Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ACTIVE PURSUITS
BIKING
A gently undulating 17km (11-mile)
bike trail
weaves from John
Flynn's Grave on Larapinta Drive, 7km (4
1
⁄
3
miles) west of town, through
the bushland and desert foothills of the MacDonnell Ranges to Simpson's Gap
(p. 379).
Centre Cycles
(
&
08/8953 2966
) on Lindsay Avenue at Undoolya
Road rents bikes for around A$10 (US$6.50) for 4 hours (plus a A$50/US$33
refundable deposit).
Note:
Carry water, because the two taps en route are a long
way apart. Bike in cooler months only.
BUSHWALKING
The 250km (155-mile)
Larapinta Trail
winds west from
Alice through the sparse red ranges, picturesque semidesert scenery, and rich
bird life of the West MacDonnell National Park (p. 379). Sections range from
easy to hard. The shortest is 8km (5 miles), ranging up to several 23km to 29km
(14- to 18-mile) stretches. Trail maps and information are dispensed by the
Parks & Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory
office in Alice
Springs (
&
08/8951 8211
), or the
CATIA Visitor Centre
(see “Visitor Infor-
mation,” earlier in this chapter). Camp facilities are simple at best on popular
routes, non-existent on less traveled sections.
Warning:
Always carry drinking
water. The trail may close in extremely hot summer periods.
Alice Wanderer Centre Sightseeing Tours
(
&
1800/66 9111
in Australia,
or 08/8952 2111) runs transfers to road access points along the trail, where you
can mostly pick up a choice of 1-, 2-, or 3-day hikes. Several outfitters run
guided, supported hikes along trail sections.
GOLF
The
Alice Springs Golf Club
, 1km (just over
1
⁄
2
mile) from town
on Cromwell Drive (
&
08/8952 5440
), boasts a Thomson-Wolveridge course
rated among the world's top desert courses by touring pros. The course opens
from sunup to sundown. For nine holes you will pay A$17 (US$11), for 18
holes, A$22 (US$14). Then there's A$22 (US$14) for clubs, and A$30 (US$20)
for a cart, which many locals don't bother with. It's best to book a tee time.
SHOPPING AT THE SOURCE FOR ABORIGINAL ART
Alice Springs is the best place in Australia to buy
Aboriginal art and crafts
.
You will find no shortage of stuff: linen and canvas paintings, didgeridoos,
spears, clapping sticks,
coolamons
(a dish used by women to carry anything from
water to babies), animal carvings, baskets, and jewelry, as well as books, CDs,
and all kinds of non-Aboriginal merchandise printed with Aboriginal designs.
Prices can soar into the thousands for large canvases by world-renowned
painters, but you will find plenty of small works for under A$250 (US$163).
Major artworks sell unmounted for ease of shipment, which most galleries
arrange on your behalf. Store hours can vary with the seasons and the crowds,
so it pays to check ahead.
See artists at work when you drop by
Jukurrpa Artists,
on Stott Terrace
between Gap Road and Leichhardt Terrace (
&
08/8953 1052
). This Aboriginal
women's cooperative studio/gallery sells the “pattern and dot” paintings of the
Western Desert style, plus crafts such as carvings and jewelry, weapons and tools.
Aboriginal-owned
Warumpi Arts,
105 Gregory Terrace (
&
08/8952 9066
),
sells wooden artifacts, seed necklaces, and canvas and linen paintings in the
earth-hued designs of the Papunya people, who live 250km (155 miles) west
of Alice. Another Aboriginal-owned gallery,
Papunya Tula Artists,
78 Todd St.
(
&
08/8952 4731
), sells paintings on canvas and linen from Papunya and other
artists living in the desert as far as 700km (434 miles) west of Alice Springs.
