A trek with a vision

By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
What have bush walking and eyesight in common?
 
Try this: If you’re walking the Larapinta Trail you’ll see the most wonderful scenery.
 
And the local Rotary Clubs are now encouraging walking teams of four to raise money for the Alice Springs Eye Clinic, run by Dr Tim Henderson (pictured) who has a national reputation of excellence in this field.
 
Eye problems are rampant in Central Australia, especially among Aborigines.
 
You see?
 
Initially the funds will go to equipment and long term for a clinic, says Anjali Palmer, from the Rotary Club of Mbantua.
 
She says a trek from Simpson’s Gap to Alice Springs, 23.8 kms, is being organised for this Sunday. (You’d need to hurry to register.)
 
Team members will do one or more sub-sections (with Wallaby Gap and the Geoff Moss bridge as waypoints), and will put the squeeze on friends and neighbours to reward their effort with cash.
 
Or something similar.
 
Ms Palmer’s ambition is to rope in walkers from around Oz to begin with, and later from overseas, a reasonable ambition given the Larapinta Trek’s magnificence.
 
PHOTO courtesy Alice Springs hospital.
 
[Declaration of interest: The writer is a member of the Rotary Club of Alice Springs.]