Category: Alice Springs

The wind picked up at about 3:30, which made sleeping a little tricker than hoped for, but since we had to be up at 4am, it wasn’t so bad. We headed to Uluru once again to see the sunrise. We were in a location that made it a little difficult to get any pictures that weren’t simply silhouettes, though. We had breakfast there (same as the day before, but pears instead of peaches). After breakfast we dropped some of the Asian contigent at the Uluru airport. Headed home from there, having lunch at about 10am. No wildlife spotted this time, but I was more familiar with the people I was travelling with, so there was a fair bit of conversation. The heat on the bus was knocking most people out though. I’d fall asleep, leaning over into the aisle and waking myself up when I was pretty much horizontal. Should make up for some of the yoga I’ve been missing.

Got to the hostel and had a much much much needed shower. Covered in the red sand from the desert. Popped on the internet to wish my mom a happy birthday (a few hours late, but the tour was back later than planned). Met a few people from the tour at the hostel pool afterwards. At 7 the group met up for dinner in the hostel bar. Chicken Parmigiana this time. Nothing to write home about, but I’ll do so anyhow. We were all pretty exhausted from being up at 4am so we retired to bed fairly early.

It’s my mom’s birthday, so happy birthday to her! Ulla too!

We were up at 6am to head to Katja Tjuta, AKA the Olgas. Breakfast was en route, and was mostly just bread with various spreads, and some canned peaches. Geographically similar to Uluru, we had a choice between a longer hike or a shorter one. I figured it was probably my last time ever there, so I opted for the longer tour. It was a few degrees hotter than the day before, but probably not quite 40 degrees. A few of my tourmates were getting a little annoyed with the tour guide, who didn’t seem all that interested in touring – leaving us to find our way on our own (not that it was a difficult trail to follow, but it seemed silly to leave some solo hikers alone on such a hot day. He was also a little less than patient when it came to certain people asking questions, which riled a few people as well. I think we’d have complained if it wasn’t his last tour. I had no altercations with him, so I wasn’t overly upset. His insistence on teaching us geology lessons while the hot sun beat down on us was a little tiring, but I think he just enjoyed drawing maps in the sand.

After the Olgas, we headed to Uluru for lunch – which was sausages, corn, and salad. The men were in charge of lunch, and I was in charge of the sausages, so I got to spend some of my time over a hot barbecue. We drove around Uluru once, and did a short walk through some of it before heading to our campground for the night. A little classier than the last joint, this place had showers and a bathroom. It also had a pool, so a few of us swam for about half an hour before we were whisked back onto the bus to watch sunset over Uluru. The viweing area for sunset was filled with tourists on their buses. They’d obviously paid more than us as they had tables with wine waiting for them, and fancy buffets. Our dinner was chicken curry, but unfortunately a major ingredient, curry, was missing, so instead of eating while the sun set we took some photos of the rock, and sat around. We headed back to the campground and had dinner (quite tasty), then sat around chatting for most of the evening. We had to be up super early in the morning, so we climbed into our swags before midnight for some rest.

Getting up at 5:00am proved to not be so bad, considering Alice Springs is one hour and 30 minutes behind Sydney time. Checked out, and grabbed some toast with jam and nutella in the hostel kitchen. Shigeru was supposed to be in my tour group, but was asked to delay his departure by a day as he had some extra travel days that another person did not. Alone again!

The 21 passenger bus was full. The ad for the tour clearly stated the bus was air conditioned, but sadly there was an issue with the air con. so we had to suffer without it for most of the trip. With the windows opened it wasn’t too bad, but desert winds can be pretty hot. Our first stop was a Camel ranch, where you could ride a camel for $5, or walk around and look at the domesticated dingo, or the emus and kangaroos in cages. There were no introductions on the bus, but meeting people was fairly easy. Kevin from Glasgow, Scotland was the first to offer his hand, and a hello. He’s been travelling with his girlfriend of seven years, Karen since September and they expect to be gone for about a year in total. There was a large Dutch contigent, with Carlijn and Emma (sisters who met up in Alice Springs); and Evelien and Else, who were travelling from Brisbane. One German, Kristina; two Alpean Frenchmen, Max and Jon; Barbara and Theresa from Innsbruck, Austria; Naoyuki from Japan; Mari from near Kobe, Japan; Amy, from Illinois, USA; Hannah from England; a Taiwanese couple whose English wasn’t outstanding, and whose names I never got. Another Asian couple; and another Japanese girl. Our tour guide was Australian born (near Melbourne), Glenn, and this was going to be his last tour – as his girlfriend was tired of all his days away from home.

The drive was mostly desert. A surprising amount of vegetation, although nothing looked too hearty. I scanned the scenery for wildlife, but only saw one wild camel for all my effort.

We made a few pit stops to use the toilet and fuel up, before reaching King’s Canyon. Our hike through the canyon was over 3 hours in 36 degree heat (but it’s a dry heat). I’m not really one to have my breath taken away, but there were some breathtaking views, none the less. Halfway through the hike we took a small detour to a small billabong, for swimming. The water appeared black, almost like oil, but our guide assured us there was nothing in it’s depths that would kill us (but it should be noted that he didn’t go in). We spent a half an hour swimming in one of the nicer areas I’ve ever swum before finishing our walk.

From King’s Canyon, we drove for an hour and a half or so to a gated off area (apparently a cattle ranch – but I only heard them, didn’t see them). This was our campground for the night. With Mt. Conner on the horizon, the men built a fire (not too difficult with such dry wood) while the womenfolk worked on dinner, which was Chili Con Camel (although we only found this out after the fact). The dinner was exceptionally good – although I’m not sure how much the camel meat factored into the flavour. We all slept in swags, which was an interesting experience – especially with our guide’s soothing “I make no guarantees, but chances are you’ll be safe from snakes and the like.” With no light pollution, the stars were amazing, and I spent a fair bit of time just staring up into the night sky. The quarter-moon sits quite low this side of the equator, so that was interesting to see as well.

When you fly west from Sydney, with the ocean at your back, the google earth below you starts as city and houses, then bush, then more bush  with occasional houses, but before long you hit red or bleached red for the rest of yout trip.  Arrived in Alice Springs, and done a walkabout the city with a Japanese student studying in Melbourne.  Hot and dry, but it’s mostly the dry that’s having an effect.  Drinking loads of water seems to help (go figure).

 Could be another day without photos, but I’ll probably get some up on Wednesday when I’m back from the great big desert.   Looks like I can burn dvds here too, which could prove handy.  I’m off to drink some water, and maybe go for a swim (hostel has a pool) but wanted to check in, while I look up flights to Cairns.

I’ve been relatively lucky with flying so far. Got three seats to myself to Alice Springs, so I was able to stretch out and enjoy myself. A shuttle to Annie’s Place Hostel was waiting at the airport, so I hopped on that. After check in, I threw my bags in the room and chatted with Shigeru, a Japanese guy who’d been studying in Melbourne, and was taking advantage of a week off to visit the Red Centre. We both needed some food and water, so we got directions and walked about fifteen minutes into town to visit the Todd Mall. It was Sunday, so a lot was closed, but we managed to find something to eat, and I was able to pick up a wide brimmed hat to help keep the super Australian UV Rays at bay.

Had dinner with Shigeru in the hostel bar that evening – they’ve got a few $5 meals, so I took advantage of that. I passed on the Chili Con Camel, though. Figured I wouldn’t really be able to taste the camel anyhow. There was a camel burger for $12, and I figured I’d have that on Wednesday.

Had to be up at the crack of dawn (earlier, even – check out was at 5:30 since I was on the tour), so I went to bed pretty early.