Northern Territory
Rooms for rent in Alice Springs: car or no car
Alice Springs is about six kilometres across, so nothing here is far. What decides where you end up living is not distance but whether you will have a car, because the free town buses stop on Saturday.
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Six kilometres across, and it still comes down to the car
Alice sits in a valley on the north side of the MacDonnell Ranges, with the Todd River through the middle. The Todd is a dry sandbed most of the year, lined with river red gums, and it splits the town east and west more plainly than any suburb boundary. South of the centre the range closes to a single opening, Heavitree Gap, which takes the highway, the railway and the river together.
The built-up part is about six kilometres across, so the furthest suburb is ten minutes from the centre rather than a commute, and almost nobody here picks a street to be nearer work. What changes is the feel: big old trees near the centre, newer estates on the western edge, sheds and horses on rural blocks past the last kerb. So the thing that decides where you live is not distance. It is whether you will have a car, because the buses stop on Saturday and summer afternoons sit in the forties.
Without one: free buses, a flat town, and no Sunday service
The town buses are free. Five routes run from the interchange in the centre: Braitling and Ciccone to the north, East Side and Sadadeen across the river, Ross and Ilparpa and The Gap to the south, and Gillen, Araluen and Larapinta to the west. They go Monday to Saturday, with nothing on Sundays or public holidays. Shift workers notice that first.
Bikes fill in the rest. The ground is flat, there are shared paths along the Todd, and most trips across town are under fifteen minutes. January is another matter: December to February runs through the high thirties into the forties, so ask what cooling a room has.
Two strips do the most work without a car. Gap Road, between the centre and the hospital, lets shift workers walk home at odd hours. East Side is straight across the dry riverbed, close enough to walk in.
The job you are coming for usually decides it
Most people arrive for a job with a start date, and the job usually answers the car question.
With a car the edges come into range. Through the Gap, Ross and Kilgariff and the rural blocks at Ilparpa are a few minutes out but feel separate from town. Larapinta is the far western edge, where the 400 and 401 finish. The gorges and waterholes start about half an hour out, and no bus goes to any of them.
Timing runs on the same contracts. February to April is the tightest stretch, when the season's staff and the year's new starters arrive at once, and a fair bit is spoken for before anyone writes it down.
- The hospital, the Territory departments and the Aboriginal community organisations take people on one and two year contracts. Odd hours make a short walk home worth more than a parking space.
- Tour companies, camps and kitchens hire up before the cool months, and the season runs roughly April to September. Early starts, often in a work vehicle you cannot use on days off.
- Plenty of people live in town and drive out to remote communities a week at a time. A car is a given, and the room sits empty half the month.
Where people look in Alice Springs
The west side
Araluen, Gillen, Larapinta
Araluen holds the arts precinct — the Araluen Arts Centre, the Museum of Central Australia and the Strehlow Research Centre — which took its name from the suburb. Larapinta is the western edge of town, and the last stop on the bus.
North of the centre
Braitling, Ciccone
Braitling runs north past Anzac Hill towards the Telegraph Station reserve, which is where half the town walks before work in summer.
East of the Todd
East Side, Sadadeen
East Side is a walk across the dry riverbed from the centre, which is why it suits people without a car. Sadadeen sits behind it on the rise and is quieter.
Gap Road
The Gap
The strip between the centre and the hospital. Shift workers look here first, because they can walk home at odd hours.
Through the Gap
Ross, Kilgariff, Ilparpa
Past the narrow opening in the range, where town feels a long way off even a few minutes out. Kilgariff is the newest suburb, Ilparpa is mostly rural blocks, and both assume a car.
What Kip Haus is
A free iPhone app that introduces somebody with a spare room to somebody who needs one. Drop a pin anywhere on the map, choose how far around it to look — 2 km out to 100 km — and go through the rooms one at a time.
Rent is shown per week. Browsing, listing and messaging are all free, and signing up is a six-digit code emailed to you: no password, no documents, any visa. It works from overseas, before you fly.
Kip Haus reads incoming messages for the pattern scammers use and warns you in the chat. The rule that does the most work is simpler than anything software can do, though: stand in the room, or have somebody you trust stand in it, before any money moves.
iPhone, iOS 16.4 or later. Nothing to pay, at any point.
Alice Springs: questions people ask before they move
Do the free town buses in Alice Springs run on sundays?
No. The five routes go Monday to Saturday, and there is nothing on Sundays or public holidays. If you work weekends, either stay somewhere you can walk or ride home from, or sort out a car before you take a room on the outer edge.
Is it a hassle living on the other side of heavitree gap?
It is a few minutes' drive, and the road through the Gap is the only way in and out, so it can bank up. Ross, Kilgariff and the blocks at Ilparpa are quiet and feel well out of town, which some people want and some people find lonely after a month.
What sort of air conditioning should a room in Alice Springs have?
Ask whether the cooling is evaporative or refrigerated, and whether it reaches the bedroom or only the living room. The air here is dry, so evaporative does well most of the year. Ask how the power bill gets split before summer, not during it.
When do rooms in Alice Springs actually turn over?
With the contracts and the tourist season. February to April is the busiest and the tightest. October to January is quieter, because the season has wound down and the heat is up. A lot moves by word of mouth, so ask around once you are here.
Have a look at Alice Springs.
Drop a pin, pick how far to search, and go through the rooms. Free to browse, free to list, free to message.
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