Darwin by Hybrid - Day Five

Sunday (19 July) was the drive from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs. It was a swift, efficient drive, with little to see except the barren, beautiful emptiness of the landscape. After six or so hours the space between my ears was as empty as the scenery. I had expected the desert to become more intense, more empty as we headed north but the opposite was true. The land around Coober Pedy (and the Breakaways in particular) is the nadir of life in the desert, and as we drove towards Alice Springs the vegetation slowly returned as the red of the soil and sand became more intense.

Lovely to see everyone again, and we spent the evening on Anzac Hill overlooking the town. Alice Springs is nestled behind the Macdonnell Ranges, raw layers of stone pushed up from one of the angrier circles of Hell.