Alice Springs: One year on.

Today is my one year anniversary of moving to Alice Springs. It has gone by quite quickly, yet it feels like I've always lived here. This evening, it rained and it felt so fresh and glorious. When I arrived this time last year, it rained heavily for a week and the Todd River flowed. I've since seen it flow one more time; another time makes three and I'm a 'local'.

In the year that I've been here, I've done a lot of the quintessential Centralian things. I've sat on the grass at the footy, camped out at the Finke desert race; swam at Ellery Big Hole and marched down the Todd Mall for NAIDOC Week. I've been to the races, played netball and cricket, mountain biked through the rocky bush land, been to a film festival at the botanic garden, watched camels racing and cheered on the boats at the Henley on Todd 'regatta'.

I've also been confronted with a whole range of complex issues that, living down south or on the coast, it's easy to think about idealistically or discuss philosophically. Views have shifted, new understandings have been gleaned and perspectives gained. Living here challenges you.

I love the sense of community here. Going to the supermarket you will positively bump into someone you know, or a colleague. The blue sky is just unfathomable. The sun shines almost all year round. The ranges change from parched golden to vivid green after a good soaking. People get tetchy about the heat, with summer's unrelenting blast, then complain equally about the cold in winter, yet there's an element of boasting about what we live through compared to those softies living in the cities down south.

One year on, I'm glad I came. I think I'll stay a while, yet.