- The Alice Springs Henley-on-Todd Regatta is a boat race on dry land. It is a popular September event.
Today, the Alice town centre remains quite small, lying in a northeasterly fashion with Todd St, its main street, cut by a pedestrian mall in the heart of town.
Almost everything by way of city amenities and attractions can be found in the centre of town: the Qantas airline offices, Hertz and Avis car rental agencies (among several), the John Flynn Memorial Church and Memorial Museum, the Old Courthouse and Stuart Town Gaol, restaurants, hotels and motels. The Royal Flying Doctor Service Base is close by, at the southern end of the town centre on Stuart Terrace. Reverend John Flynn founded the service.
The Todd River is east of the town centre, and it is on the dry riverbed that the celebrated Henley-on-Todd Regatta is held every September. All manner of watercraft compete in the regatta, but all the yachts and boats are without bottoms and are powered by feet -- if you can imagine that. Only when it rains and water trickles into the Todd is the regatta ever cancelled.
Popular jump-off point
The Alice is a popular jump-off point for desert safaris, by four-wheel-drive or on camels. Or you can go ballooning for a bird’s-eye view of the Olgas, Uluru, and the surrounding red desert.
There are Aboriginal culture tours as well, where you may meet some Walpiri Aborigines and learn just a little bit more about the original inhabitants of Australia.
Uluru and the Alice cannot be anything else but the two most popular tourist destinations in the Red Centre of Australia. For many visitors, they are the only ones there.
Australia's Red Centre > Page 1, 2, 3, 4
