Back to Alice for an Exotic Dinner

After a stop for breakfast sandwiches and coffee at the resort’s shopping area, we hit the road for the 4.5 hour trip back to Alice, stopping only once at the one turn we had to take for quite possibly the greasiest round of pigs in a blanket on record.

The trip was overly uneventful. Tedious, you might say.

Fortunately I’d booked our hotel room for the night several months in advance, so we were staying at the nicest digs in Alice Springs – the Crowne Plaza. Woohoo! I was feeling pleased with myself as Mom and Mr. Farmer waited in the car while Dad and I went to check in.

So you can imagine my surprise when the receptionist told me that we’d booked for the prior night.

What????

They had plenty of rooms, so the issue wasn’t about whether we would stay there. It was whether we were paying $150 or $250/night (for one room for all of us). I didn’t have my confirmation page printed out, so once they gave us the keycard, we got out stuff into the room and then I had to pay $10 to get online to make sure I wasn’t the one who made the error.

Ha! I was right. Hotels.com was wrong. I went back down to the front desk with my proof. The desk staff kept my confirmation and sorted it out directly.

Meanwhile, Dad meandered around the pool, and Mom nursed a headache in bed.

By 5:00 we were hungry, and after 10 minutes of mamby-pambying around, we decided to make a reservation at Overlanders Steak House, which was recommended to us on our first day in Alice – for an authentic Outback food experience. We were due at 5:30.

When we arrived, there wasn’t a soul in the dining room except our animated waiter, who promptly seated us and explained the extensive menu of exotic meats. He asked us where we were from, then brought back an American flag to display proudly on our table.

The waiter was great. He told us all about the big American population in the area doing satellite surveillance outside of town – like 6,000 people! He told us about the highlights of the region and gave us honest recommendations on the menu.

Mr. Farmer went for a ground kangaroo patty. I went for lamb. Mom had steak, and Dad had ribs.

The kangaroo patty was enormous. Very finely ground and pretty dry.

A good time was had by all.

Happy birthday to me

Our dwelling in Christchurch was ultra-comfortable, with a living area, kitchen and two bedrooms. Once we got organized and took a load off, I looked through local travel guides to figure out where to go for dinner. One place jumped out: The Bodhi Tree. It’s the only Burmese restaurant I’d ever seen, but the short list of menu favorites indicated that we wouldn’t be eating snake bowels or anything. Several publications raved, and it was just a couple blocks away. The only problem was that the guides said it was small, and reservations were generally essential.

So we embarked on the short walk to the restaurant, and even at the early dinner hour of 5:30 p.m., most of the tables were full. It was a small storefront, with simple decoration and only maybe 15 tables.

I inquired about availability, and the harried waitress who had come to meet us at the door took one glance around and said, “Sorry, we’re all booked.” So we turned away with disappointment–even Mom and Dad, who had finally warmed to the idea of potentially eating something weird. But as luck would have it, just as we’d walked about five paces, the same waitress poked her head out the door and said, “Wait, we can get you in!”

Bingo! We were seated, and the menu inspection began.

The crowd was definitely intellectual—not surprising, as a major university wasn’t far away. And the small plates/sharing concept at the restaurant was perfect for our group, as the no one person had to commit to something they weren’t sure about. In the end, the food wasn’t weird at all – I loved it. It was mild and reminded me a lot of Vietnamese. Read more about the cuisine here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Burma