Surviving Alice Springs - Size, Shopping and Safety

Alice Springs: Not flat like I had imagined.

I've been living here in Alice Springs for just shy of two years, and while I haven't exactly integrated myself into the social scene, I have learned a lot of things that would really have helped me prepare myself when we first arrived.

Alice Springs is Small

The last census had the Alice Springs population at 26,188. The downside is that the census does not include the significant American population that also resides here, thanks to the base. Either way, Alice Springs is still classed as a town and the infrastructure shows that.

• If you've got kids and are hoping to get them into child care, the waiting list is infinitely long. Some places have even closed their waiting lists entirely. It means there's a strong market for home day-care and babysitting, if you're looking for alternative income. 
• There is no private hospital, just the one over-worked public hospital. However, there are quite a few doctor surgeries, and I've never had to deal with long waits to get an appointment.
• The rental market here is fiercely competitive -- and pricey. If you're moving here by choice, many employers offer housing incentives. 
• Petrol is also pricey, and not just because of the sheer distance tankers have to travel to get here. We use special, low aroma petrol to discourage petrol sniffing. 

There are no Mega Malls in Alice Springs


Seeing as there are less than 30,000 people here and we're 1,500km away from the nearest capital city, shopping leaves a lot to be desired. We have the basics such as K-Mart, Target, Harvey Norman, Coles, Woolworths, etc, as well as quite a few smaller franchises, but the layout is terrible and they're scattered all over the CBD. K-mart is open til 9pm weeknights, and Coles and Woolies are open til midnight. Coles also do online ordering and home delivery. Seven day trading does exist, but it seems that only the bigger franchises take advantage of it.

Not illegal, but definitely restricted.

The sale of alcohol is a bit of a grey area, and if you're like me, your Google search confused the hell out of you about what can and can't be done with booze in Alice Springs. Let me bust some myths for you.

• If you're after a goon bag or some fortified wine, you can only buy them between 6pm and 8pm. You're also limited to two per person.
• You have to present your ID no matter what you're buying or how old you look. This gets scanned into a database to make sure you're not bottle-o hopping and getting more than your quota of goon.
• The limits only apply to cask wine and port. Want 10 bottles of vodka and four cartons of VB? Knock yourself out. 
• Besides liquor stores attached to a grocery shop (These are not open on Sundays), most bottle-o's are open 7 days a week. They don't open until 2pm on weekdays and are shut by 9pm.
• If you're planning on a camping adventure, there are a LOT of places around here that fall under the Northern Territory National Emergency Response laws. That means it's all kinds of illegal to take any form of booze or porn into these areas. 

Safety First

There's no point in lying or sugar coating it. Alice Springs has a lot of social issues (Issues that I'm totally not qualified to explain) that make walking around at night a pretty stupid thing to do. The crime rate here is absurd. Racism is rampant on many fronts. Basically, some people here can be real dicks. Remember to lock your doors at night and don't go walking down dark alleys. If you've ever thought of taking up self defence, I highly recommend it. My husband runs IJJF Jui Jitsu classes twice a week, which are great for people who are purely looking to protect themselves and their loved ones, as opposed to just beating the crap out of people in a competition environment.  

It's not all doom and gloom though! My jaw has almost healed up, and to celebrate, my next installment of Surviving Alice Springs will revolve around my favourite spots to eat, drink and be merry at. I like that my blog is giving me an excuse to go out wining and dining!

If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up in the comments, or check me out on Facebook or Twitter.