We learned something interesting today when visiting the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve. Alice Springs is a misnamed town. Turns out the site for the telegraph station along the Todd River was in part named for what the builders took to be a nearby spring. It was not a spring but a water hole that disappeared in the warm (some might say hot) weather.
The site was selected in large part because of the availability of the water from the spring that was not a spring. The picture above shows the view of the so-called spring from the station site. Note: There is water in the water hole due to rains in the last few weeks.
The telegraph building is shown above. When it became operational messages from London arrived in five hours (via sea cables to Australia) versus three months by ship. The station's additional buildings include a house for the station master and his family. There is still an operating post office on the grounds. The town center of Alice Springs is located about five minutes drive from the station.
Earlier in the morning we visited the Olive Pink Botanical Garden. It is the only arid garden of its kind in the country.
Of interest are the wattle trees. The seeds are ground into flour and used for baking and making other treats like ice cream. We bought some ground wattle seed at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne to bring home with us.
Back in the town center we visited a museum dedicated to fossils discovered in a nearby area. The fossils included a very large bird, a crocodile and a marsupial saber tooth tiger with a pouch like a kangaroo.
At the museum you can watch the staff at work on the fossils.
Tomorrow we start the Red Centre Way. There is limited or no Internet at all available for the next two days so the blog will continue when we can publish an entry for each day.
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