The Northern Territory is big and small, with a sixth of Australia’s landmass
and just 1% of its population. This is evident in the town of Alice Springs,
a community of just 27,008 people (roughly the size of Fort Dodge) that is
situated 1,500 km south of Darwin on Stuart Highway, the only North-South highway in central Australia.

"The Alice," as it is known, certainly isn’t close to Darwin, but it isn’t close to much else either:

(Kulgera is the first city in South Australia. Its population: 50.)

Alice originally sprung up as a telegraph repeater station, but of course
now it lives and breathes on tourism. (You won’t find many other towns of this
size with highway signs in 5 languages.)

It was here that would be my base for a foray into the area known as the Red Centre.

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