We flew to Alice Springs Monday on a 2 hour flight. We are now officially in the Outback. The Outback comprises about 70% of the country's land mass and only 3% of its population. The temperature here is hotter and drier than our previous locations. It reminds us of home but with a bit more vegetation. Alice Springs is small, about 30,000 in population and remote, typical of the Outback. Being here helps me understand the vastness of this country/continent and how sparsely populated most of it is. The population centers are around the coastline where less extreme climates and geography are found.
Our first stop was the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Alice Springs is its base of operations. Doctors and nurses fly out in a radius of over 300 miles from here to bring medical services to nearly 16,000 people, 90% of whom are aboriginal. There are 6 doctors and 7 nurses on the team.
Next we visited the old telegraph station which brought European settlement to Alice Springs. The Overland Telegraph line was established here in 1872 to relay messages in Morse code between Adelaide and Darwin. It served as a repeater station for 60 years.
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