2/24/15 Alice Springs

After breakfast, we gathered to hear an Aboriginal man, Lindsey, talk about growing up in the outback region of the country.  He spoke of the men's rites and rituals that boys face when they come of age.  These included getting a front tooth knocked out to prepare oneself for handling pain and circumcision (with a sharp rock).  He also spoke of the Stolen Generation.  This was quite a blight in Austratlian history as half-castes were taken from their families and moved many miles away to be brought up by Caucasian families.  Apparently, the Aboriginal blood is recessive so the children of mixed parentage are a lot lighter than the Aboriginal parent.  This practiced started in the 19th century and continued into the 1950's or 60's.  Many of these children were never able to find their birth parents.  Some of the children were encourage to both learn "English ways" and well as retain their native language (especially those raised in groups by the Lutheran Church).  He also showed us some of his native art and told us the story that was depicted on the canvas.  We boarded our bus and headed to the airport for our next adventure.

We arrived in Alice Springs and hour and a half after take-off and it was HOT (about 105).  We crossed the Tod River which was completely dry now, but a month ago, there were torrential rains (12 inches in two days - equal to their annual rainfall) and the river was in full flood.  We had a bit of time when we landed at our hotel so Dave and I jumped in the pool for a refreshing swim.  We walked to the visitor center and museum of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  We were given a talk about the history of the service and shown a short movie.  They have over 60 planes and cover most of the country except for the coast where the majority of the population lives and has easy access to good medical care.  They service people living in remote areas in both emergency situaltion and as a clinic for non-emergency visits.  Each plame has a pilot and a highly trained nurse on board who is in contact with a doctor at all times.  It was started in the 1920's and is still going strong today.  What an amazing service!  We were picked up by coach and driven to the Old Telegraph Station - a repeater station for the telegraph line that ran from Adelaide to Darwin a distance of 1800 miles.  The advent of the line allowed news to reach outlying areas in hours rather than months.  We practiced throwing boomerangs in a field there.  I absolutely stunk at it, but some of the guys (including Dave) had the knack and did have some great throws and returns.  We also visited the Anzac monument and got some great views of the foothills surrounding the town.  We went for dinner located in the mall area and then came back to the hotel to catch up on email before going to bed.