Between the East and West MacDonnell Ranges, in the heart of Central Australia, the most famous outback town, Alice Springs, looms from sandy landscape of the Northern Territory.

The original site of the town was actually at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, several kilometres to the north of what is now the city centre. Despite its humble beginnings as a remote outpost, present day Alice is well serviced by it's airport, and culturally rich thanks to the number of visitors from all over the world and their contribution to the town’s economic growth. Alice Springs has excellent restaurants, an assortment of accommodation, nightlife not to mention a calendar of unusual and stimulating events throughout the year.

One of the best views of Alice Springs is to be had from Anzac Hill and is consequently a good starting point for any town tour. As you go down the hill and stroll through the Todd Mall, you can shop for everything from second-hand books to camping equipment and semi-precious stones to organic liquorice.

Then there's the Alice Springs events calendar which offers a real taste of the outback sense of humour. Marvel at some of Australia's finest headwear at the annual Beanie Festival or enjoy the ridiculous Henley-on-Todd Regatta set on the almost permanently dry riverbed of the Todd River.

Sometime in 1962, Reg Smith and his colleagues at the Alice Springs Meteorological Bureau, decided to hold an annual regatta similar to the celebrated Henley-on-Thames, Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford Universities in England. The Rotary Club of Alice Springs adopted this ‘off the wall’ proposal, despite the fact that the nearest water of any note 1,500 kilometres away.

Held in the heart of the Australian outback at Alice Springs, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta strikes at the heart of the human competitive spirit, stirring normally rational people to adorn fancy dress costumes, take on the guise of ‘Pirates’ and ‘Vikings’, and commence battle with ‘boats’ laden with mortars and high pressure water cannon. Bottomless vessels are used to tack through the deep sands of the dry bedded Todd River.

The regatta consists of diverse events such as shovelling sand into empty 44-gallon drums and paddling canoes with spades.

Alice Springs is the meeting place of many different cultures and the Alice Desert Festival, in the heart of Australia’s outback, celebrates this rich diversity. The Alice Desert Festival is a unique 3-day annual event designed to showcase the thriving community of visual and performing artists, both indigenous and non indigenous from the Central Australian region. The Festival also attracts inspirational acts from both other states and from overseas, which further enhances and develops the culturally diverse and eccentric local arts industry.

The Festival begins with its street parade in the Todd Mall, when many home and overseas visitors joyously celebrate in this free community event. The festival then continues with theatres, galleries, and public venues of Alice Springs holding an amazing array of events including theatre, dance, films, sculpture, music, poetry readings, physical theatre, workshops, pottery, writing and book launches, indigenous art and craft. Also held are concert evenings of jazz, orchestral, hip hop, samba, salsa, fusion and world music.

The Festival closes with Desertsong, where people are invited to throw down their ‘swag’ on the sands of the Todd River bed, under the splendour of the night sky, for an unforgettable journey of haunting desert harmonies by regional indigenous choirs.

For sports fans there is the Alice Springs Masters Games. This is a biennial sporting event aimed at attracting and encouraging mature people to participate in over 30 competitive events. These games known as the Friendly Games, are one of the highlights of the Alice Springs social and sporting calendar.

Desert Mob is an annual exhibition presented by the Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs Cultural Precinct, featuring art works from Aboriginal Art Centres in Central Australia, encompassing the Northern Territory, South Australian and Western Australia. The exhibition gives visitors a complete overview of the work by Aboriginal artists in this vast region and the opportunity to purchase artworks from both new and established artists all in one place, directly from the art centres.

The Aboriginal language Warlpiri is spoken at the Araluen Galleries. As a prelude to the annual Desert Mob exhibition, the Desert Mob Market Place, held on the second weekend of September each year and brings together Aboriginal art centres in Central Australia. Art and craftwork is displayed with both artists and art co-ordinators on hand, to sell and discuss their works.

Held in the foyer of the Araluen Galleries, the Market Place event offers paintings, ceramics, prints and textile works, with everything for sale being £80 or under.

Located 250 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, the Mount Ebenezer Roadhouse is one of the few Aboriginal-owned roadhouses in the Northern Territory. Within the historic stone buildings, visitors can enjoy homemade foods and view locally produced Aboriginal art in the impressive gallery with its unique red sand floor and Hessian walls.

On the Mereenie Loop Road, situated about 130 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs is the Aboriginal community of Hermannsburg. Continuing on, you will reach the beautiful Finke Gorge National Park.

The Lutheran pastors, who, in the 1880, established a small mission for the Arrernte Aboriginal people here, chose the German name of Hermannsburg. Artist Albert Namatjira was born here and his house, which is about three kilometres west of Hermannsburg, is open to visitors.

Day tours are possible to organise out of Alice Springs though a campsite and accommodation are located in and around Hermannsburg. Additional camping facilities can be found at the nearby Palm Valley in the Finke Gorge National Park.

It is thought that the Finke River is one of the world's oldest water ways but the Finke Gorge National Park is best known for Palm Valley, which contains groves of exclusive and beautiful cabbage palms which are botanic leftovers from when Central Australia was rich in tropical forests millions of years ago.

A local event, the Tattersall's Finke Desert Race, is arguably Australia's premier off road racing event attracting bike, car and buggy entries from all around Australia and overseas. It has the reputation of being one of the most difficult off road races, in one of the most remote places in the world. The Finke, as it’s known, is run along sections of what was the Old Ghan Railway service track adjacent to the railway line, along a winding corrugated track, which snakes through typical outback terrain of red dirt, sand, spinifex, mulga and desert oaks. It's a gruelling 460 kilometres, conducted as a return race from Alice Springs 230 kilometres south to Aputula Aboriginal Community at Finke. The Finke is a unique event in that in enables people from all walks of life to become involved. Over the 3 days event it is estimated that more than 12,000 people camp beside the racetrack, sleeping under the stars in tents and swags. Come and experience a truly unique outback event.

Travelling further west along the Mereenie Loop Road you will arrive at the captivating Tnorala (also known as Gosse Bluff) Conservation Reserve, the site of a huge crater, a place of international scientific interest as well as having cultural significance to the Western Arrernte Aboriginal people.

Stretching out for hundreds of kilometres on both sides of Alice Springs, are The East and West MacDonnell Ranges. The Arrernte people, the traditional landowners of the Alice Springs area, believe huge caterpillars called the Yeperenye became the Ranges, entering into the world through one of the dramatic cuttings in the steep ridges nearby. The panoramic landscapes of the West MacDonnell Rangesm are easily accessed from Alice Springs. Within the West MacDonnell Ranges lie deep holes and narrow valleys, each different, and each scaring the landscape with an unusual beauty.

At Simpsons Gap there is a water pool, and nearby, rock wallabies make their home in the rocky ridges. Standley Chasm lights up in fiery colours reflected by the midday sun.

Picturesque swimming pools like Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen Gorge and Redbank Gorge offer a refreshing dip on a sweltering day.

Whilst in the West MacDonnell Ranges don’t miss a visit to one of the Ochre Pits, which once provided the vibrant red colour used by indigenous people for cave paintings and body art.

Although the East MacDonnell Ranges are not as popular as the West MacDonnells, their landscapes are outstanding, perfect for walking and camping.

During the gold rush of the 1930’s, Arltunga in the East MacDonnells was a thriving gold rush town. Today it is a ghost town frequented only by curious visitors.

Another place of particular impressive natural beauty is Trephina Gorge, best known for its sheer quartzite cliffs, and River Red Gum lined creeks and rivers. It is also an excellent place to see the black flanked rock wallaby, a rare species of marsupial, and the nearby John Hayes Rockhole is good for swimming. All of this makes a visit to the East MacDonnells definitely worthwhile.

The area stretching north of Alice Springs is an area known for its serene beauty and is an ideal place for gem fossicking, bush trekking, camping and four-wheel-driving.

Huge geological forces, created one of the most acclaimed gorges of central Australia the imposing rich, red walls of Ormiston Gorge. The West MacDonnell Ranges National Park is rich in flora and fauna, and sets the scene for an unforgettable bushwalking trip.

In places, Ormiston gorge rises to over 300 metres, and those seeking adventure can spend many hours exploring. The waterhole at the gorge is around 14 metres deep, and fairly beckons the traveller at the end of a rewarding day exploring.

The gorge is dotted by the graceful river red gums, and adorable wallabies make the park their home. You will also find a fascinating collection of native fauna that includes plant species left over from a forgotten, tropical past.

Ormiston Creek runs through West MacDonnell National Park. It is a tributary of the Finke River, which some say is the oldest river in the world. The area was named by explorer Peter Egerton Warburton on his 1873-74 journey from Alice Springs across the Great Sandy Desert to the Western Australian coast.

A number of marked walks in the area allow you to choose your own way to best explore the gorge. The seven-kilometre Ormiston Pound Walk leads you on a circuit from the visitor centre, across the slopes, onto the flat floor of the Pound. It returns along the gorge by the main waterhole. Barbecue facilities invite you to relax and enjoy this scenic landscape.

Seventy kilometres north of Alice Springs, the Plenty Highway links travellers with Queensland through the Harts Ranges, now the scene of a gem and mineral rush in the 19th Century. It is now an area of great cultural significance to the Arrernte people. You can fossick for semi-precious stones like garnets and zircons with a tag-along tour from Gemtree.

Another of those spectacularly beautiful spots is Rainbow Valley in central Australi, which appears to be especially designed for people who love to see beautiful landscapes.

Rainbow Valley, part of the James Range, is around 75 kilometres, about an hour's drive from Alice Springs. The name comes from the array of colours in the stone, ochre, rose, vermilion, rust and gold. The colours seem to change depending on the atmosphere, light and time of day.

A combination of water, weathering and erosion has coloured and sculpted the semi-circle of peaks and valleys that make up this reserve. Over millions of years, the red iron of the sandstone layers dissolved in water, and was then drawn to the surface in the dry season. The red minerals formed a dark, iron-rich surface layer, with the white layers lying below. The dark red capping is hard, and weathers slowly, while the soft white sandstone below weathers far more quickly, into loose sand. Weathering and erosion has also sculpted the shape of the peaks and the valley into bluffs, peaks and towers.

Sunrise or sunset is the best times of day to come here, when the light really has a chance to transform the peaks. Visitors are welcome all year around, to go camping, to bushwalk and to take fantastic pictures. However, the best time to come is during the cooler months, between April and November.

The Tanami is the quintessence of what most of us regard as a desert. It is a vast, flat and sandy red landscape and here the notorious Tanami Track cuts a sandy course of over 1,000km from Alice Springs to Halls Creek in Western Australia's Kimberley region. Only the most experienced 4-wheel drivers should tackle this so, you have been warned!

Those who travel further north along the Explorer's Way will come across settlements such as Aileron, a welcome stop for refreshments, just as it was for early pioneers working along the old Overland Telegraph Line that once relayed messages between Adelaide and Darwin. The Explorers Way follows the same route as the famous Australian explorer John McDougall Stuart, the first man to travel across Australia. His journey started in Adelaide on 26th October 1861 and ended near Darwin on 24th July 1862.

The route takes in the Flinders Ranges, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock (Uluru), Kakadu National Park and finally Darwin.

The Red Centre Way (previously called Pioneer’s Way) joins Australia’s Northern Territory landmarks of Ayers Rock (Uluru), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon). It covers a total of 850km and can take up to 5 days to travel it’s length.

The Watarrka National Park, well known in Australia as the home of Kings Canyon, is a huge crater with a depth of 270 metres. It is found at the western edge of the George Gill Ranges some 295 kilometres to the north east of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and about the same distance west of Alice Springs. To Kings Canyon from Uluru is about three hours by car, taking the Lasseter Highway and Luritja Road, whereas four-wheel vehicle drivers who have least a 24 hours to spare can take the unsealed Mereenie Loop from Alice Springs.

An important conservation area, Watarrka has many rock holes and gorges, providing a refuge for over 600 species of plants and many animals. The red rock face of Kings Canyon rises straight up for over 100 metres above dense forests of palms, ferns and cycads helping shelter them from the surrounding arid conditions.

For the best view of the Canyon rim, take a the four hour 6 km walk, 6km walk, but only if you are physically fit as it is quite a tough climb.

Whilst doing this walk you will get good views of the weathered, buttressed domes of 'the Lost City' and the 'Garden of Eden,' a sheltered valley with permanent waterholes and green vegetation. If this all sounds a bit of a grind, you can do the much shorter and easier Kings Creek walk that leads into the centre of the Canyon. The name Watarrka comes from an Aboriginal word referring to the umbrella bush that grows in abundance here. Watarrka National Park has been home to the Luritja people for over 20,000 years and this particular area of Australia was hardly known to Europeans until fairly recently, with Ernest Giles(1835-1897) being the first white man to explore the area in 1872. At the Kings Canyon Resort, seven kilometres from the Park, there are various types of facilities available including a campsite, a service station and a shop. Further on at Kings Creek Station some 35 kilometres from the Park, there is also a campsites and basic hotel accommodation.

Established as a frontier settlement town for north-south travel through the outback, Alice Springs was previously know as Stuart, but was re-named in 1933. Set almost in the exact centre of this vast continent Alice Springs is 1200 km from the sea and 1500 km from the nearest major city. It sits at the mid-point of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway.

Tourism is by far the major tourist industry, although about 700 workers are located 19km south-west of Alice Springs at Pine Gap, the U.S./Australia satellite-monitoring base. The town has a strong American influence, and consequently, Alice Springs sees celebrations of all major stateside festivals such as Halloween, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Baseball, American football and baseball are played along side the more traditional Australian games of cricket, Australian football and rugby.

Aboriginal people from all over the region visit the town to use its services. Aborigine residents in ‘town camps’ in the suburbs according to the 2001 census make up about 17% of the population and about 29% of the Northern Territory.

The climate is arid with little or no rainfall although this can vary considerably from year to year. Summer temperatures can reach as high as 48 degrees Celsius, whilst in winter temperatures have been reported as low as -10 degrees. Click here for tourist information.