This is a diary record for ourselves, while we remember, rather than a bulletin. Feel free to read on, if you wish....
We didn't take photos of our hotel rooms and are beginning to forget already, so these details are here as an aide memoire.
NT has a population of 228,000 people and an area of 1,420,970 km2 or
548,640 sq miles giving a population density of 0.17/km2 or 0.4 /sq mi. Darwin's population is about 125,000 and Alice Springs about 30,000 of which about a third are aborigines.
The UK has a population of 62,435,709 and an area of 245,000 km2 or 94,600 sq miles, that's a population density of 255.6/km2 or 661.9/sq mi.
So that makes NT very empty and from the tourist point of view, flying is the only option. Tourism is their main industry. Jobs are available and are well paid. Many people are in NT earning their Australian residency which takes 2 years. We came across a number of Irish who seem to like it there.
We spent 7 nights in NT. Two in Darwin, three in Alice and three in Uluru.
To do NT justice, we would have needed more time in Darwin to visit the National Parks in that area, particularly Kakadu and Litchfield which are a half day's drive away. Otherwise, I think that what we did gave us a good overview. Our visit to the West MacDonald ranges showed us that NT isn't all desert - there were lots of Gum trees around Alice, very thirsty trees.
Darwin itself was a surprise, in that it is so small. For the capital city of a territory, it is equivalent to Sydney, but a very small town with a small grid of wide streets and a population of 124,800. However, it was very laid back and a comfortable place to be.
We stayed at the Travelodge Mirambeena. We and a large room with two queen sized beds with yellow covers. There was a very nice pool where we flopped when we arrived and were waiting for our room. Breakfast was included, the coffee was terrible but the pancake machine great.
Alice Springs, on the other hand, with a population of just 27,800 is much more of a tourist centre. Very close to being the centre of Australia and so far away from anywhere (1500 km to both the north and south coasts) it has unique needs and so was where the School of the Air (the means of teaching younger children by radio) and the Flying Doctor service originated. Alice has a safety problem: we heard from a number of sources, including the hotel that it isn't safety at night. The problem concerns the aboriginal population and alcohol and we, are told, has been going on for years. We were told that the tourist office are reluctant to admit that that there is a problem because they don't want to deter 300,000 tourists per year. Our conclusion is that is probably as safe as Cambridge where several of our friends have had problems in the evenings.
In Alice we stayed at the Alice Motor Inn on the outskirts of town. We had a small apartment with 1 double one single bed (blue covers). There was a barbecue outside by the pool, there was also a kitchen available. The 'complementary' breakfast was DIY, toast and tea or coffee. The gates were locked at dark. It was not advisable to go out after dark, per previous paragraph and so we had John's birthday dinner at a later date in Oak Beach.
Uluru Resort has a resident population of 1100. It is a large purpose built resort run by one Company (a Quango for the indigenous people) there is nowhere else to stay unless you are staying at the Kings Canyon Resort (which is a good distance away and I would expect to have the same setup) or you are an Aborigine. It was well laid out with lots of space and you could feel that you were in then outback. You can choose your level of accommodation from camping to five star hotel but nothing is cheap and there is no point in trying to shop around, it's a closed market. So, wine for example is the same price everywhere, bar, restaurant or takeaway. We ate in a restaurant both nights that we were there; while the food was fine, if uninspired, the level of service was such that it would not survive in an open market.
Our hotel room was weird. We were asked what we wanted and we said a view. The view was from the loo and the shower, there was no other window. The bed was in the centre of the room.
Also weird was NT's liquor laws. You needed photo ID to be able to buy and this was scanned into a computer. Wine was not for sale in a supermarket the same is true in Queensland but no ID is required.
The aboriginal art here bowled us over, both the traditional and the modern. The Culture Centre at Uluru brought across to us how important images were in the aboriginal culture as a means of handing on their religious stories. A storyteller draws in the sand, recites the story and chants. The Centre itself was designed by the local indigenous population.
Pat and John on tour