“Leave town, in 200km turn right, another 250km down the road and you’re there. You can’t miss it”
After a sleepless 24 hours we left CP and headed into the Northern Territory (ok, we go north, and it’s ANOTHER time zone?!) for the town of Alice Springs, or Alice.
Hours of endless yellow sand, red sand, scrub, trees and dead kangaroos pass and we are now at the only place in the country that can boast being closest to all of Australia’s beaches. Never mind that the closest is 1500km away.
Alice is the site of a former telegraph station, and it’s small town centre (about 5 blocks, and yes I managed to get lost) now mainly serves the overland driving crowd who stop off for a break and to restock supplies.
It’s also here that the homeless aboriginal community is most obvious. Like drunk tramps at home, they wander round town listless with expressionless faces. It’s sad how it all happened (though some of them are not the result of being made homeless by European settlers, but have been out cast from their communities for breaking laws, such as the strict kinship laws- I won’t explain now it takes a lot of time and effort, a piece of paper and lots of numbers!). Unfortunately, for most of us this is the only impression we get of the original inhabitants of this land.
So the three of us who met in Coober Pedy, donning our stupid straw hats, are going to embark on our road trip to see the Rock- driving instructions as given in the title!
It was a long way there, and a hard four days as you have to do everything early in the morning as trails and walks are closed from mid morning when temperatures are well into the 40s. But worth it.
We arrive at Uluru (the correct name for Ayers Rock) in time for sunset the first evening, having driven for five dull hours through the monotonous desert. Still with the automatic there was the handy cruise control button meaning you could quite literally put your feet up. There really is just the one turning you have to make, and the 4 trailer road trains are about all there is that is different to look at! Sunset is nice, but spoiled by the low clouds. However next morning, we wake at 4.30am and drive to see sunrise which is more impressive. There’s a long gap between it getting light and the sun actually rising above the plains. In this period we hear the classic comment, “this is like watching paint dry. Why did we have to get up early for this”. Coming from a middle aged woman she should really have known better, but then she was American and not helping propogate their image as international tourists.
As the sun started making the rock glow, the shadows move across the surface and it’s all very spectacular. I lost my temper with the Italians who crossed the fence to have their photos taken. It was along the lines of “I didn’t get up this early for muppets like you to spoil the view”, but with a few more choice words added. You’re asked not to climb the rock as it offends the traditional owners- no chance of that anyway, it’s over 36 degrees and only 8am.
We walk to the base for a closer look, and then hair tail it over to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) which are actually more impressive to look at. Their name means many heads and their are 36 weathered domes to wander through and around. By the time we finish the trail they have closed the walk due to extreme temperatures.
All finished here, we head out of the park to the Wattakara NP, home to Kings Canyon in the George Gill mountain range. Next morning we walk around the canyon rim, it’s very deep and impressive, and the river that carved it out is older than the one which carved the Grand Canyon. It’s all sandstone, scraggy trees and an ancient area of cicadas called the Garden of Eden. It’s really hot, but at least the strong wind makes it more pleasant, though not too safe near some of the exposed drops!
No rest for the wicked, we head back toward Alice to the West McDonnell ranges where we spend the day choosing the best waterhole to relax by, stopping off to see Dinky the Dingo playing the piano and singing. Seriously, I told you the outback was a strange place!
So I got to do my roadtrip, sleep out under the stars in the bush (whilst keeping a wary out for thieving dingoes) and see the Rock. I couldn’t really have come all this way from home and not seen it, could I? A day relaxing by the pool at Annies Place (purple and yellow, you can’t miss it) before doing another long bus ride. This must be the World Tour record: tonight it’s going to be 22hours straight through to Darwin, at the Top End.
Tags: Travel
Nick