Red Centre Beauty

A film of cloud veiled the blue sky this week, and it threatened to rain but delivered only isolated drops. It was the coldest day of the year thus far in Alice Springs. Hemmed in by desert, rain is unusual for this isolated town, but always welcome. When it does rain, the desert flourishes, and a small snapshot of its vegetation lies within the boundaries of the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. The gardens are named after the botanist Olive Pink, who spent her life cataloging the plants of Central Australia, as well as advocating for the First Nations people of this area. Born in 1884, she passed away in 1975, but her legacy lives on. 

Walking in the still sunlight of winter in the Olive Pink Botanical gardens, Alice Springs, provides the briefest glimpse of the stunning landscape of the desert. The ground is powder-pink in the early morning, and the air as clear as glass. The chill bites, but the earth pulses, its heartbeat carried in the birdcalls that rent the air, and the loping steps of the wallabies who disappear by mid-morning.

 In far-flung cities, stories of deserts with rolling sand dunes and surfaces as barren as the moon are often circulated. But a visit to the arid area of Central Australia will quickly reveal a place that is alive, studded with ghost gums and plants, supporting ecosystems that are unique and varied.

                                                           Native Blossoms at Olive Pink

Olive Pink Botanical Gardens reveals the beauty of winter in Alice Springs. At this time of year, Central Australia is a desert that spoils you for sunshine in a way no other place can. When I fly home from the East Coast, as soon as I see the ochre-colored earth thousands of feet below from the plane window, I know I am home.

Olive Pink harbors numerous birds and animals. If you walk carefully along the tracks, you will see the Western Bowerbird’s nest in the bushes, filled with tokens for his love. The tracks cut between the ghost gums, whose silver branches reach upwards. The red rocks climb towards the sky, scattered with hiding places for the wallabies. Olive Pink Botanical Gardens is also actively involved in conservation efforts. It contains hundreds of Central Australian plant species, preserving them and providing a place where they can be studied and propagated. 

Although the climate can be harsh, the landscape is stunning. The rust-colored MacDonnell Ranges hem the town in and crisscrossing the ranges are numerous walking trails that can only be completed in winter due to the intense heat throughout the rest of the year. The same red color of the MacDonnells stains the soil at Olive Pink. When times in town get tough and social problems surface, I think of the landscape. Alice Springs is not easy, but once you learn the language it speaks in the winter dawn and the star-speckled nights, it becomes unforgettable.

Outside the gardens, the Todd River winds its way past, full of white sand, but fierce when in flood from a rare deluge. The outback is normally dry, and it can be cruel, but it also reveals an incredible beauty. When evening falls and the quiet stillness of the outback shimmers, Alice Springs, once seen, is endlessly haunting.