Deals > Experience > The Outback > Desert Landscapes
The beauty of Alice Springs is that you can be only 10km or a 1,000km out in the deserts that surround here, and there's a sense of absolute beauty and vastness of land and sky.
The sense of the night sky, the dazzling brilliance of the stars, you really could just about do chin-ups on the Milky Way or reach up and pull down pendants of brilliant stars.
But it's better to leave them up there and just enjoy it.
The landscape for me is just subtly changing every minute of the day. That's one of the things about the centre, you come into a clarity of sky. You are almost in some of the purest air on earth in the desert.
You can hear the the slightest noises of every insect and animal.
What strikes me whenever I get out of the town is the vastness, the sense of it being untouched, of it being as close to a pristine landscape as one can have.
I think that's something that has disappeared from much of the world.
Bring your family and friends. It's a family friendly place. It's got a particular loveliness about it. Dick Kimber, Historian
Desert landscapes
An Alice Springs resident for more than 30 years, historian Dick Kimber explains what is awe-inspiring about the outback.
He says it’s defined by a vastness of land and sky, the brilliance of the stars, endless change of colours and silence of scuttling lizards.
It’s a friendly place where even the locals are awe-struck by the dramatic changes in tone from morning to night.
Take a deep breath and enjoy space of the Australian desert.
More Experiences
- Drive the Red Centre Way
Get up close and personal with Australia’s infamous sandstone icon. - Pioneering the outback
Learn how the Garden of Eden at Kings Canyon and the Lost City were named. - Giles Track
Take a journey from Kings Canyon to Kathleen Springs through Watarrka National Park.
Learn more about the Outback
Colours of the Desert
Steve Strike, photographer and local character, captures the colours of the outback.
Photographic Journey Red Centre
Follow the journey of colours and discovery as six of Australia's leading photographers head deep into the Red Centre.
Camel Cup
It is nothing to see a camel sit down mid-race or veer off the track completely if the mood strikes it.
The Ghan
One of the most fabled great train journeys of the word, The Ghan is a front row seat to the moste spectacular landscapes.
Henley-on-Todd Regatta
A boat race in a cloud of dust. There is nothing like it. The sandy bed of the Todd River becomes the race track for a crew of Flintstone-style boats.
Outback Story
Lindsay Carmichael welcomes travellers for a cold beer and a tall tale in his outback pub.
Alice Springs Telegraph Station
The Overland Telegraph line was one of the greatest engineering achievements of the nineteenth century.
