Darwin and Alice Springs , Australia

It took a day at sea and more to reach Darwin from Komodo.  In Darwin, we and about 14 other people got off the ship in a special group that were on a trip to Alice Springs in the interior- or "outback" for a couple days.   We boarded a bus in Darwin to go to Litchfield National Park outside of Darwin.  Northern Australia can get a lot of rain, but most of the day was dry but it was overcast much of the time.   At the park we saw lots of interesting flora but not many animals except a few interesting birds.  We visited an area with termite mounds. They called them "magnetic" termites because the mounds were tall and thin in the east- west direction but wide in the north- south they were "oriented" to point north- south.  The guide said it is likely that the termites build them this way so the mounds get the most area exposed to the sun - especially in the colder months.
We saw some nice waterfalls and stream with people swimming in what is summer for them. Being near year end it is a holiday period too.
From the park we rode back to Darwin. It was raining in Darwin, but we stopped at the water to look a bit and drove through a very nice park  to see a few Wallabies around.  While driving, the guide pointed out a number of small airstrips and defensive positions that were buily in WWII to defend against Japanese air attacks and a possible invasion.  It sounded like Austaralia was bombed more  than we thought.  We knew Darwin had been bombed a bit. It was the major port on northern Australia.  
We also learned that Darwin is in the Northern Territory, which is not a state and later learned that about half the people in NT live around Darwin and they number on about 125,000. NT is a large area.
We stayed the night in a hotel in Darwin that was nothing special ,but acceptable. Early in the morning we left for the airport an took our approx. 2 hour flight to Alice Springs.  It is more than 900 miles- like flying from New York to Chicago and still in the same territory.
At Alice Springs we were a little surprised when a large family group stayed at the Airport and flew on the Uluru or Ayer's Rock. So there were only about 10 of us  plus aide from the ship who were met with our luggage at the airport by our local guide.   Like in Bali we left most of our luggage on the ship and and just brought a small amount of stuff to last 4 days.
We boarded a small bus with a trailer attached. The luggage went in the trailer.  It was already getting hot so we all got water bottles.  It got to  43C or about 109F , but the humidity was fairly low.
We went to the Desert Park near Alice. This is a very nicely done, mostly outdoor park where you walk around on paths to see various animals and plants that are relatively common in the area.  They have a nocturnal house too.  It was hot, but interesting.
In the afternoon we visited the "Flying Doctors" service.  There have been stories about this operation reported over the years.  Australia is such a huge country with people spread out all over that medical care is hord to provide in a timely way.  The Flying Doctors help reduce the time to get doctors to patients or patients to hospitals.  Their headquarters is here in Alice.   Afterword we checked into the hotel and we said we wanted to see some of the artists shops in town so our guide dropped us off in town and told us where to find a taxi- so we could get back to our hotel. The hotel was a mile or two from the town center, which would be walkable except when it is 109F!
It turned out that most of the art shops were closed because it was in the holiday period when school was out and people travel! This was disappointing because we wanted to see some work by the aboriginal people.  We took a taxi back to the hotel.
The next day our driver/guide, who was quite good and knowledgeable about the area and many of the customs of the aboriginals, met us with the group of people who had gone to uluru.   We drove off to the west from Alice prings and saw 4 different areas where there are breaks in the mountain ranges.

At one break there were "rock wallabies" , which are a smaller species- we saw 2 or 3. The guide said they hide very easily and you won't see them if they don't feel like being seen.  These areas we visited all had some water.  Some had enough for swimming, while others were just small amounts.  The guide explained that there is actually a lot of water in the area, but it is all underground. The places where it is visible are where the ground level is lower.  The water does flow along ancient rivers undergorund.  Above ground we see lots of dry river beds.  It does rain in this area and sometimes these rivers are flowing quite vigorusly.  All the roads on which we road had dips where water flowed over in the rains.  A number of vehicles we saw had snorkels so they could drive through these dips when it was wet.
We had lunch at a Glen Helen resort  off of Namatjira highway that was not far from Hermannsburg that is on a different road. We later learned about Pottery from Hermannsburg that has many collectors.  Albert Namatjira was a highly respected water colorist, who did many paintings of these areas.   We saw more places on the way back to Alice.  Once in Alice we visited the  telegraph station that was part of the series that connected Adelaide with Darwin through the outback.
WE returnee dto the hotel. We were tired from the walking in the heat and decided not to join the group for a Camel ride in the evening. We had ridden Camels in India and decided that it was worth doing - once.
We had a "taste" of the outback. It is beautiful country, but a bit hot.  It does get quite  chilly in their winter too, though not freezing cold.
 The next morning we flew to Cairns, which was about a 2 hour flight to the northeast from Alice Springs.