Alice.

It's taken me awhile to put down some words on Alice: the most difficult part of the holiday in many ways and a shock to me. Grant, as you have probably gathered, did the research for this holiday leaving me unprepared for the places we were due to visit.

So in Alice Springs I am shocked to find two societies living in extreme contrast. The affluent Westerners drive around or walk with purpose, live in attractive accommodation , eat in pleasant restaurants and pretty much exist as most other Aussies. The other section, the Aboriginal part, are like a people time forgot.

They meander around, often in small groups, walking at a snails pace, looking for something... The men wear familiar sports wear; trackie bottoms mostly and tee shirts. The women, nearly always overweight, carry plastic shopping bags although after an incident at the supermarket watching one lady try to barter for food in a language the cashier did not share, I wonder what is actually in these bags. It was not pleasant to watch someone who does not have enough money to buy a roast chicken walk away empty handed. I want to go across and offer to make up the difference but I am frightened as to how it will be taken, I know, nothing of these people.

Not once did I see an Aboriginal smile, not even the occasional child that we see and often there are hostile stares at the passing cars. not hard to realise why when you find out that Alice Springs houses a large Aboriginal community effectively living in a shanty town. It is made up of tarpaulins, tin shacks and old run down houses on the Todd river's dry bed. This runs straight through town so there is no getting away from it.

The lack of good housing may explain the encampments we see under trees or any place there is shade; groups of intensely dark skinned people sit in groups resting. I never see mixed groups. It seems wrong that modern day society can find no answers to the integration of people so obviously in need. Caitlin is distressed too, feeling intimidated by the groups that pass her. I am upset I cannot explain why things are like this, as I do not know the reasons myself and turn to the guidebook. This informs us that most of the Aboriginals in Alice have been sent away from surrounding villages because of alcoholism or other difficult issues. I know it is not as simple as this.

I realise all the media images and sanitised version of Aboriginal life I have seen so far in Oz have not prepared me for this, and I wonder at the lack of publicity this situation seems to get. Would it be the same in a similar sized town in the U.K. if this was going on? I get a real taste of how Australian mentality is different.

It feels like a symbol that a wide dry riverbed runs through the heart of Alice.