Alice Springs

Alice Springs is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Alice Springs (23.8S, 133.89E) has a population of 26,486 (in 2005 [1] ). The town is 576 metres above sea level in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the second largest centre in the Northern Territory and is popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice.” The town is 200 km south of the absolute centre of Australia and nearly equidistant from Adelaide and Darwin, Alice Springs is known as Mparntwe to its traditional inhabitants, the Arrernte, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around Alice Springs for more than 50,000 years. Alice Springs is best-known outside the region from the title of the Nevil Shute novel A Town Like Alice, even though little of the story takes place in Alice Springs, and because of its proximity to Uluru (Ayers Rock), the monolithic rock that is one of Australia's best-known natural landmarks and an important focus of Australian Aborigine| Aboriginal culture.