Alice Springs - Surroundings

The Frontier Camel Farm and Arid Zone Reptile Display features camels, snakes, lizards, and camel rides.

The Ghan Preservation Society has restored a 26km long section of the old Ghan railroad and rebuilt an old station, MacDonnell Siding, with rest areas and tourist facilities. From this station old-style trains drawn by steam or diesel engines travel to Ewaninga and back.

At Desert Park you can study the Australian flora and fauna, as well as the Aboriginal culture.

Visitors will find secrets of the Central Australian deserts at the Desert Park. Experience desert habitats at night, witness free-flying birds of prey and enjoy a cinematic journey through four-and-a-half billion years of desert evolution.

340ha.

Chambers Pillar is a striking sandstone column rising to a height of 50m out of the white sandy plain. The first white man to see it, in 1860, was John McDouall Stuart, who named it after his sponsor James Chambers (whose daughter's name was given to the Katherine River). Chambers Pillar served as a landmark for travelers in the Red Centre. It played an important part in Aboriginal mythology, which held that Itirkawara, the gecko ancestor, was turned into the rock.

695ha.

The Emily and Jessie Gaps are two gorges 4km apart in the eastern MacDonnell Ranges. Here, in the shadow of the steep rock faces, there is water even during the dry season, attracting many birds. On the east wall of Emily Gap are Aboriginal rock paintings.

Mac Clark Conservation Reserve protects the Aracia peuce tree. This region of Australia is one of the driest and harshest in the country, yet the tree thrives here. There are approximately 1000 trees protected within the reserve. The trees grow in only two other regions in the country.

N'Dhala Gorge Nature Park features a large number of rock engravings (petroglyphs), some possibly as old as 10,000 years.

The Old Timers' Museum has an exhibition of everyday objects from the early days of the settlement.

The Pitchi Ritchi Sanctuary is a combination of a bird park and open-air museum with Aboriginal artifacts and clay sculptures by William Ricketts.

In 1886 rubies were thought to have been found here. A rush ensued, but the stones turned out to not to be rubies, rather high grade garnets. The park is remote and is well suited to bush camping.

Ryan Well was completed by Ned Ryan and his nephew in 1889. The well was one of many along the Overland Telegraph Line. The reserve conserves the ruins of the well.

In this area of 570ha on the banks of the Todd River, a popular spot for picnics, is the waterhole where the history of Alice Springs began in 1871. A number of old buildings have been restored and there is an exhibition of relics of earlier days.