Desert, heat and scary Australians

We're in Alice Springs. We're in the middle of the Australian desert.

Australian immigration is fuckin crazy. They quizzed us on our plans as we entered Darwin airport ("where are you going now? and what about when you get there?") and threatened to make me talk to someone in a small room because I have a work visa. That didn't happen, thank god: it was 4am, if they'd asked me what I was planning to do I have no idea what I would have said.

We moved through to have our bags searched, and the nice, fatherly, red-faced security guy initiated the following conversation:

Jolly man: "So, where have you come from?"
Us: "Hong Kong and Singapore."
Jolly man: "Did you see any chinese in Hong Kong?"
Us (after a confused pause): "Uh, yeah."
Jolly man (chuckling): "That's a surprise, they're all over here!"
Us: Nervous laughter rapidly becoming hysterical giggling plus uncomfortable glances at each other.
Jolly man: "Where are you off to in Australia?"
Us: "Alice Springs."
Jolly man: "There's your first mistake. You don't want to go to Alice. There's alot of black people round there."

Um...wow. I thought this was the 21st century. This was an official at an international airport for god's sake. Or was it some kind of Aussie humour that we just weren't getting?

We're now at our hostel which is amazing - it's got a pool, hammocks, internet, a bar, a lounge and tv area...I'm loving it, except that everything's so expensive compared to asia, we're fretting about money somewhat. I'm so glad we've got so many relatives and friends to stay with and save on hostel money. ($17 tonight, in a 6 bed dorm).

It's so hot. I mean, this is the desert. The landscape is amazing...red earth, rocks. The flights last night were pretty awful and I got no sleep, but had a transcendent moment when I stood up on the plane, looked out of the window and realised we were flying over miles and miles of red desert. It's so different from everywhere else I've ever been.