Yet in Alice? Oki-dok

This is the old Overland Telegraph Station - one of the reasons why Alice Springs was established. The Station is now a museum. I suppose if you're on time, not like me, they will tell you all about its history and importance, charge a couple of dollars, smile at you and make fun of your hat.

I was late and the entrance gate was shut. To me it didn’t really matter, actually - the light was lovely and soft so I decided to walk around in search of good shots.

On the back lawn, there was a group of Japanese tourists and a black man (African black) who was teaching them how to throw a boomerang. That’s what I call globalization! I thought it was quite a funny mixture of people, given we were all in an Australian desert - and the black guy was very good at the boomerang stuff as well - so I stayed and watched them for a while with my camera ready.

Then all of a sudden, they turned round and rushed towards me. "Oh dear," I thought, “I’m in trouble now”. Some people are really sensitive about being photographed. Then I turned round too - and saw three rock-wallabies sitting in the grass only about 2 meters in front of me. The photograph I took didn't come out, however, I reckon it would have been a brilliant air photo: three wallabies staring at a group of random foreign tourists who are staring at them.

The town of Alice Springs was founded in the 1870s as a staging point for the overland telegraph line. A telegraph station was built near a permanent water hole in the bed of the dry Todd River. A town, named Stuart, was first established in 1888, a few km south of the telegraph station. The town has been known as Alice Springs since 1933.

This is Alice Springs in 2002.