G’Day!

Hi! We’re Seb and Miriam and we’d like to welcome you warmly to our home – a quiet little hideaway called Alice’s Secret Travellers Inn. Our  little family run hostel is located in Alice Springs, a small town right in the middle of Australia’s red desert heart, the perfect place to pause and experience the unique spirit and magic of the outback.    

But how did two Europeans like us (German and Swiss) end up here? This is a question we‘re asked quite frequently when guests meet us for the first time. It’s a story of being open for life and what it has to offer, a story of taking opportunities, a story of dedication and love. As you may guess, it can’t be told quickly, but we’ll try and give you at least an idea to start with ;-)…

After travelling some parts of this beautiful continent in 2008, Seb was offered a sponsorship as a store manager on a station about 350km out of Alice Springs. He decided to take this unique opportunity and migrated permanently. Hence he spent the following 4 years „out bush“, living a station life.

As a part of his job he would drive to Alice on a regular basis to get supplies for the store, but because of the long distances, he‘d often have to stay in town over night before heading back out. Seb could’ve stayed in a fancy place like a 5 star hotel, it would’ve been paid for, but as a traveller at heart he was looking for something more homey and down to earth… aaand guess what…that’s how he found out about a little hostel called „Alice’s Secret Travellers Inn“. Even though it looked quite different back then, it had it’s charms. It was not only the ideal spot to securely park the fully loaded troopie, the relaxed and chilled atmosphere also allowed to get a good night’s sleep before the long drive back out to the station. Over time Seb kind of became a regular at Alice’s Secret, got to know the previous owner and the two became friends.

So time passed but after four adventurous years as a bushstore manager Seb felt the urge to pack up his van and hit the road again. He was drawn towards the sea and wanted to go and explore all the other stunning parts of Australia he hadn’t been able to travel to so far. So, to get organised for his trip, he pulled up at Alice’s Secret one last time, or so he thought…

Life, or lets say Wayne, the former owner of the hostel, had different plans laid out for Seb…so all of a sudden he had to choose between travelling in to the unknown in his van and becoming a hostel owner in the outback town of Alice Springs. Well, we all know which option he decided to go for…and that’s how Alice’s Secret started to evolve into the green, colorful, quirky and peacful little oasis it is today.

And how about the other half? Well there’s no good story without a little bit of romance, is there J? Miriam bumped in to Seb while passing through Alice Springs in 2016. During check-in Seb revealed that he‘d spent a lot of time in Switzerland during holidays with his fam when he was a kid – not far off the little village Miriam grew up in. This definitely was an icebreaker and when she was ready to hit the road again a few days later, the two decided to keep in touch. At that time it would never have occurred to either of them that this very brief encounter would eventually lead to quite a kitschy love story… 

As Miriam travelled on, they started to message each other and discovered that there was much more they had in common than the memories and experiences related to Miriam’s home country.
The connection between the two got deeper over the months and in a moment of feeling very courageous they decided to meet up again – in fact Seb quickly organised a relief to look after the hostel so he could fly across to the east coast and meet that girl again before she departed to another country. It rapidly became obvious that what was happening between the two was something unique and very special and that they wanted to try and make it work…even though this would surely mean that some big challenges had to be overcome.

But hey, if there’s one thing worth fighting for it is love…and with Miriam moving to Alice Springs in October 2017, it looks like we are on the right track ;-)…