We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

After completing our 6 day outback road trip, we took a day (16th December) to chill out and relax in the quiet city of Adelaide (mullet) capital of South Australia. Adelaide is a relaxed place, almost with a feel of Carlisle about it (i.e. the locals seem to be lagging by about 15 years in the fashion stakes, hence the proliferation of Mullets! Burnsy, you would like it here!), and we spent the day wandering aimlessly around the city. We took in the rehersal for that evenings Carols in the Park concert, and also sneaked into the Adelaide Oval Cricket Ground, to watch a few overs of the state game versus Western Australia (the steward clearly felt sorry for us POMs having watched England capitulate in such spectacular fashion at the same ground the previous week!).

The next morning (17th December) we set out early to pick up our hire car, and head out towards the small seaside town of Glenelg. We took a stroll along the beach and pier, before heading to the Rodney Fox Shark Museum. Rodney Fox is an (un)lucky guy who was mauled by a great white off South Australia about 20 years ago, and lived to tell the story, since then he has dedicated his life to researching and promoting the conservation of sharks. Despite scaring ourselves about the prospect of diving again when we head up the East Coast in January, we enjoyed the exhibits, and learned that during the filming of Jaws, they got a midget diver, in midget scuba gear, into a midget shark cage to film the underwater shots, hence making the shark look much bigger, ah, to be a midget, lucky little fella!

After leaving Glenelg, we set out for the Grampian National Park, and our first overnight stop of the trip before starting the ocean road proper the following day. As with most journeys in Oz, what looks like a short trip on the map soon turns into a marathon session along the quiet, straight roads, the sort of conditions conducive to speeding, that is if your name’s Charlotte! Clocked at a cool 119kmph we fought the law (not literally, dont worry Mum!) and the law won, resulting in a speeding ticket, still it makes an original souvenir from our trip!

We checked into our hostel late on in the National Park, and we struck gold, this YHA place was like a luxury hotel retreat, and all for $30 per night (about 12 of her majesty’s quid!). We ate outside that evening, surrounded by Kangeroos, Possums, and Enchindas (hedgehogs on steroids!), with litterally hundreds of Cockatus and Parrots flying overhead, fantastic!. The next morning we got up early and went for a walk in the national park, getting to the top of a nearby peak for sunrise. On our return to the hostel and a quick spot of breakie, we jumped back into the car for the eagerly anticipated GOR!

The Great Ocean road is loosly divided into 3 sections, in the order we were tackling it, we would experience the Shipwreck coast first, followed by the I Can’t remember coast and finally the Surf Coast. The Shipwreck coast is surprisingly named after the amount of ships that were taken off this stretch during the settlement of Victoria in the Gold Rush days. Here there are loads of rocky outcrops abandoned in the sea as the cliffs have retreated under the erosive powers of the ocean. The most famous of such outcrops is the 12 Apostels (think big marsden rocks!), although there are about half a dozen which are equally impressive, including ‘London Bridge’, the Arch, Loch Ard Gorge, and various blowholes.

We headed for our nights digs in the Otway national park, an area of temperate rainforest right next to the ocean, and the highlight of the ‘I cant remember’ coast. We went for an early evening stroll to chase some Kangeroos and became mystified as to why it sounded like there were pigs hanging out in the tree tops. We asked some locals what the noises were and they told us that this was Koala mating season, and the noises were actually the Koalas getting down to business. Sure enough, when we looked hard enough we manged to spot several wild Koala bears sitting around in the tree tops, one fella even had a wander down to the ground to stretch his legs and take up a position in the neighbouring tree, pretty cool!

The following morning a quick trip to a lighthouse on the Southern headland and we headed out for the final, and in our view the most scenic stretch of the drive, along the surf coast. This is how I had imagined the whole drive to be, with the road almost cut into the cliffs, following the contours of the Ocean. We stopped off for breakfast and lunch at small bays along the way (Apollo Bar, Lorne, Aireys Inlet) before getting to Bells Beach, a surfing mecca and the location for the final scenes of Point Break (the surfing film!). On the way there we heard on the radio that a surfer had been bitten the previous evening by a whaler shark, 100m off Bells Beach, and had been fortunate to survive, therefore perhaps it was not surprising that there was no one surfing the break when we visited. Still, I couldn’t resist the temptation to dip my toes in the water, and get the prize photo, hard as nails me like!

After unsucessfully shopping for a bargain at the surf outlet shops in Torquay, we headed up to Melbourne in the early evening, tired from the previous 10 days wanderings and beginning to really look forward to Christmas, still there was one more important thing to do in Melbourne on the 20th December, and that was to celebrate Charlotte’s Birthday, the most memorable day of our trip without doubt!

We left behind the ‘Red Centre’ having seen the sunset over Uluru on the 12th December. Having done lots of walking over the previous 3 days and getting up really early after 2 nights under the stars, there were some tired limbs that climbed back onto our minibus for the 500km trip south down the Stuart Highway (that of Falconio infamy) to our next stop, Coober Peddy.

During the drive we took in ‘Fooluru’ (aka Mt Connor), a rock very similar in shape to Uluru, but without the red glow and used by tour guides to trick people doing our tour in reverse (and consequently arriving here before the rock itself). After that it was pretty much head down and drive for 6 hours or so, watching the scenery change from bushy scrub land to barron desert, the only entertainment on route trying to dodge the numerous Kangaroos skipping into the road, and watching the less fortunate ones who hadn’t followed the green cross code being pulled apart by the massive, impressive wedge tailed eagles.

We arrived in Coober Peddy in the early evening, this place has to be one of the most bizarre places we have come across so far on our travels. It is the opal capital of the world, and the surrounding area is full of holes, and piles of rubble where people have dug exploratory mine shafts. There is some wierd agreement in place with the state government which means that each mine can only be owned by 1 individual, therefore keeping any large mining companies out of the area. In return, Coober Peddy is populated by colourful characters from around the world seeking their fortune from a lucky find. Due to the heat, and the number of holes in the ground, the people live underground in ‘dugouts’ made from converted mine shafts…..if that wasn’t strange enough, you could buy dynamite in the local Supermarket, and due to the loose nature of law enforcement in the area, the locals apparantley have the propensity to light the odd stick or two to settle any arguments! This place reminded us very much of the set of Mad Max, which is probably because it was the set of Mad Max! We took in a opel mine tour, before enjoying a pizza followed by a few beers at the underground bar before getting our head down in the underground backpackers!

The next day was another early start, and after a qucik visit to the local Police station to report the theft of a camera from our digs overnight, it was back on the Stuart Highway heading south to our next destination, on a local sheep station. On route we passed through the dingo fence, which keeps the ferrel dogs out of South Australia to enable sheep stations to operate. The sheep / cattle stations themselves are ridiculously big, the largest one we travelled across was roughly the same size as Belgium! We also stopped off at Lake Hart, a dried up inland salt lake used by the Aussie military for bombing practice. As we walked down to the lake to get a closer look we quickly realised why the tour group recommended closed shoes for walking, as the brains of the operation (a.k.a. Charlotte!) stubbed her big toe on a rock causing our first real injury of the tour to date, at least it justified carrying the medical kit around for the last 7 months!

The following morning, another 4.30am start and a short drive through the flinders ranges, we arrived at Wilpena Pound where we took in a hike up to the summit of Mt Ohlsen-Bagge. On route we saw looks of wild Emus, Red and Grey Roos and Rock Wallabies, the creatures over here are so much more interesting than back home! In the afternoon we stopped off at some Aboriginal rock painting sites and some more dreamtime stories from our knowledgeable guide, Mark. We then got back into the van for another marathon drive for our final overnight stop before Adelaide, a small outback town called Parachilna, population 5. The town consisted of a pub, a train station, an ‘overflow accomodation centre’ and about 4/5 houses for the residents. Our evening meal was an outback barbie, where we sampled such gourmet delights as camel sausages, emu burgers and Kangaroo steaks! After weighing up our options for evening entertainment, we decided on a night in the local pub, from where we took in the famous (apparantly) Parachilna sunset, and the local highlight of the evening, the freight train passing through town (all 250 carriages!).

The final leg of the trip saw us take in a winery visit in the flinders ranges (where the owner seemed partcularly put out by a bus load of backpackers turning up!) before cruising into Adeliade and the first sight of civilisation in six days! We checked into our digs before meeting up with the group for a final farewell meal and drinks.

The trip was a fantastic experience, and gave us a completely different perspective of Australia from that gleaned during our stay in Sydney. The shear size of central Australia is stagerring, and the environment has to be one of the most inhospitable on earth. The heat is baking (45+ most days) and with no relief from sunrise to sunset it is easy to imagine how tough it would be to survive here without the comforts of an air conditioned minibus and constant supply of cold water (although apparantly it is only the Poms who are daft enough to visit at this time of year!). The trip also gave us our first real insight into Aboriginal culture, a fact that is sad given we have been over here for nearly 3 months now and and in complete contrast with the integrated Maori culture in New Zealand.

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8th December 2006 Our time in Sydney is unfortunately coming to an end! Tomorrow we will don our backpacks once ... [Continue reading this entry]

4th December 2006 Thanks very much to all those who sponsored my mo! Together we raised a commendable $209 (about 3 pounds fifty sterling!), which I’m sure will be put to good use by the mofficial charities. I’m now ... [Continue reading this entry]