Cairns to Alice Springs

If I'd planned this trip a little better (or if I'd known in advance what I was going to see), I'd have travelled by bus from Cairns to Alice Springs. It's a long way by road but I imagine the trip would be amazing. I saw it all from the window of the plane: desert, dry rivers, dry lakes, very little in the way of green.

I would have taken some photos but I had a scare with a memory card. I took it out of my camera to upload some pictures but it didn't make its way back into my camera. I noticed it was missing this morning in the hostel in Cairns and searched both bags with no luck.

Shit! That card contains my photos from Beijing onwards.

However, my bag search in Alice Springs proved a little more fruitful. Relaxed, I was able to enjoy my stroll around the town with Charlie from London and Tracy from Dublin. Not that there's much to see here, mind you, except a few shops selling aboriginal paintings, shoe shops, a K-mart, a petrol station, cowbell and some tumbleweed.

The hostel, Annie's Place, is the place to be in Alice Springs for backpackers. It's well-run, reasonably clean, has an internet cafe, restaurant, bar and swimming pool. Plus tt's the central hub for tours. I share my room with some Chinese who on the face of it seem very nice though I don't know their names yet.

Although I'd booked a 3-day tour to Uluru / Ayer's Rock for tomorrow, I've been bumped to Thursday due to bus problems.