Out of the desert, into the tropics

I think our bodies are going into shock!  I write this in the morning sitting on the pool deck under palm trees in capris and a t-shirt.  The children chose to swim in the salty, very cold water; I’m good sitting here with a computer and book!  Like many places in Europe, I think they use salt here instead of chlorine to keep the pools clean. 

Yesterday (Saturday--2 July here), we did the Alice Springs museums.  First the telegraph station which was very interesting.  Alice Springs was first a telegraph station.  They set up a telegraph from the north to the south.  After that they went underwater to Singapore to receive telegraph messages from the rest of the world.  Alice Springs received mail every six weeks, and provisions every six months.  Everything had to be brought by camel from the nearest rail station, wagons often had trouble going through the sand.  The museum told about life at the telegraph station and then the development of the town of Alice Springs.  It also had a bit about the “half-caste” children--biracial children of aboriginal women and European male settlers, when the men died or abandoned the women.  The “solution” was to take all of the children from their mothers and warehouse them, teaching them European ways to “assimilate” them into white culture.  Much as every caucasian group did to the native peoples when they invaded their lands.  For the first time this vacation we saw dark-skinned people.  They are everywhere; some are working in stores or trying to sell artwork, but most we see are wandering around and hanging out.  We theorized that perhaps they are in the town becuase they like the amenities, but miss the culture and life of their native extended family--they are caught in-between; not truly belonging to either world.  But, we could be wrong.  

After the telegraph station museum with it’s many building to walk around and look at, we went to the “cultural center” with a group of three buildings with one admission price.  First to the art galleries to see paintings and sculptures, then to the museum of central Australia--mostly with meteorite bits (an abnormal amount of meteorites landed in Australia) and bones of present and extinct animals, then to the air museum with actual planes that have been used and video footage of them landing planes right next to Ayers Rock--back when that was the only way to get there.  They had to develop special planes that could withstand the heat of the area and could take off and land with short runways.  Each pilot traveled with an axe to chop out a runway if needed to take off.  The history museum also talked about the loss of fauna due to clearing of the lands and the introduction of non-indigenous animals and livestock.  

Then we went to the grocery store to buy food for sandwiches and ate a picnic lunch by the pedestrian mall (which was perhaps 200 meters from our youth hostel we had checked out of that morning).  

To the airport for our flight to Cairns.  Another snack and meal--kudos to Qantas!  Tortellini-yum.  Then getting the rental car and a long drive to Palm Cove.  They almost gave us a manual which would have been difficult to deal with shifting with your left hand and trying to remember to stay on the left hand side of the road!  We did it once in England, but it was difficult.  We got really turned around trying to find our place in Palm Cove (the map from the realtor wasn’t very good).  We are in a maze of buildings--condominiums that are very near the ocean.  We will go there this afternoon--it is supposed to be across the street from our complex.  

We have a condo which is very modern and very white.  White walls, white furniture, cream carpet and tile, white everything!  It needs more artwork on the wall (in bright colors) as well as some brightly colored throw pillows and accents.  But it is very posh, this definitely makes up for King’s Canyon!  We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen with a drawer-type dishwasher and cabinet-faced refrigerator, a living room, dining room and a deck with a lounging bed and furniture.  The smaller bedroom is actually more of an alcove with a double bed.  Joshua had his choice of where to sleep--he chose the couch.  We will have to find a blanket for him--last night he slept in his blanket sleeper surrounded by throw pillows.  We have two TVs, but we don’t watch much TV--if they had a DVD player and DVDs we might watch more.  Randy watched a TV show on the Discovery Channel last night about a huge new cruise ship.  The girls are looking forward to another game of hearts later today.  We are here for a week and have few things planned, but most of this time is beach, swimming, and relaxing.   Sounds good right now.    

(ooops, Aussie wi-fi is too slow to upload photos for now!)