Stepping onto the platform of the Alice Springs rail station, it helps to have a sense of history in order to appreciate where you’re standing. On the surface, this could be any rail platform in almost any town with a rail stop in the world. Close your eyes, as I did, in order to remove the last traces of eyesight from my already limited visual perspective, and that is in fact the first sensation… that you’re not anywhere in particular. The sounds of passengers who have been confined to a series of rail cars for several hours or days is a common experience for many world travelers – the press of clothing, the sounds of directions given by attendants to the neatest cab stand, rental car counter or the baggage car – I’ve experienced the same routine in Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco and any number of other stops… and now Alice Springs. The first impression is that to visit Alice springs is to visit, as Bill Bryson called it, “Anytown America.”
I respectfully disagree.
Even though flights to Alice springs are easy to book, and the town is often a quick pit stop on the way to Uluru, dig al title deeper. The Alice Sprigns to Uluru part of our documentary and our travels in Australia. The feel of a fresh breeze on your shoulders and on your face is a welcome relief after more than a day of recirculated air. As I had mentioned, our brief time shooting through the open window of the luggage car was a welcome luxury most passengers Continue reading “Alice Springs and the Mirage of Civilization”