Alice Springs Telegraph Station - December 2016

Waking up this morning things were a little grey.

On our last day up in Alice Springs last Christmas I decided to walk from town out to the historic Alice Springs Telegraph Station. The weather on this trip had been inclement to put it mildly and today was no exception, we awoke this morning to pouring rain and gun metal grey skies, the golf course behind our accommodation now featured water features where none had existed before and the surrounding ranges were cloaked in cloud. Not to worry I spent the day watching the cricket while the weather slowly improved outside, by early afternoon the showers had eased enough that I figured it was time to go for a stroll. Sam wasn't going with me on this walk, no she was doing the sensible thing and dropping me off in town before driving out to the Telegraph Station to meet me there.

Things only deteriorated as the morning passed by.

Luckily the cricket was on the telly.....

I wouldn't of been surprised to see tumble weeds rolling through Todd Mall today as I set off on my walk, with all the rain around Alice was a bit of a ghost town today. Not that I lingered in the deserted mall long today, I quickly headed down to the grassy banks of the Todd River and set off along the sealed shared path in the direction of the Telegraph Station. This walk wasn't going to test my navigation much today, I would follow the wide sandy bed of the river all the way. Interestingly the river wasn't flowing above ground when I walked, but earlier that morning all the low level road crossing had been closed and by the time we left town early next morning the Todd River was flowing again.

Alice Springs was very quiet today.

The Todd had been flowing earlier that morning and would be flowing a rain next morning when we left town.

It's not exactly an action packed stroll from Alice Springs out to the Telegraph Station, the main interest for me was the red sandstone outcrops that line the track as well as the chance to maybe see a dingo on the dry river bed. No dingo's today though, but there were a few galah's to keep me interested for awhile. After 30 minutes or so I started to get to familiar territory, I'd walked this section of the path last year on the Bradshaw Walk so I knew I was getting close to the Telegraph Station. After giving Sam a call we were soon reunited at the entrance to the historic old station, just as my luck with the weather ran out. So far on my stroll the rain had held off but for our visit to the Telegraph Station the heavens opened on us.

I took the high road...

To see some left over history from the old Overland Telegraph Line, yeah it wasn't a stroll full of scenic highlights really.

If all else fails there's always big rocks.

I suppose that if we were going to get wet it may as well have been here as at least there was a lot of shelter around. We spent the next 60 minutes poking around the old station, most of the buildings here have been restored and also feature information displays inside as well. It's hard to get your head around the tyranny of distance that these early settlers dealt with, back in 1872 when the Telegraph Line was finished it opened up communication with London, news that had taken months to arrive now took a matter of hours.....hmmm maybe we should get these guys to build the NBN!

The Station Masters Residence.

The little building in front is the Station Masters Kitchen.

This is the old Telegraph Station.

In between showers we made our way around the excellent displays, but to be honest my mojo had slipped away with the elusive blue sky. After checking out the old Buggy Shed we braved the showers to check out the Milking and Camel Yards, although I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the camels getting milked. I'm not sure what it is about these old stock yards that I frequently find on my travels but I really like checking them out, old shearing sheds have the same affect on me, I love standing in them taking in the old smells and imagining what it was like working in them. Anyway enough of my  sentimental dribble, after checking out a small flock of Ring Necked Parrots that were using the old yards to try and stay dry it was time to move on.

The old Barracks, the weather was getting a bit grim again.

I think I'll stick with the ute.

I know everyone's been hangin' out to see what a camel saddle looks like:)

I remember school holidays on my relatives farm, fresh toast cooked on a fork in one of these old wood burning ovens...and then lashings of butter.

Now this walk was meant to continue onto Trig Hill before circling back and heading back into town, but with my mojo gone I decided to catch a ride back into town with Sam. We'd actually been out to Trig Hill last year so I'll link it if you're desperate to check it out, but today it was time to head back to the hotel and pack up. After almost a week in Alice Springs in the middle of summer I was keen to head off somewhere were I might get some blue sky, so first thing next morning we splashed our way across the flooded Todd River and I pointed the ute in the direction of Queensland. With all the rain that had been around the Plenty and Donahue Highways were closed, so my shortcut over to Queensland became an epic drive via Mt Isa, racing the storm clouds all the way across the Barkly Tablelands. 

There was a small flock of Ring Necked parrots hanging around the old Telegraph Station.

The Dirt.

I walked 4 kilometres and climbed 18! metres on this very easy stroll. The walk as I did it would be suitable for strollers and probably wheelchairs, it's all on paved paths until you reach the grassy park like setting of the old Telegraph Station. I had the notes out of Melanie Ball's Top Walks in Australia, I'm not sure why but the book isn't on the Explore Australia website but you can find it in a lot of book shops. The Alice Springs Telegraph Station is worth spending a few hours checking out, entry to the restored buildings costs around $14 and there is also a small café on the grounds. As I've mentioned before, the grounds of the historical reserve feature a lot of walking and mountain bike tracks, you could spend days exploring all the trails snaking off into the hills. While we were in Alice Springs on this trip we stayed at the Hilton Double Tree, we've never stayed at this particular establishment before and it made for an OK stay, the rooms were in need of a bit of a make over and the hotel is looking a little bit tired. If you're looking for somewhere to stay of a similar standard then I'd go to Lasseters I think.

Relevant Posts.

Trig Hill Circuit, Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, 2015.

Bradshaw Walk, Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, 2015.

Stuart Walk, Spencer Hill Circuit, Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, 2015.

The Hilton in Alice Springs has its own Peacock.

The weather picked up for awhile the late that afternoon.

Leaving town next morning the Todd River was up again, this a pretty unusual thing to see and we had seen it twice in two days.

We seemed to race the storms all the way across the Barkly Tablelands into Queensland.