The desert mobil (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

The modern way to travel through the desert :-)...

Help! I want to get out of here...(Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

...and stop bothering me with your stupid apple.

The Nocturnal House (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

The park has as-well a big Nocturnal House where you can see all the desert
night animals in action. During the day the light in there is dimmed to
moon-light mode and the animals are are eating, hunting and playing around
behind the glass windows. Very funny to watch especially the desert mices.

The desert bird show (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

At 3:30pm we went to the bird show where we could see some of the desert
birds flying around our heads.

Facts about the Red Kangaroo (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

The male red kangaroo can get 1.80 meter tall and around 90 kg in weight.
The female is about 1.60 meter tall and up to 45 kg. These Kangaroos can
jump a distance of up to 11 meter in one hoop :-). There hooping movement is
highly efficient because it uses only 20% of their energy. When "hooping"
the kangaroo uses only the lower part of his body and very little amount of
muscles are neccessary.

The female red kangaroo can have 3 young in the same time and she produces
different milk formulas for the different age levels. She can have for
example one so-called "foot joey" that lives already outside of her "pocket"
and gets the strongest milk formula. In the same time she can have one joey
in her belly pocket that stays in there up to 8-9 months and it gets another
milk formula. And then there is already the new embryo of 33 days that is
like a size of a white bean.
The female foot joey stays with it's mother up to one year to learn from
her. The male foot joey leaves the mother earlier. Depending on the weather
conditions and food ressources a female kangaroo can delay the embryo
development apparently through her hormons.

During the day-time kangaroos are not active and they just rest and relax.
They remove the hot sand to get to the colder part and then they lay flat to
cool down there body. They eat at night because then there is more moisture
on the plants too. You can see them licking there forearms when they sit up
during the day. This is another method to survive the heat because they try
to cool down their blood that flows through the forearm venes.
Regarding the day temperature the kangaroo will decide if it shows its dark
back to the sun for heating up or if it will show his white belly.

Happy Desert Flowers (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

Since there was a lot rain during the last weeks the desert flowers are
happy :-).

Listening to the desert...(Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

At the park entrance we got some audio sets. So we could listen to the
information during our walk through the park.

Some more culture facts...(Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

1) Ceremonies were very important for aboriginal people. During these events
the traditions got passed on to the younger generation by telling stories of
the older generation and by singing about their experiences. The songs
should give the young people the energy and spirit of their tribe.

2) Aboriginal people were always mobile. One family group consisted of 15-30
people and was also called a family ban. A family ban would live in a
certain area and would move in a circle depending on different periods of
the year. So there was a constant cycle of regeneration concerning food
ressources.

3) Gender specific issues would always be treated seperately. Women would
treat them among themselves and men as-well. In aboriginal culture men and
women are different. For example the birth of a child is just womens
business and no men was allowed to watch or attend it. Still nowadays exist
a women health clinic with only female doctors and a men health clinic with
only male doctors for aboriginal people.

4)Aboriginal men had symbols of their tribe on their weapon so they could
identify themselves when been caught hunting on another territory. This was
not forbidden but the other tribe would ask for an exchange for that.

5) Evenso gender specific issues were treated seperately because men and
women are "different", in their culture men tasks and women tasks in the
tribe were always seen as equal.

Apple Bush (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

If you have a cold take Apple Bush...

Bush Cucumber & Bush Banana (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

Dried Bush Tomatoes (Desert Park Alice Spirngs NT - 23/07)

After getting to know the different hunting tools we got to know more about
the desert garden vegetables :-).

Boomerang & Company (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

In the aboriginal culture the men's task was to hunt and all the rest was
women's task. And to be a successful hunter you need some good weapon.
Aboriginal Australians have invented a number of labour-saving technologies
that make hunting easier. These devices make sure the energy gained from
eating food is greater than the energy used in hunting for it. Here you can
see us with some of them in action...

Getting ready for hunting...(Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

Doug is showing us some of the different weapons used in former times.

Awaye Flat Presentation (Desert Park Alice Springs NT - 23/7)

The so-called Awaye Flat Presentation started at 11am and it was about the
aboriginal survival in the desert which sounded very interesting to us. So
here we were listing to our guide Doug who had his presentation table full
of different tools and traditional weapons. On this map he showed us that
there existed 250 different countries of aboriginal people in Australia
before the Europeans arrived. Every of this countries had is own language.
In former times these kind of maps were not seen in schools because nobody
was allowed to teach about the aboriginal culture. Fortunately this changed
and a lot of people are interested to get to know more about the traditional
owners of this continent.

Getting to know the desert (Alice Springs NT - 23/07)

Staying 3 months in the middle of nowhere you must think we should get bored
in Alice Springs. But no, there is a lot of stuff to see. Today we visited
the Desert Park just some kilometers out of Alice Springs. This park is like
a little desert zoo where the guides explain you a lot about how animals and
plants survive in this harsh environment. Furthermore they give a lot of
information about how the traditional owners (the Aboriginies) used to live
in the desert - which is very interesting.

Wild horses (West MacDonnell Ranges NT - 12/07)

On our way back home we meet some wild horses on the middle of the street.
There are a lot of these so-called wild brumbys in Central Australia - so
watch out when driving!

Beautiful desert evening sky...(West MacDonnell Ranges NT- 12/07)

Ochre Pits (West MacDonnell Ranges NT - 12/07)

Our last stop of the day - 110km west of Alice Springs at the Ochre Pits, a
colourful outcrop of ochre on the banks of a sandy creek. Some more
information about ochre:
Ochre has always been an important part of Aboriginal culture and a vital
part of everyday life. For medicinal purposes red ochre can be mixed with
grease and applied as an ointment and to relieve decongestion when mixed
with eucalyptus leaves. White ochre was used as a magical charm, when mixed
with water and blown from the mouth it is believed to abate the heat of the
sun or the force of the wind. Weapons were painted with ochre to increase
the success of hunting. It also protected the wooden weapons from termites

Ormiston Gorge (West MacDonnell Ranges NT - 12/07)

Our next stop after lunch was at Ormiston Gorge. After a 15 minute walk up
the mountain you have a beautiful view of this gorge.

Ready to take off... (West MacDonnell Ranges NT - 12/07)

We had our lunch at Glen Helen Resort and I was ready to take off... At this
resort they offer 5-minute helicopter flights and I could not resist. I
wanted to try it! Then let's do it - when not now, when then??? Jeremie
wasn't up to and luckily there was Jenise from Melbourne who joined me.
Jippie!

Day-Trip-Stop 3 - Ellery Creek (West MacDonnell Ranges NT - 12/07)

We had our coffee stop next to Ellery Creek which is as-well called the Big
Hole. The colour of the water did not look so inviting to us but it is
apparently a famous swimming hole.