Alice Springs – Adeleide 18Oct – 26Oct
Thursday, October 26th, 2006My bed on the bus!
So after the 2200km from Cairns to Alice Springs in 3 days, the next installment from Alice to Adeleide of 3200km in 6 days seemed like a doddle!
There was a lot more nothingness, vast empty spaces and roads that seemed to have no end. I thought the roads in the states were ridiculously long and straight, but these are just stupid. I really could not drive in the Ozzy Outback, I would be asleep at the wheel in 5 minutes. Which is basically what I did for most of the 6 days. We drove through various deserts, went to the moon (closest landscape to the moon anyway), through the mountain ranges, the only things in sight were the occasional kangaroo, wallaby or emu.
It was nice to feel like I could relax a bit for once without missing out on the scenerary, so have finally caught up on the last god knows how many months lack of sleep, read 3 books, worn glasses to try and save my last pair of contact lenses and think I have almost got rid of all of my bruises!!
Thats not to say we didnt have fun, had a few beers round the campfire most nights – although it wasnt quite the same as up the East Coast – there was no ring of fire for a start!! The nights were usually pretty early as we were up at between 4 – 5am most mornings to get the most out of the daylight.
Campfire, Didgeridoo playing
There were many highlights of the trip, and lots of short, long and steep walks, which did make me feel a little better after the 3 day trip to Alice Springs on which I did nothing but eat and sit on a bus. OZ Exp guys, you will be pleased to know that my skirt now not only fits but is also quite tight after all my complaints about it falling down not long ago – not bad going eh!!
Walking at Kata Juta, Kings Canyon, my feet after the walks as I refused to wear trainers in the heat – nice!!
Ayers rock was obviously the main highlight of the trip, even getting up at 4am to go there for the sunrise – although it wasn’t a very spectacular one 🙁 The Sunset over the rock was equally dissapointing, but at least we had champaign (well fizzy wine) and nibbles for that, so I was happy. The 10k walk around the base of the rock really made you appreciate the size of it, and the aboriginal artwork which is still visible in some areas was amazing to see. I’m glad we couldnt climb ‘the rock’ because of the weather – even though I wouldn’t anyway because it takes away the sacredness from the aboriginals (and its way too high!!)!
Sleeping under the stars in genuine Ozzy Swags was pretty cool, and the stars like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Orions belt so prominent in the sky, along with all the other constallations, and shooting stars galore. Good job I had something to keep me occupied as it was too cold to sleep as i was too stubborn to pay for a sleeping bag – as usual – and my cotton sleep sheet just didn’t cut it!!
We stopped at a salt flat, which seemed to go on for miles, it was weird to look at after days of red dirt roads and rocks, I guess its the outback’s version of snow! The Ghan train line runs past the salt flat and seems to go on forever also!
Salt Flat, Ghan train line
Coober Pedy, the underground mining villiage was also pretty cool, the houses built into the sides of the ground always maintain a temperature of around 20 degrees which made for the best nights sleep in a while. Here we learnt how to tell good opal from bad opal, but unfortunately I didnt manage to find any and couldnt afford to buy any so dont go getting your hopes up for presents guys!!
Coober Pedy sign, Danger sign, Opal inside the walls
The last night in Parachilna (total population of 5 including pets) was very bizarre, with local entertainment of a guy and his guitar – very talented actually, and then one of the girls in our group getting up and singing with him, dancing on huge beer barrels outside and cracking a whip every now and again!
Sunset entertainment, population sign
Finally we crossed the border from the Northern Territory into South Australia.
It was weird driving into Adeleide and actually passing other cars on the road, seeing traffic lights again, and just being back in civilisation, its amazing how quickly you adapt to your surroundings. Adeleide was a continuation of chilling out for me, minus the early morning starts. I slept lots, ate lots, caught up on email and shopped lots. Needless to say I am now skinter than ever, but have a new camera and tattoo to show for it – necessities of course! Three nights here was definately enough!
Took the overnight greyhound bus (saving on a nights accommodation) to Melbourne, arriving 10 hours later very cold and tired – why is it I have no problem sleeping on a bus when I dont want to, but whenever I really want to sleep I cant!
Looking forward to exploring Melbourne as I have heard only great things……..
Aymi