uluru part one

Take a deep breath, and prepare yourself for this epic Outback tale.

Day One

Eerie view from the plane

We flew into Alice Springs, and from the plane I could already see that we were in the middle of nowhere. I could see nothing but miles and miles of red desert, with a few roads breaking up the monotony. It did NOT look like a hospitable land, even from a few thousand feet above. And upon landing on the ground and exiting the aircraft, the relentless heat hit me like a punch in the face--it was stifling and caused sweat to begin pouring forth from my every pore--this, I realized, would be my home for the next five days whether I liked it or not. (I did end up liking it, but it was really touch-and-go for that first excruciatingly hot day.)

After checking into Toddy's Backpackers hostel, we wandered the 15 minutes it took to get to town, and there we saw very little. Trust me when I say that there is nothing of merit in Alice Springs save a few small museums and one main street. There was nothing in the centre of town except for a few tourist shops, two cafés, and lots and LOTS of Aborigines lounging around in the middle of the day and in the middle of all that late afternoon heat. (Later we would find out these Aborigines were disowned by their respective tribes for alcohol abuse--which did explain why some of them yelled unintelligibly at us as we walked by. It's pretty sad to think about, really. Remind me sometime to write up my thoughts on the treatment of Aboriginals in white Australia--it's pretty horrific.)

a doctor-in-training makes her way to a museum on medicine all the way across the world...

fully equipped RFDS plane

First stop of day one was the Royal Flying Doctor Service Museum (guess whose idea that was). Only after visiting RFDS did I have a notion of how incredibly isolated and deserted most of Australia is. Let me explain. The premise of RFDS is to send doctors in planes all over the remotest regions of Australia, because in most of the Outback there isn't a hospital even within hours and hours of driving. Essentially, it's a flying ambulance service that responds to calls of distress from cattle ranches and tiny towns. ("Oy! Send someone out here--a bloke's just fallen off his horse and broken his leg in three places!" or "Oy! Send a doctor, quick--my wife's about to pop a baby!) The planes are equipped from top to bottom with all necessary medical instruments and a small gurney; I was most impressed by how much they could fit on that tiny plane. (FYI, visiting RFDS also helped to re-inspire my interest in medicine. Which might make a good story one day when I am a ballin' doctor.)

The next stop was the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame (again, guess whose idea that was). It was a very well designed museum housed in an former jailhouse that showcased Australian women who were pioneers in their respective fields, i.e. medicine, public service, film, aviation, etc. But the other half of the museum consisted of rather jumbled exhibits on fashion, irons and ironing boards, kitchen tools, lace doilies--you know, all the material objects traditionally associated with women. Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely museum. Kind of like visiting my non-existent Australian grandmother's house.

The story continues soon... no worries, the actual Outback gets much more exciting than this. Alice Springs just sucks.

Stay tuned for Day Two and a good story about how I woke up in the middle of the night scared out of my mind...