fifth dromedaries to reach Australia. (The third and fourth were landed in Hobart, Tasmania, from Tenerife, but there is no record of what happened to them.) A male companion from Muscat had died en route. Seeking buyers, the animals' importer shuttled the camels back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne several times, but, despite the Herald's counsel, no one was interested. Finally, the governor of New South Wales bought the animals, along with a replacement male, and ordered them pastured on the Sydney Domain - government property in the capital. Two were painted nibbling on the lawn there in 1845, and the oil hangs today in Sydney's Mitchell Library.

In 1860, the camel was first called on to do the work for which it was ideally suited: long-distance exploration in a continent of some 7,000,000 square kilometers (about 2,700,000 million square miles) - roughly the area of the 48 contiguous states of the United States. But here, too, first results were far from promising. A total of 26 camels, several originally imported from Aden in 1859 to perform in a show in Melbourne, were included in the 20-man, 23-horse Burke and Wills Expedition that set off from Melbourne in August in a bid to cross the unmapped continent from south to north. A picked team of four men, six camels and a single horse made the last 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) push from a base camp at Cooper's Creek, reaching the north coast in February 1861. But none of those camels - and only one man - made it back. Two of the camels were eaten, two were abandoned and two were destroyed when they became too tired to continue.

Instead, the relief mission that departed from Adelaide under John McKinlay in 1862 first proved the value of camels in rough terrain - for a novel reason. McKinlay never found Burke and Wills but did return with valuable reconnaissance, and he praised his camels for their ability to move over stones and through muddy, flooded country. "The camels acted famously," he wrote, "...from their great height they were as good [in protecting the expeditions stores] as if we had been supplied with boats." Further camel-mounted expeditions helped unlock the secrets of the vast, arid interior of the country, pushing in the 1870's through South and Western Australia and what, in 1909, became the Northern Territory. Indeed, the first Europeans to set eyes on magnificent Ayers Rock, the 350-meter (1,140-foot) sandstone monolith on the central Australian plain, were the members of the camel-borne 1872 Ernest Giles expedition. Australia's first large-scale camel importer was Scottish-born Sir Thomas Elder, whose interest in dromedaries can probably be traced to his own experience in the Middle East.

Nine years after an 1857 camel journey from Cairo to Jerusalem, Elder started a stud farm about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Port Augusta with 121 camels shipped in from Karachi. That first shipment, chosen with care to meet a variety of outback needs, included light camels for riding, medium-weight pack animals and heavy Kandahar dromedaries able to carry loads up to 650 kilograms (1,440 pounds). Elder's enterprise wasn't trouble-free, either: His herd was immediately struck by mange and reduced by almost half. But with the animals that remained, supplemented by additional imports, he produced carefully bred beasts that consistently brought higher prices than any others, home-grown or imported. The firm Elder founded continues today. And even though it long ago phased itself out of the camel trade, it has retained an interest in the animals. For example, the company supplied 10 camels for a 3,426-kilometer (2,124-mile), 117-day walk from Darwin to Adelaide by the Northern Territory and South Australia police forces.

The expedition's arrival on January 1,1988, was timed to kick off Australia's bicentennial celebrations. In 1986, Elders also aided a central Australian Aboriginal community trying to sell several thousand camels to the Moroccan government. With Elder leading the way, Australian camel importers began to buy in earnest as the 19th century drew to a close. Between 1894 and 1897 alone, says McKnight, 6,000 camels were shipped from India directly to Western Australia, mainly to serve the booming gold camps. In 1910, there were more than 8,400 camels in the country. Numbers peaked around 1920 with some 20,000 in harness. The Sydney Herald was vindicated. Camels, able to carry heavy loads over long distances and go for days without a drink, proved better adapted than horses or bullocks to working in a continent half of which is arid or semi-arid, where summertime temperatures often soar beyond 35 degrees Centigrade (100°F). Camels did a variety of important jobs.

They hauled the casings that lined the wells that tapped the underground water that opened wide areas to the livestock industry that is vital to the Australian economy to this day. They carried the fencing - and later the fence riders - that held back rabbits from the newly opened ranges; they lugged supplies to sheep ranches and mines and returned with bales of wool and wagonloads of ore; they dragged scoops to carve out lake basins; they pulled passenger coaches between towns where there was barely a road; and they transported policemen and postmen on their appointed rounds far from cities or towns. Outback journeymen even found that the trails pounded smooth by the padded feet of hundreds of dromedaries made excellent routes for bicycling hundreds of kilometers between jobs. The early camels weren't dawdlers, either. In a famous race, the mount of a cameleer named 'Abd al-Wadi was beaten by a horse in a 176-kilometer (109-mile) run between Bourke and Wanaaring in New South Wales, completed between sunrise and sunset. But the horse died the next day, while 'Abd al-Wadi proudly rode his camel back to the starting point.

At their zenith, dromedaries were in use in some three-quarters of the continent. And, in a bit of irony that Sir Thomas Elder might have relished, the Australian Camel Corps even served in Egypt and Palestine in World War I as part of Great Britain's Imperial Camel Corps. The force consisted of three companies of Australian Camel Corps to one British, and a company of Hong Kong artillery. But by the middle of the 1920's the future was looking cloudy for Australian cameleers and camel ranchers - clouded by the choking waves of red dust sent up by automobiles and trucks, the new wave of imports into the outback. From the 30's on, in all but a few long-distance, off-road cases, the camel was a museum piece. Camel men watched the value of their stock plummet. Many abandoned their beasts to the wild. But the feral camel thrived in the bush, "and he's still laughing there today," says Nick Smail, an Alice Springs camel-farm owner. Recent surveys show wide camel ranges extending from the Northern Territory and South Australia in the center of the continent well into Western Australia, with pockets of animals also reported in the northeastern state of Queensland.

Smail, who buys young, wild-caught animals for his tourist business from bush-country camel-catcher Ian Conway for $500 (US $360) each, is one of a number of outdoor businessmen who cater to visitors to the outback. He offers short camel trips, including a camel-train stroll down the dry, sandy bed of the eucalyptus-lined Todd River to a hearty Australian dinner. More adventurous travelers can take longer safaris into the bush. Some outfitters, who learned their skills from the sons of those original Muslim cameleers, offer treks of up to six months, though week-long or two-week trips are most popular. Sunburned back-country ranchers who ride the ranges in four-wheel-drive vehicles have already rung up sales of dozens of animals to specialized buyers in the United States and Japan. And they're eyeing much bigger transactions, involving thousands of animals, that would send camels back to the Middle East - as top-quality livestock. One of those deals, under negotiation with the Moroccan government, fell through in 1986 despite the involvement of the Australian Ministry of Trade.

That five-year contract, for 10,000 camels to replace transport and work animals that had perished in a long-running drought, would have brought new jobs and much-needed cash to an Aboriginal community centered in Docker River, on the eastern flank of the Gibson Desert some 750 kilometers (465 miles) southwest of Alice Springs. But price was the snag. The cost of sending a camel from Australia to Morocco was calculated at $l,680 (US $1,200). "The Moroccans ended up walking camels up from [neighboring] Mauretania instead," explains Roz Mitch-elson of the Australian Trade Commission's Middle Eastern-African Region. Last spring, attention turned to the Aboriginal community of Amata, several hundred kilometers southeast of Docker River, where an Iranian group was discussing the purchase of 2,000 meat camels. But that deal, too, was hanging in the balance over the question of prices. In Canberra, Mitchelson isn't positive about camel sales. "We're not going into the camel industry as a means of saving Australia's trade imbalance," she says. But the dream of marketing Australian camels in the Middle East is still very much alive.

Rather than shooting for pie-in-the-sky, 10,000-camel deals, it makes much better sense to look at "top-end" sales of high-quality animals, argues Tom Bergin, a Canberra-based camel expert who has served as an advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture and Water in Saudi Arabia and who once successfully doctored the Amir of Bahrain's prize bull camel. Bergin, a veterinarian, is also a firsthand historian when it comes to camels in Australia. In 1977, he led a camel expedition in the footsteps of the ill-fated Burke and Wills Expedition from Cooper's Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, burning off 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of his own bulk in the process. Bergin believes there is promise in camel sales abroad, but he insists any program must be tailored to the strong points of Australia's herds. "The basic demand for camels in the Middle East is for racing, meat and milk," he says. "But the market is astute.

They don't want just anything that's been hauled out of the bush." Trade between Australia and Saudi Arabia, for instance, makes no sense "unless it is going to be top-quality trade with a superb milking breed or very good racing animals." Australians in Saudi Arabia point out that big camels recently shipped from Down Under to the United Arab Emirates to race were left so far behind on the track that they were laughed at. Bergin counters that the dromedaries used by Australian police and postal authorities up until the 1950's "are descended from some very, very good Indian and Omani types," and that those light, fast animals are still represented in certain herds of wild camels. The biggest Australian camels, descended from Kandahar animals imported from India, weigh up to 900 kilograms (1,980 pounds), Bergin says. That's more than twice the size of a North African or Arabian dromedary, with comparably more meat. Females weigh in at 400 to 600 kilograms (880 to 1,320 pounds) and should be able to produce more than twice as much milk as their smaller cousins.

But that's only in theory. Bergin says pilot projects with fenced-in herds would be required to get a true picture of the animals' productivity. He thinks worthwhile results from such studies could be available two years from the start of work. There is a potential home market for camel products, too, Bergin believes: It just wants promoting. "If you talk to Australians and say, 'What about drinking camel milk?' they'll laugh at you," he says. "But camel milk is very good when babies are allergic to cow's milk." Aborigines far from supplies of fresh milk on isolated outstations, where infant mortality is high, could find camel milk a lifesaver, he says. "It's exceptionally high in vitamin C, and vitamin C is especially hard to come by in desert areas." In Alice Springs, Aboriginal affairs authorities are working to target Middle Eastern nations for camel sales. Central Land Council land management officer Steve Roeger says the aim of the effort -which would enlist support from the Trade Commission and from experts like Bergin - "is to establish something that's going to last and be effectively producing camels at a reasonable price," to bring economic benefits to the Aborigines who live in camel country.

Roeger estimates it would be at least three years before the first camel could be sent overseas - if research into camel supply and demand, and the technical aspects of marketing, proved positive. In Perth, the capital of Western Australia, the Ministry of Agriculture is carrying out preliminary research to identify markets for camels caught in the wild. Particular emphasis there is on raising breeding camels which could be exported to the Middle East for milking and racing. Meanwhile, smaller-scale operators are already counting some profits from camel-catching enterprises, researchers are watching the dromedary from space and on the ground, and Australians in general - and tourists - are having fun with their long-legged friends. Soft-talking Ian Conway, who runs King's Creek Station, a 800-square-kilometer (300-square-mile) ranch dotted with acacia trees and saltbush some 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Alice Springs, supplies camels to several Northern Territory safari operators and to buyers abroad. He and the young ranch hands he describes as "a good team of blokes" track down feral camels in the bush with motorbikes and off-road trucks for buyers and researchers alike.

Conway, who's proud of the "dash" of Aborigine blood in his veins, had 54 young female camels - collected in two months of chasing - in his corrals this spring, all set to airship to a purchaser in Galveston, Indiana. "Catching's not hard once you know what you're doing," he says with an understated grin. He and his hands head into the field with two four-wheel-drives and several motorbikes, locate a herd, "and quite often the boys jump off the bikes onto a camel," catching it rough-and-tumble if it's small enough. Big beasts are roped from bouncing Toyotas. "We've had no major injuries - just a few broken bones. That's the good thing about having 'a dash' in you." While catching camels may not be too hard on humans, it takes its toll on vehicles. "We spend two days at a time in the field, maximum, before going in for repairs," says the rancher.

"You're always under the bonnet fixing something." Conway's "blokes" are currently breaking in camels for use on safaris on King's Creek Station, on the edge of the planned King's Canyon National Park, and getting ready fora run at the $100,000 (US $71,500) Great Australian Camel Race, another event timed for the country's bicentennial. The course covers 3,260 kilometers (2,025 miles) from Ayers Rock to the Gold Coast in the east, beginning in April. The camel man says the race will draw about 300 riders, including "60 Arabs, Americans and Japanese." He claims the race will be "the biggest publicity thing Australia has ever produced, even bigger than the America's Cup because it's so unique." If he can find a sponsor willing to put up A$50,000 (US $35,750), Conway plans to start training six riders and animals in earnest this month. "We're going in to win it, not for our health," he says. Conway's camel-catching forays have also been undertaken in the name of science.

In the spring of 1986, he and his crew captured two females from separate herds so that accompanying biologists from the University of Sydney could attach radio collars around their necks. That operation, directed by Gordon Grigg, an associate professor of biology, has enabled researchers to track camels by satellite through country rarely frequented by man, opening up a new chapter in wildlife study. Radio signals are transmitted every three days to two U.S. weather satellites in polar orbits, and then sent through the joint U.S.-French ARGOS satellite data-processing center in Toulouse, France, to a desk-top computer in the university's zoology building. The computer readouts give the latitude and longitude for each animal, locating the camels to within a kilometer (1,100 yards). The information is important in itself, since wild camels have never before been tracked over the long term, but it also has a very practical application: Camels are considered pests in Australia because they break down fences and can compete with livestock for food. Solid data about their ranges are critical to ranchers and conservation authorities.

One of the A$4,000 (US$2,860) camel-collar radios went off the air last spring after 11 months of broadcasting, but the second was still sending strongly in midsummer. Up to that time, the camels had moved less each day than anecdotal information had earlier suggested. However, each had moved more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from its release point. At the same time, ground-bound camel researchers from a zoological institute in Braunschweig, West Germany, have begun taking notes on the activities of a herd of 36 camels at Babbler Bore, some 350 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Alice Springs. The Germans plan to study the herd's behavior for two years. But in Alice Springs itself, last May, attention was on races, not research. The annual Alice Springs Camel Cup went international, presided over by safari operator Noel Fullerton - dubbed the "Camel King" by the press - and U.S. Ambassador William Lane, with a team of riders from Virginia City, Nevada, in the running.

The Americans even brought along a meter-high (three-foot) International Camel Cup trophy - and they left it in Alice Springs. "They lost abysmally" by Down-Under rules, comments one of the local riders. Says Fullerton, a bushy-bearded, pony-tailed cameleer who's been in the business for 20 years, "It was a joke. I rode backwards and still won." But, he adds, "They were all very nice people - excellent ambassadors for America." And it's just possible that Fullerton may get much more than he's bargained for the next time Alice Springs' International Cup rolls around. According to the Northern Territory Tourist Commission spokesman in Alice Springs, the commission's London office has received inquiries from Saudis, Kuwaitis and Japanese riders about participating in the races. "The event is becoming widely known," says Denham Jones, adding, with a touch of Australian understatement, "Saudi participation would certainly add a whole new dimension." What would Harry, Australia's calamituous first camel, think of all this? That's hard to say.

But Alice Springs' turn-of-the-century cameleer Charlie Sadadeen would probably just puff on his remarkable, long-stemmed pipe - and smile. Arthur Clark, an Aramco staff writer in Dhahran, visited Australia last spring. He has previously encountered camels during his years in Morocco and Egypt. This article appeared on pages 16-23 of the January/February 1988 print edition of Saudi Aramco World. Alice Springs - Central Australia - Tours & Accommodation You are here: Home » Alice Springs Alice Springs In the middle of the Australian continent lies the iconic heart of Australia, the red stone landmark of Uluru. But the monolith of Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, is just a rock after all, so travellers looking for the true beating heart and living centre of the Outback are best advised to look for it in Alice Springs. The town called Alice is the place where the rugged spirit of the early explorers was shaped by the ancient culture of the first peoples, and so created the modern mythos of the outback so central to Australian nationhood. The traditional owners of the lands of the Red Centre are the Arrernte people, who called the place Mpwante.

The Arrernte have lived in central Australia for thousands of years, and according to their ancient stories the landscapes and mountain ranges around Alice Springs were formed and shaped in the Dreamtime by totemic caterpillars, wild dogs, wallaroos and mythical ancestral figures. The Heart of the Outback For any traveller wishing to experience the full flavour and rhythms of Australia’s true Outback, Alice Springs is the destination hub where explorations of the Northern Territory’s Red Centre should begin and end. From here visitors can explore the ecology of boundless desert landscapes, hike mountain chains pocked with cavernous gorges, discover hidden waterholes of unparalleled beauty or visit remote Aboriginal communities where the living history of Australia’s first peoples can be experienced first-hand. Alice itself is a place of quirks and character that grew from a simple telegraph station in the 1870s. The town has grown over the years and today is the cultural, administrative and economic centre for a vast area.

The quirks and character are still there, however, as no other place boasts such things as a yacht club with no lake or ocean to yacht on, an annual boat race on a dry riverbed and a knitting and beanie festival in one of the hottest and driest places on earth. Things to Do in Alice Alice Springs is certainly not a large city by world standards, with an approximate population of just under 30,000, but it does have plenty of attractions, accommodations, shopping and services. Below are listed some of the top cultural attractions, events and venues in and around the town. Cultural Attractions and Sights Telegraph Station Historical Reserve — The original stone-built telegraph station provides a fascinating glimpse of the town’s beginnings. The station operated from the 1870s until 1932, and nearby is the original “Alice’s spring”, a semi-permanent water hole in the normally dry Todd River watercourse. Museum of Central Australia — the museum’s natural history displays bring to life a time when the now-arid deserts of central Australia were covered with lush tropical rainforests and wombats the size of hippos roamed the land beside nine-foot tall flightless birds.

There is also an extensive collection of Aboriginal artefacts documenting the cultural legacy of the Arrernte people. Reptile Centre — for those not so interested in boring history or stuffy museums, the Reptile Centre offers an up-close look at a host of slithery scaled reptile beasties. Alice Springs Desert Park — An ideal attraction for those interested in the ecology of the Red Centre lands, featuring hundreds of species of plants and animals housed in specially recreated habitats. Events in Alice Finke Desert Race — Every June on the Queen’s birthday motorsports enthusiasts flood into Alice for the running of “The Finke,” a cross-country rally race from Alice Springs to the small community of Aputula. The Camel Cup — Every July since 1970 the most unique racing event in Australia is held in Alice with the running of the camels. This fun event draws entrants and visitors from around the world and helps raise funds for various community groups. Henley-On-Todd Regatta — this iconic event has been poking fun at the stuffy British tradition of boat racing since 1962.

Hilarity ensues every year in late August as teams in homemade “boats” take to the sands of the dry bed of the Todd River to have a race. Shopping, Food and Entertainment Alice has a variety of restaurants and clubs to suit almost any taste and budget, from fast food fare to fine dining. Some eateries and clubs of note include: Bojangles, a popular spot for backpackers and local station ringers; Todd Tavern, a classic Aussie pub with pokies and slots, a busy bar, good grub and live music on weekends; Overlander’s Steakhouse known for classic outback steaks with samplings of crocodile, emu, camel and kangaroo on the menu. Todd Mall Market — Set up along the main shopping strip in the centre of town. The Todd Mall Market features local vendor stalls, plenty of deals and is held on alternate Sundays from May to December. When the market is not in session, Todd Mall features a variety of retail outlets, galleries and eateries. Heavitree Gap Market — Situated just on the far side of Heavitree Gap from the town centre, this market is held on alternate Sundays to the Todd Mall Market and is a bit less formal and pricey.

Aboriginal Art World — Located along Todd Mall, this shop deserves mention for showcasing traditional artworks from across central Australia. Exploring the Alice Region From Alice Springs the entire Red Centre is open for the visitor to explore, with any number of adventures to be had to make a memorable holiday. There are numerous tour operators to help arrange activities from fossicking for gems in the North of Alice to ballooning, trekking, camping and four wheeling expeditions. Day trips to the Simpson Desert to experience the life ways of the Arrernte people can be arranged, and guided tours from half-day trips to four-day junkets can be planned to view the spectacular vistas of the MacDonnell Ranges. In short, there’s a bit of everything for everybody and too many sights and activities to list. Alice Springs – Travel guide at Wikivoyage Understand[ edit ] Alice Springs is located 1500 km from the nearest major city, being Darwin to the north or Adelaide to the south. As a result, the people that inhabit the town are often quite ingenious when it comes to making things last!

Also, due to this distance, you may find that some things can cost more than in the cities, such as fruit and veg, and some clothing (if you forgot to pack your singlet or jacket!). Over all, however, the town isn't too expensive when it comes to the necessary requirements and it is much cheaper than smaller outback towns, making it an ideal place to stock up before heading to more remote areas. Something else to remember is that hotels in Alice Springs are rated slightly different to those in European or American countries - as hotels are rated on their facilities rather than the actual rooms. The reason for that is due to the distance that Alice Springs is from anywhere and the difficulties involved in getting building materials. Mind you, the star ratings reflect the quality of the establishment. Indigenous History[ edit ] The Arrernte (pronounced Arrenda) Aboriginal people have made their home in the Central Australian desert in and around Alice Springs for more than 50,000 years. The Aboriginal name for Alice Springs is Mparntwe. Three major groups Western, Eastern and Central Arrernte people live in Central Australia, their traditional land including the area of Alice Springs and East/West MacDonnell Ranges.

They are also referred to as Aranda, Arrarnta, Arunta, and other similar spellings. Arrernte country is rich with mountain ranges, waterholes, and gorges; as a result the Arrernte people set aside 'conservation areas' in which various species are protected. According to the Arrernte traditional stories, in the desert surrounding Alice Springs, the landscape was shaped by caterpillars, wild dogs, travelling boys, sisters, euros (Kangaroo-like creatures) and other ancestral figures. There are many sites of traditional importance in and around Alice Springs, such as Anthwerrke (Emily Gap), Akeyulerre (Billy Goat Hill), Ntaripe (Heavitree Gap), Atnelkentyarliweke (Anzac Hill), and Alhekulyele (Mt. Gillen). Many Arrernte people also live in communities outside of Alice Springs. Pronunciation of these Arrernte words can be very difficult. The reason for that is that Arrernte, and indeed every indigenous language of Australia, was not written.

When Europeans arrived with their missions to convert people to Christianity, they felt the need to have the language written, and using their own languages put the written form to the language. As a result of the missionaries being mostly German, they used their own language to develop the Arrernte written language. Don't worry if you can't pronounce it; everyone in town knows the places by their European names. Modern History[ edit ] In 1862, John McDouall Stuart led an expedition into Central Australia and the area where Alice Springs is located. Until the 1930s, however, the town was known as Stuart. The Overland Telegraph Line linking Adelaide to Darwin and Great Britain was completed in 1872. It traced Stuart’s route and opened up the interior for permanent settlement. It wasn’t until alluvial gold was discovered at Arltunga, 100 km east of Alice Springs, in 1887 that any significant settlement occurred. The telegraph station was sited near what was thought to be a permanent waterhole in the normally dry Todd River and was optimistically named Alice Springs after the wife of the former Postmaster General of South Australia, Sir Charles Todd.

The Todd River was named after Sir Charles himself. The original mode of transportation in the outback were camel trains, operated by immigrants from Pathan tribes in the North-West frontier of the then British India and Pakistan who were misnamed ‘Afghan’ Camellers. Cattle Stations opened up the interior of Australia, with stations the size of small European Countries running mostly Cattle. Camels were (and still are) farmed in Central Australia - and the exporting of Camels to the Middle East is a fast developing industry. This is because the Australian Camels are a purebred of camel, and often free from the diseases which can be prevalent in the Middle Eastern countries. During World War 2, Alice Springs was an important location for the Northern defense of Australia, and was a staging point for the allies movements to defeat the Japanese Imperial forces. Alice Springs' importance grew when it was established that coastal shipments to Darwin were no longer safe. Lots of relics from World War Two are still in use today in Alice Springs, primarily the Alice Springs Airport, which was constructed as a result of the War.

After the conclusion of the war, there was still a large American influence in the town, and as a result, a number of covert locations were set up in and around Alice Springs to monitor world events. One of these was a Seismic Vault, which was a bunker of sorts, dug into a mound, and which held instruments such as seismographs and other instruments to detect the ground movements of possible nuclear testing in the (at the time) USSR. One of these bunkers was recently 'discovered' and is now heritage listed. The 1960s saw the establishment of the Joint Defence Space Research Facility, or as it's locally known, "Pine Gap". The facility was established in the 1970s and is the only area in Australia with Prohibited airspace - so forget about seeing it up close. You may, however, see it on approach or departure from Alice Springs Airport. Tourism[ edit ] Tourism is a major industry in Alice Springs, with well developed facilities for travelers. Visit the Alice Springs Visitor Centre [1] , located at 60 Gregory Terrace, at the south end of Todd Mall, for Visitor Guides, maps, tour and accommodation bookings, and suggested itineraries.

You can even download or view the latest Visitor Guide for Central Australia on their website. Geography[ edit ] Alice Springs is to the north of the imposing McDonnell Ranges, with all transport links to the south using "Heavitree Gap" - a distinctive narrow gap in the range where the railway, highway and Todd River run through without any climb required. Heavitree Gap was named by William Mills, a surveyor of the Overland Telegraph line. He named it in honour of his former School in Devon (UK). The roads around Alice Springs are generally flat and tend to skirt a lot of the hills, some of which are sacred sites to the local Indigenous people. By plane[ edit ] There is an airport in Alice Springs. The airport doesn't have air bridges, so that passengers need to use stairs to get in/out of planes. Currently Qantas has connecting flights to Darwin , Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane , Adelaide , Cairns and Perth . There is a flying shuttle to Uluru also (but Uluru has an airport too, so if you're just flying in to see the rock, you don't have to stop off at Alice). Hire cars are available at the airport.

By train[ edit ] The Ghan is a private tourist train covering the vast distance from Adelaide to Darwin stopping in Alice. Expect to pay a premium over the airfare, even for a sitting seat. You can put your car on the train. By car[ edit ] Alice Springs is 17 hours drive from Darwin , and 18 hours drive from Adelaide . The Stuart Highway from Adelaide is well-maintained and goes right through Coober Pedy , an underground town famous also for being the opal capital of the world (and therefore well worth stopping off for a visit on the way). It continues through Tennant Creek and Katherine all the way up to Darwin. If you are driving on the main sealed routes from other Australian Capital cities, you will likely not be driving on remote roads, and provided you do not take side trips, there will likely be passing traffic. It is worthwhile reading the safety tips for Driving in Australia and always carrying water and ensuring you know the location and opening hours of your fuel and food stops. Mobile phone reception is limited to a few of the larger townships along the Stuart Highway, so be prepared to go for long distances without coverage. Read the rental car conditions carefully.

Rental cars in Alice Springs may not offer unlimited free kilometres and do not cover you if you take your vehicle on unsealed roads. Rental cars hired outside of the Northern Territory may not be able to be driven into it. Driving after dark outside of the city limits may be prohibited. Rental companies in AC do not offer hand-controls for the handicapped. The official visitor information centre has access to unlimited kilometre rates, so it's worth getting in touch with them if you are going to clock up the Kms on the car! [2] See[ edit ] Alice Springs has quite a few interesting things to see; one of them happens every night. If you don't get out of town and watch a sunset, even just sitting off the main highway, you've missed something special. Other than that: Events[ edit ] Alice Springs Camel Cup Alice Show . The annual festival with shopping, fair ground rides, animal displays, fireworks, art and crafts, races and performances. Henley On Todd . River sand race poking fun at the British tradition of boat racing, usually held in late August each year. Camel Cup . Camel race day – a fun day out held in early July. Beanie Festival .

Knitting festival including mostly 'beanie' hats knit from every conceivable material in every conceivable pattern, all for sale. Also afternoon teas and art displays and music. Finke Desert Race . Motorcycles or 4wd buggies racing over the Finke river track. Alice Masters Games . Sports cup for people of all ages, held every 2nd year. To be held next in October 2012. For a detailed and up-to-date calendar of events in Alice Springs, go to the Alice Springs Town Council website. [4] History[ edit ] Old Timer's Museum - located at the Old Timer's Retirement Village, off the South Stuart Highway leading into town from the airport before you get to the Gap. Really cool history of the outback, with a big collection of amazing stuff from the first white folks to hop a camel for the middle of nowhere. Definitely worth a visit. -23.698583 133.882065 1 The Residency, Parsons St, ☎ +61 8 8953 6380 .

Built in 1927 as the residence of the Government Representative to Central Australia, the house was the centre of government and social activity right up to the early 1970s. Visited by foreign dignitaries, government officials, and even royalty, the Residency operates as a museum house where people immerse themselves in the early administrative history of the town and region. Speak with one of the friendly volunteers who are on hand to answer your questions. Located on the corner of Parsons and Hartley Streets. Entry is by gold-coin donation, and opening hours are 10 am - 2pm Monday to Friday. Its generally closed over the very quiet summer months, December til late March. -23.703981 133.876866 2 National Pioneer Womens Hall of Fame , 2 Stuart Terrace, Old Alice Springs Gaol (Next to the Royal Flying Doctor Service), ☎ +61 8 8952 9006 . Hundreds of women are recognized for their special contributions to Australia’s heritage.

Exhibitions include the 'Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives - Women First in Their Field', the Signature Quilt - 'Women at the Heart' and 'Women's Work of yesteryear'. The Old Gaol buildings are open for visitors to look through and gaol stories are told in a complementary booklet. The museum is devoted to the women who picked up stakes, hauled a whole house in a wagon out to the hottest, most dangerous place they could find, plunked themselves down where you couldn't see another house for a thousand miles in any direction and said, "This looks like a nice spot to live." Amazing stories. There is plenty to see and do for all ages with a gift shop, toilets and access for people with disabilities available. entry fees apply. Hartley Street School -23.671245 133.885476 4 Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve , Stuart Highway (a few km north of town). 8AM-9PM. Where it all began, this is the original telegraph station, with some exhibits about its history. The area around has walking trails through lovely serene desert scenery, including the actual Alice "springs".

The reserve is free if you don't want to access the historical buildings. $9.50. (updated May 2015) -23.777723 133.867965 5 Old Ghan Museum , 1 Norris Bell Drive (off Stuart Highway, south of town before the airport). 9AM-4PM. Next to (or part of, but with a separate entrance fee) the Road Transport Hall of Fame, this is a museum about Australia's wildest train line, The Ghan. Old equipment, photos and videos plus several carriages to explore. $12. (updated May 2015) -23.777334 133.867571 6 Road Transport Hall of Fame , 1 Norris Bell Drive (off Stuart Highway, south of town before the airport). 9AM-4PM. Huge collection of trucks (with a few buses, cars and motorcycles), some historically-relevant to central Australia. Also a genuine hall of fame with hundreds of bios of notable truckies. $15.

(updated May 2015) -23.699599 133.882562 7 Adelaide House. The first stone building in Alice, located on the Todd Mall and well worth a visit if only for the absolutely amazing early air-conditioning system. Really cool display of old communications technology, like the bike-powered communications radio. Run by a couple old women who serve tea - an excellent place to have a sit-down. Nice and quiet. (updated Jun 2015) -23.694436 133.881846 8 Anzac Hill (road access of Stuart Highway/Schwarz Crescent; walking path starts from Wills Terrace). Hill with good views and some history of Alice Springs. (updated Jun 2015) Adventure[ edit ] Pyndan Camel Tracks – Take a one-hour or half day journey aboard a "ship of the desert", through the scenic Ilparpa Valley, located in the famous MacDonnell Ranges. Owner and cameleer Marcus has been working with camels since 1982 and his camels are well trained.

Pyndan Camel Tracks is the only camel-riding experience based out of Alice Springs, and he also offers a free shuttle service from most hotels and the Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre to help people get to his property. Outback Ballooning - Take a balloon ride and see the sunrise. Alice Springs has ideal weather for ballooning and the tour operators run almost every day of the year. Quads & Motorcycles - Some tour groups do quadding through the spinifex, and Harley rides through remote Central Australia - lovely day trips. Cycle hire - You can hire a bicycle and tour around town the healthy way. Just remember your water! Golf Course - For the incurable golfer, the golf course is rated one of the best desert golf courses . There are a whole lot of golfers here so I guess it must be good. There's also a clubhouse with drinks & snacks. -23.7541 133.8737 3 Pioneer Park Races , Pioneer Park Racecourse, Stuart Hwy, Connellan, ☎ +61 8 8952 4977 , e-mail: info@alicespringsturfclub.org.au .

The local racetrack with pretty much guaranteed lovely weather. (updated Jun 2016) Rugby League - Sport is part of life in Australia - what better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Winter then at the Rugby League? Matches are held at Anzac Oval from March and finalise in the Grand Final usually held on the first Saturday of September. League was founded in Alice Springs in 1963, and to this day, two of the foundation teams, Wests and United still play, as well as Memo and Vikings. It is a good strong competition and makes for a wonderful day out! History and Culture[ edit ] Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve , Ernest Giles Road (145km south west of Alice Springs), ☎ +61 8 8951 8250 . Explore the 12 craters, which were formed when a meteor hit the earth’s surface 4,700 years ago. The Henbury Meteor, weighing several tonnes and accelerating to over 40,000km/h, disintegrated before impact, and the fragments formed the 12 craters. free entry.

-23.701570 133.864980 4 Museum of Central Australia , Araluen Cultural Precinct (Corner of Larapinta Drive and Memorial Avenue), ☎ +61 8 8951 1120 . The exhibitions explore the unique features of the region through time and space, following the evolution of the landscape and the creatures that inhabited it. Featured is a replica of a local paleontological dig, an ancient waterhole with some surprising mega fauna including a giant freshwater crocodile and the largest bird that ever lived, Dromornis stirtoni, dated at eight million years old. Other exhibits include present day Central Australian mammals, reptiles, insects and meteorite fragments. Entry fees apply. (updated Aug 2016) Totem Theatre . Not open to the public unless a play is on - the little local theatre, heritage listed building put up during World War 2 to entertain the troops after they retreated from Darwin because of the Japanese bombing. Small local theatre groups put on productions on a semi-regular basis; ask at Dymocks if there are any tickets. Theatre on a shoestring budget!

-23.701305 133.862522 5 Araluen Arts & Cultural Centre . An amazing local art museum, with works by Namatjira and other local artists. Regular traveling art shows, plays, and film festivals. The front desk will know what events are ongoing - there's always something ongoing. Wildlife[ edit ] Camels Australia , Stuart Wells via Alice Springs, ☎ +61 8 8956 0925 . Say hello to one of their friendly camels, take a short ride around the enclosure or browse through the interesting assortment of souvenirs and local Aboriginal art on display in their shop. Sit back, relax and enjoy the view while enjoying a cold drink and something to eat. free entry. Gem fossicking[ edit ] North of Alice - The area stretching north of Alice Springs is known for its serene beauty and as a setting for gem fossicking, bush walking, bush camping and four-wheel-driving. A few hours north are gem fields with Garnet, Zircon, Tourmaline, Apatite and various kinds of Quartz. Contact the Gem Tree for details.

Garnet is the easiest to go for on your first try, as the garnet chips are easy to find on the surface and require no digging or special equipment. You do need a permit though [5] . Work[ edit ] Because of the large tourism industry and the small population Alice Springs is an easy place for anyone to find work. Many companies will employ travelers, and wages are comparable to, if not higher than, other parts of Australia. The big thing to be aware of is that long term accommodation is very scarce, and backpackers/travellers are usually at the bottom of the list for long term accommodation. Renting is very expensive, as there is a high demand for housing in the town, and house shares are not common. If you are looking to stay for 6 months or more, you will probably need to rent a house. It's easiest to find rental accommodation in December/ January and June/ July as people tend to leave during these periods. During the off tourist season (October - March/April) the hostels will do a good deal on long stay accommodation, but during the busy time (April–October) they will charge their normal rates.

Buy[ edit ] Alice Springs Markets, Todd Mall, 08 8952 9299. Fresh food, jewellery, books, clothing, art, hand-made crafts and other neat merchandise. A market that takes place along the Todd Mall in the center of town, with local vendors setting up stalls along the mall. The Todd Mall Markets are held on alternate Sundays. Heavitree Gap Markets, held on the opposite Sundays to the Todd Mall markets, this has a less formal, car-boot sale atmosphere. Just on the other side of Heavitree Gap from the town, it's about 30 mins walk from the town centre, or 5 or 6 minutes drive. Saturday Morning Lawn Sales - Friday's Centralian Advocate will have a listing of lawn sales in the back; getting a group together with a car and a map and driving around town at 6:30AM on a Saturday morning equipped with coffee, cash and a big trunk to put your stuff in while watching the sun rise is a real pleasure. Aboriginal Art World , 89 Todd Mall, ☎ +61 8 9852 7788 . Alice Springs is Australia's premiere hub for indigenous artists.

Aboriginal Art World showcases art from the central Australian area together with the top end, the Kimberley and Cape York. They also offer the possibility to meet the artists in their art workshop in town. This is a great opportunity to get up close and personal with the artists and their dreamings. Fast food[ edit ] There are a fair few options here in Alice Springs for tucker (dinner). McDonald's, KFC, Hungry Jacks (Burger King), and Red Rooster (Australian made KFC) are the main take away chains, but there are also your small family take aways, such as Big Al's, East Side Fish and Chips and Scoff. Additionally, there are some great Pizza Shops in town, La Casalinga is a great feed. It's on Gregory Terrace, and it's got a really nice old school atmosphere about it. Has not changed for 20 years, and won't in the near future! Vegetarian and vegan food[ edit ] Ling's Supermarket In shop 8 & 9 113 Todd st has a huge range of Asian food available including: noodles, (white, red and black) rice, sauces, kimchi, dried, fresh and frozen products.

They have an interesting range of authentic Asian Cooking gear and health products to see and you will find a quality vegetarian range to choose from. Open seven days with very helpful staff Phone 0417962121 Fax 08 89533678 e-mail lings.supermarket@gmail.com The Tea Shrine is on 113 Todd Street - right next to the Greyhound station, and serves a large variety of teas both hot and cold, and some excellent light Asian-style vegetarian meals. The Korean iced tea is really, really good - don't leave without trying it! Open 9 am - 4 pm, Monday - Saturday, closed Sunday. Drinks and light meals, cafe style[ edit ] Town and Country is a pub on the Todd Mall. They serve light meals, and it's usually got quite a nice atmosphere about it. -23.706354 133.884733 1 Bean Tree Cafe , Tuncks Road (in Olive Pink Botanical Garden). 8AM-4PM. Solid cafe set amidst the trees and birds.

(updated May 2015) -23.701382 133.881888 2 Loco Burrito , 76 Todd St. 11AM-7:30AM. The first burrito joint in town, it does a reasonable job from a friendly, hole-in-the-wall outlet. $10-$13. (updated May 2015) Sit-down meals[ edit ] On the Todd Mall: Oscar's is located near the movie theater, and has an ever-changing fusion cuisine Mediterranean menu and a nice wine list. Sporties has a long history in Alice; it used to be the little casual place owned by and attached to the only 5-star place in town, Puccini's. But Puccini's closed and transferred some of their menu to Sporties, so as rough and tumble as they look, their food is amazing. "I’ve never had a bad meal at Sporties" is a common saying amongst locals. Very good service - surprisingly quick. The Thai Room is down an alley off the Todd Mall. It has home-style Thai food, from paw-paw salad to beef salad to the best Tom Yum ever and pad Thai.

Excellent food, not too pricey, and if you ask for it spicy they will accommodate you. Open for lunch and dinners most days. Red Ochre Grill is attached to the Aurora Hotel on the Todd Mall, and serves an ever-changing menu of various local things. Tries to use a lot of indigenous ingredients in their menu, and in 2009-2010 did a revamp of the menu to introduce many new dishes. The ribs come highly recommended. Other locations around town: Overlander's Steakhouse is the classic outback steak restaurant. Excellent beef, but they do nice chicken and barramundi too; home of the "Drover's Blowout" where you try a little crocodile, kangaroo, emu, camel etc. An Amazing wine cellar with some of the best Australian wines available in the cellar. They do the "Tourist Humiliation Routine" for tours, where you participate in some traditional Australian songs with the Wobble Boards ala Rolf Harris and Home Amongst the Gum Trees. Hanuman, in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Indian and Thai and it's yummy but expensive. Nice place, good wine. Service can be spotty. Recently lost head chef.

Hong Kong Restaurant next to Yeperenye Shopping Centre on Hartley Street, is one of the best Asian restaurants in town. Delicious food, relatively inexpensive food, with a large upstairs restaurant and an exstensive take-away menu. Been in Alice Springs for many years. La Casalinga, across from Mbantua Gallery,near The Diplomat has truly excellent pizza; they have the old-fashioned pizza bar atmosphere, with dark wood paneling and cold beer. Good steak and lasagna, too. Casa Nostra, across the river via the causeway from the Todd Tavern. Excellent fresh pizza and some lovely pasta. More of a romantic atmosphere, old-style Italian. BYO. Drink[ edit ] Alice Springs, like most of the Northern Territory, has tough liquor laws. It is illegal to drink in Public places (Parks, Streets, etc). The Telegraph Station to the North of the town permits drinking and a lot of families go there for a BBQ and a relax. Regardless of how sorry you may feel, don't purchase alcohol on behalf of people you don't know - if they can't buy it themselves, then there's a reason for that. Todd Mall is the main street (partly pedestrian only).

You will find a couple of options here to get a drink. Starting at the end near Anzac Oval, The Todd Tavern has a bar meant for working blokes and a restaurant with good pub grub. Town & Country and Sporties both have bars and serious addictions to sport of all sorts. Outside the Todd Mall Almost all the hotels have bars. Almost all the bars that aren't in hotels have live music some time or another - check the Advocate (local newspaper) for the "Gig Guide" to see what's playing where. Non-Bar drinking: There are a number of liquor stores in town - Northside Foodland, Coles, Woolies and a few others. These have a decent selection of beer, wine and hard stuff. Bottle Shops, as they are known as, open at 2PM on week days until 9PM, and from 10AM to 9PM on Saturdays. No takeout liquor is available on Sundays (except at the 2 drive-thru bottle shops in town.) The Casino - Lasseters - has a couple bars, including one devoted to *not* gambling called the Juicy Rump. Nice place – tasty food, good beer. Bojangles .

Probably the most popular joint for a beer. Every night people coming or leaving for a tour have some fun here. At the weekend it can get a little bit rowdy. There's a live webcast of the place online, and the local radio station (96.9 Sun fm) broadcasts live from Bo's most nights - and your friends and family from home can go on the internet and buy you a drink voucher! The Gillen Club - Although it's not in the CBD, it's a very nice club to visit. Good food! Especially fun on a Saturday night during the Football season when the teams based at the club have had a good win! Hostels[ edit ] Alice Springs YHA , ☎ +61 8 8952 8855 . Is convenient located near Todd St in a former cinema. Clean, has a pool but no aircon in the rooms. Stay safe[ edit ] Alice Springs suffers from a relatively high crime rate. Socio-economic tensions which stem from Australia's colonial history have led to the development of impoverished Indigenous communities, known as 'camps', in and around the town, and alcohol-fuelled violence remains a significant problem in the community.

Exercise extreme caution when walking around after 10pm, as large groups of inebriated Indigenous youths are notorious for causing trouble in the city. Todd Street is nauseatingly well-policed, so problems in the CBD are less of an issue than they were previously. From time to time you may be asked for money or other items while in Alice Springs. According to Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, the organisation which represents the Native Title Holders of Alice Springs, this is not acceptable behaviour, and giving handouts only encourages a begging culture when there is no need for it to exist. Don't give money, cigarettes or food to those who ask. There is a chance that you will get yelled at and cursed at for not giving a handout but ignore this and keep walking. They will have forgotten you in 30 seconds anyway. Go next[ edit ] Rough Map of Local Points of Interest There are four main roads leaving Alice Springs: the Stuart Highway, which runs north to Darwin and south to Port Augusta; Larapinta Drive which runs West and splits off to the Namatjira road; and the Ross Highway, which runs East.

The Stuart Highway (highway 87) is sealed all the way; this means it's got tarmac and is passable using a normal car. Larapinta Drive and Ross Highway are sealed for a couple hundred kilometers in each direction, but after that they convert to dirt roads which you will need a 4x4 vehicle to access. There is a web of dirt trails - sometimes called unsealed roads - which surrounds Alice Springs, and some of the nicest places within a few hours drive will require a four-wheel drive vehicle (4x4) to get to. There are two ways to go south. The first is the Stuart Highway, which is sealed and frequently traveled. The second is a dirt track which leads off the Stuart Highway; it's called the Old South Road. A dirt track connects the Old South Road to the modern Stuart Highway, from a point north of the aboriginal community of Titjikala. On the side of the old South Road, you will see a narrow track that follows the road - this is the track of the Finke Desert Race which is held every year on the Queens Birthday Long Weekend in June.

Best to just view the track though and not drive on it as it is VERY tough going, even at low speeds. If you are game and drive on it, have a think about how the competitors race along it at speeds in excess of 150 km/h on race weekend. Around Alice Springs[ edit ]

Question: The Camel Cup, first held in 1970 in the dry bed of a river, is held where?
Answer: Alice Springs, Australia