March 6 (Entry #12)

Posted by Howard Simpson at 3/8/2008 1:17 AM
Categories: uncategorized
So much for the expected blog entry of: "Today I laid on the beach in the sun all day..."

A combination of realizing how little time I have in Australia (due to extra time spent in Fiji and New Zealand, and leaving a few days earlier than planned to meet a friend in Thailand) and how many different things I wanted to do, lead me to schedule out pretty much every second of my trip here.  It's not really how I wanted to travel in Australia, but decided it was better to do it this way and not miss something than to be lazy, not book something soon enough or realize the timing doesn't work because I spent the day on the beach instead.

The first part of my scheduled trip takes me inland.  I opted to do a seven-day trip to the center of Australia to see Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock, formerly Uluru).  I know this is cutting a lot of well deserved time from places like Byron Bay, Melbourne, and Sydney, but the eastern coast has been getting hit with a lot of rain and after New Zealand I was done with rain.  Plus, I know when I come back to Australia I will travel the coast, but will I do a week long camping outback trip?  I think not...
So I "did" Melbourne in just a few hours and then caught a plane to Adelaide.  The first day was mostly a drive day and an introduction to the outback.  The second day we reached the Oodnadatta Track, driving all day on only dirt roads, watching the sand turn brown to red. We ended in William Creek, a city with a population of six.  They do have a pub though, where we had a few drinks and I met the local pilot who a few people and I hired to take us flying in the morning...because where else in a city of six would you look for a qualified  
pilot...  The next morning he took us flying over the "Painted Mountains."  It is very common to fly over this area, but there are no roads of any kind going there, so most of what we saw has never actually been stepped on by man (or at least that was the pilot's selling point).  And everything we saw was just amazing in color.

  The next stop on the way to Uluru was Coober Pedy, an opal mining town.  This town was unique because the miners discovered it was cooler (in the temperature sense, not in the quality of someone or something sense) to sleep in the mines than in their homes, leading to now everyone living in homes underground.  These homes were actually semi-impressive, coming fully equipped with all the amenities you expect in most homes (except natural lighting).  We
even went out that night to a bar that was tunneled into a mountain.

 After a full day of driving, including a three hour pit stop because our trailer broke down, we made it to our campsite outside Uluru!  The next morning it was a 4:30 wake up to catch the sunrise as it hit the Rock!  It was pretty impressive to see the color of the rock change with every passing second, as you will be able to see by my multiple pictures.
Uluru is Aboriginal sacred land and they prefer you not to climb it, but people still do.  Our bus was split as to whether we should climb it or not.  In the end, it didn't matter because the climb was closed due to high wind.  Instead we did the 9km circumference walk.  This allowed me to really grasp how big this rock was as it took three hours in the 100 plus degree weather to circle it.  That night we were back at the rock to see the sunset.  Talk about full circle.  

We did two more really good hikes in the area, Tjukurpa and Kings Canyon.  Both had varying landscapes and great scenery and allowed us to learn more about the Aboriginal people and how they used to survive on the land.

Finally, the seven day voyage ended at the booming metropolis of Alice Springs.  It may be only 20,000 people big, but it is the main city in the center of Australia and provided me with my first chance at consistent internet and phone reception in over a week.  In addition, it was only 94 degrees in Alice Springs, which seemed freezing compared to the heat I had while hiking.

In the end I am pretty happy about choosing to do the trip.  I got to see the outback, see the famous Uluru, and I had completely clear skies the whole week while it was raining on the coast.  Tonight I flew to Cairns to experience the Great Barrier Reef.  I am only here for a day though before I rush off to continue the rest of my Australian adventure. 

Click here to see the many colors of the desert.
 

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