Alice Springs

In the background of the group picture in the main page, to the extent that you can see anything at all, you're looking at Alice Springs. Alice (as she is fondly known) is virtually the only city in this part of the world. It sprung around the necessity of a telegraph relay station

and the existence of the Todd river. Here is what Australian's mean when they say "river":

The city was called "Alice Springs" because of Alice, the wife of the governor of Perth at that time, who never visited the place, as well as due to the river. Alice Springs, in fact, never had any water spring in it, but apparently the name helped get people to move there. (I kid you not. There is one town in Australia that changed its name to "Surfer's Paradise" and that made a world of difference for its tourism income.) Local legend has it that if you've seen the Todd river run three times in your life, you're going to stay in Alice forever. Given the frequency of the appearance of water in the Todd, this is a legend I believe.

Here's a better look at Alice:

I would have liked to show you a photo that shows more of the town, but that's just about as much town as there is in this place.

One last point about Alice:

The Alice Springs School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service

If you've never heard of either one of these respectable Australian establishments, then you have no idea how empty Australia really is. The former is a school that broadcasts its lessons via Internet, satellite and C.B. radio. The latter is a hospital that makes house calls via light planes. Each covers a radius of roughly 1,000 km in every direction. Despite the large area covered, the class you're seeing broadcast on the left has less than 20 pupils (and they're not all of the same age-group). Is that empty enough for you? No? Well, here's another fun fact: there are roughly 15 such schools currently in operation throughout Australia.