Alice Springs Telegraph Station

July  3,  2002

This is the only digital picture I have of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station.  I have almost a roll of film here, so just wait until I get them developed.  This is a telegraph repeater station.  The telegraph line ran from Adalaide in the south to Darwin in the north.  The wire could run that far, but the telegraph signal could not, so twelve repeater stations were built along the line.  Twenty-four hours a day an operaor would copy down the Morse Code message on to paper and then re-key the message onto the next station.  As technology advanced, this job became a bit easier until finally the post was put out of service by the telephone.  





On our travels north, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.  This is the parallel line around the globe at 23.4 degrees South Latitude.  This means that our tour has now passed into the tropical zone.  About 3 weeks before we got here, the sun did.  On June 21st, Australia and the southern hemisphere celebrated the winter solstice.  That means that at noon on June 21st the sun was directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, marking the beginning of summer in the North and winter in the South.  I celebrated this in my own special way.  On the left is the temperate side, and on the right is the tropical side of the line.



This is Edy all pooped out in Ti Tree.



This is another Road Train that passed by us near Tennant Creek.  







This is a rock formation called Devils Marbles.  This is one of the things I came down here to Australia to see.  This sandstone was eroded away in such a way that it was rounded off and looked like giant marbles that were just dropped in the desert. I have about an entire roll of film here, so check back later for film pictures.  Here I am standing, well crawling, up the inside of one of the stones that has been split open.  The next picture is Amy and Sam sliding up the same rock.



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