Alice Springs

In 2021 we were heading into the outback for a 2 month tour though Alice and the Kimberley’s to Broome and back. We had travelled most of this road before but we were doing this trip with old friends and travel partners Phil and Andrea. I had been buying some stabilised timber for handles from a  French guy making knives in Alice springs so I contacted  to see if it would be possible to drop in as we were traveling through Alice, just to have a look at his setup and have a chat about knife making. Francois was most hospitable and suggested that not only should I drop in to have a look, but that I should spend a couple of days and do some forging and knife making! an offer that I gladly accepted. If you are ever in Alice and get a chance to visit the Todd Street Mall markets, you will probably find Francois and his lovely partner Anika there with knives, leather work and woodwork, and they are always happy for a chat ( tell them I sent you! )

Those couple of days were so much fun. I did lots of things that I had never done before like forging hot metal into a knife, working with damascus steel, and I ended up with a great little knife that we use every day in our kitchen. He also gave me the another piece of the same Damascus billet which I used to forge my own knife when I got home. It was great experience and I remained in contact with Francois and Anika over the next couple of years buying timber and asking questions.

It is interesting that you can only learn the things that you are ready for, and as I spent more time working on my knife making skills, little hints of memories kept coming back to me about my time in Alice, and I realised that I was probably ready  to hear some of the things that Francois had told me again.

So in 2024 I organised to visit Alice Springs again and to do a proper 4 day workshop with Francois. This time I had a better idea of what I needed help with and the learning really helped to move me along in my knife making. An added bonus was that when telling my mate Bruce about my plans to fly to Alice to do the workshop, he suggested that we turn it into a road trip and take some pictures along the way. Joined at the last minute by David Oliver, another great photographer based in the Hunter Valley, we set of towards Alice Springs, with our main photographic objective being to photograph  Kati-Thanda-Lake Eyre from the air. Normally a dry salt pan, the lake only  completely fills 3 or 4 times per century, and in July 2024 the lake had water in it again leading up to the levels in 2025 that were as high as they had been for the last 160 years.

The road to Alice Springs has been well travelled by us in our various out back adventures , and we had also travelled the Oodnadatta track which is how you get to Willian Creek, the launching place for a flight over the lake. Last time we had been there, we arrived at the end of the day , just in time to take the last flight to see the Lake, got back just on sunset and decided to rent a cabin rather than set up our tent. We went to the pub for a very nice steak and a bottle of red, filled the truck up with fuel and went to bed in preparation for a very early, pre dawn departure ( our system is to leave pre dawn, and get an hour or 100km done before stopping to photograph dawn and have breakfast ) In all we probably spent less than 12 hours in William Creek, but by the time we left we have spent about $1000! multiply that by the number of visitors they get over a season and its not hard to see why they put up with the heat,  flies, isolation and tough living that goes hand in hand with living in the outback.

This time we set up camp, cooked good food and set off on a first light flight. it was awesome! Some amazing shots flying over the mineral springs that bubble up through the salt flats making intricate patterns in the salt.

The 4 days I spent with Francois set me up for another year or two of consolidation, working by myself in my workshop. I made a couple of knives while I was there and learnt a lot. Each time you do something like this it's as if you have taken another step in the staircase, and it opens you up to  knowledge that you just weren’t ready to receive before. You then need to go away and put that knowledge to use , and use it to explore the world that opens up to you because you have it. 2 years on and I have booked flights to Alice Springs again for the middle of September. Looking forward to seeing Francois and Anika again and to taking the next step.

They say it’s the journey not the destination, and while I am really enjoying this process, I think that the real joy is in the people you meet , and the person you become along the way , and for that I am really grateful!