Alice Springs- 20th-22nd Dec

The desert Rose

I'd planned to have 1 day in Alice springs before taking a trip for 3 days overland to Darwin. However there'd been flooding on the main road and the trip was cancelled. No-one knew when the road would re-open and the only detour routes were likely to be worse so I booked a plane ticket instead. A bit ironic under sunny skies and in temperatures of 36C!

Some bushtucker

After a morning organising and planning I visited the Royal Flying Doctors museum and learnt about this service that can provide medical aid to anyone in Australia within just a few hours, no matter how remote. A massively important and reassuring service.

Next day a trip to the slightly out of town Desert Park with walking trails, avaries and lots of information about the different kinds of desert habitats- river, sand and woodland- set amongst the beautiful backdrop of the MacDonnell ranges. In the nocturnal habitats were some of the small marsupials, many endangered now due to feral cats (which having evolved in the desert of Africa originally have been reverting back towards wild cats for many decades now) including spiniflex mice who seem to exist on nothing!

On saturday, after a short walk up Anzac hill for the view and then recovering from the heat it was time to fly North to Darwin. (from the dry interior sauna to the tropical North steam-room!)

West MacDonnell ranges to Alice Springs-19th Dec

Finally we get a later start and everyone's brighter for it. We walk down into Redbank gorge nearby and swim, stop at another lookout and visit Glen Helen gorge for lunch. There's a few hippies about, finding nice spots for the end of the world.


 


It's a beautiful drive towards Alice springs, a place I never imagined in this setting. The sky's moody and interesting again and watching it go by, I reflect on this rather epic 10 day trip which has shown me some of the interior- and really far more than I imagined. There are huge spaces of dry deserts true but also lots of spaces filled with amazing things. Aboriginals survived here for thousands of years, Europeans often died here as they tried to explore the arid land, some searching for a vast inland sea which they never found.

I hadn't anticipated the different landscapes - my image of a desert really is sculpted sanddunes -but there are so many types of deserts- and they didn't seem devoid of life and they weren't always dry. We hadn't encountered any dangerous snakes or spiders but we'd had the heat and the flies. The harsh landscape engenders respect and awareness for the importance of precious water.

We have a final night together as a group in Alice, meeting up in a rather cleaner state than we are accustomed to seeing each other!

Kings Canyon- 18th Dec

Most of us awoke to slight rain the night. I simply pulled the swag canvas over my head and went back to sleep. By the time we left camp we were a little damp but the air was fresh from the rain and it was a pleasant temperature to set off on our walk up and around Kings Canyon.


Kings Canyon with it's spectacular colours and rugged rocks was my favourite place, despite the rather English weather we experienced there! A steep climb up before descending to waterholes in the Garden of Eden, up again the other side and across the Lost City; numerous weathered rock domes. I could have happily spent all day gazing at the gorge.


Lunch time shower again before heading towards the MacDonnell ranges, a rough drive but with stunning scenery and groups of brumbies (wild horses) and camels to spot. The camels are something of a problem, originally brought over by the Afghan cameliers they were never taken home again and now run wild in the desert to which they are well adapted (there are in fact more camels in Australia than the whole of the Arabian peninsula)


Before reaching camp at Redbank gorge we stop at a lookout- more spectacular panoramic views including across to Gosse Bluff- a huge, but eroded meteor crater. We're lucky, we've driven out of the rain and it's a dry final night's camping.

Kata Tjuta- 17th Dec.

It's early start again and unfortunately for me a peaceful night's rest was interupted by ants invading my swag. Like the flies they are another nuisance and despite best efforts to ensure we didn't place swags on their paths sometimes we still had problems. How did I know the ants were in my swag in the dark? Because they bite!

Another must see about 100km from Uluru, Kata Tjuta translates as "many heads". Once a monolith much larger than Uluru, weathering and erosive forces have given it the many domed shape that we see today. We explore along the Valley of the Winds path and although it's overcast it's beautiful and a welcome relief from the sun!


After lunch we drive East then North towards Kings Canyon, driving alongside the George gill range, spotting Wedge-tailed eagles, flocks of budgies and one large monitor. It's a beautiful drive under a moody sky. We make a bush camp in the George gill ranges and food again is cooked by fire.

Uluru- 16th Dec.

Next day started with a painful 4am start to watch the sunrise and Uluru light up. We head to the base whilst it's still cool and take a steady 3 hours to walk around. Whilst it's still possible to climb Uluru the local Aboriginal people ask that you don't because this is a sacred site to them (many people have died in the attempt as well.) It's a beautiful walk with waterholes and some ancient paintings in caves and with the rock changing shape and contrasting with the blue sky and green gum trees by the time we're finished it's intensely hot and increasingly deserted.


A visit to the visitor's centre for medicinal ice-cream and then to learn about the significance to the Anangu people. Uluru has double world heritage listing both for cultural significance and geological significance. Geological it's a monolith (put simply) resistant to erosive processes because of lack of joint and cracks, much of its bulk is underground, like an iceberg. Its's 348m high and 9.4 km diameter, the colour comes from the iron-containing minerals having oxidised.


We have another more restful afternoon, avoiding the heat and later go to a different spot to see the sunset. It's overcast towards Kata Tjuta but at the last minute the sun appears in a spectacular manner.

Oodnadatta towards Uluru- 14th and 15th Dec

No rain materialised but the truck needs some TLC, something important had broken, and we're stranded for a bit in Oodnadatta (a tiny one-street town) largely made from corrugated iron. Luckily there's an airconditioned pink roadhouse to relax in.

Unfortunately there's more bad luck ahead, 1/2 hour up the road an inner back tyre explodes and although our guide sets his personal best changing it in 30 minutes we've lost more time that can't be made up on the rough roads especially as more rain is expected to adversely affect the surfaces.

We camp at Marla and the loss of a bush camp is rather compensated by a welcome swimming pool.

Next day it's across the border to the Northern Territory and an hour back in time. We're in the land of red dust now. A distant glimpse of Uluru (Formerly known as Ayers Rock) before heading into Yulara, the resort built for Uluru National park. There's time to relax at our campsite, do some laundry and swim. Then as the sun starts to sink we drive into the park and find a spot to watch the sunset. As the sun sets opposite the rock the colours change- it really is beautiful. I'd been a little cynical about how special one big rock can be, that's the trouble often when you hear the hype and plan the trip. However on first sight I found I had a lump in my throat and was unable to look away. There was something, definately.

 

Coober Pedy and the Painted Desert - 14th Dec

Increasingly we were in the middle of nowhere: the outback, the desert. Us and the flies and not much else. So much space, so much emptiness. I still find it endlessly fascinating.





It was a warm night with a hot, dusty wind that sprang up for several hours prompting the use of the swag canvas over our heads to keep the dust out. Awakening at dawn soon the flies started again (they truly are solar powered) and it was on with the hat and fly net. Sunrise was beautiful behind the silhouetted water tower, and the Corellas were soon in chorus.

Breakfasted, we headed a little further up the Oodnadatta track through more scrubby cattle country, spotting brumbies (wild horses) galloping along- 2 adults and foal pursued, we thought, by a dingo though even the best cameras couldn't quite resolve this issue.

William Creek is a tiny town, a characterful pub and a caravan park, a couple of information boards. We had refreshments at the pub- partially built from railway sleepers from the old Ghan- roof and walls covered with business cards and "graffitti" from previous travellers.

 Continuing along the bumpiest section of the track yet we soon turn West towards Coober Pedy. The scenery is much the same, fascinatingly monotonus low scrub with occasional stunning vistas. Towards Coober there are piles of sand coloured earth; the spoil from Opal mining- and warning signs about falling down unmarked shafts.

Coober Pedy (from the aboriginal meaning "white man's burrow") is a town supplying most of the world's opal (first discovered in 1915) and largely built underground (by WWI ex-trenchmen) where the temperature year round is pleasantly cool. Mining is no-longer allowed in the town but locals continue to "extend" their houses- by the use of dynamite and discover a fair bit of Opal whilst adding 21 extra bedrooms! To quote The Rough Guide: "Coober Pedy is the most enduring symbol of harshness of Australia's outback an the determination of those who live there".

"Coober Pedy has a bit of a reputation as a rowdy township. This is not really surprising considering the extreme climate, alcohol problems, access to explosives and open mine shafts to fall down".



We took a tour of an opal mine built as a house originally and now a museum and shop. The front door at street level led inside the rock and immediately the soothing coolness replaced the burning sunlight. The walls are bare rock but it's not an ugly rock, the only problem: lack of windows. Below the living area, a series of tunnels. Once, all mining was done only by pick ax. Explosives and tunnelling machines replaced this but when a seam of opal is discovered it's back to the skillful pick ax action to remove the gem.


The Painted desert

Lunch time was a much needed shower before heading out into the desert again, crossing the dingo fence, a massively long structure built to keep dingoes out of sheep country in the South. NE of Coober Pedy we headed towards the painted desert. Here small peaks rose up their multicoloured streaks beautiful. The weather was coming though and from the lookout we can see a storm ahead, as we continue there are rainbows and puddles over the desert, the dirt road is softening and the truck is leaving rutts. Usually camp is made a little way off the road but with the worsening weather and the wind whipping up the dust an alternative plan is needed. A tumbleweed rolls rapidly over the road and we jump back in the truck escaping the intense wind. We spend the night in Oodnadatta itself, in a basic roadhouse, rolling our swags out under a shelter because ironically although Oodnadatta is the hottest and driest town in Australia, it looked like rain!

 

To The Oodnadatta Track and Lake Eyre-12th Dec

Or Vast Expanses, Billions of Flies and Intense Heat You Wouldn't Believe.

It had been a warm night in the gorge with a strong breeze that though warm made sleeping difficult. Up at 6 the sun soon started to hit the side of the gorge, beautiful again and the temperature just right. We continued the rest of the way through Brachina gorge stopping to see some approximately 500 million year old fossils then up to a lookout.

Out of the Flinders, back to the highway and up to Leigh Creek to refuel, then leaving the highway to continue North on the Oodnadatta track, one of the famous 4WD tracks running though the central region and following the path of the old Ghan. We made a brief stop at Farina, an old abandoned township where life sounded to have been really hard- when the railway was re-routed it was gradually abandoned.

The scenery is flat, the ground covered in dust and coarse, sparse, low vegetation-mostly clumps of spiniflex grass. Maree our lunch stop is another ex-Ghan town, with railway line and a few old engines still remaining.


At Lake Eyre South in early afternoon it is intensely hot, 40 odd degrees in the shade, except there us no shade  reallyexcept 1 small shelter of an information board that we park next to. We walk down towards the lake, the salt crust shimmering in the heat. My skin feels like it's frying despite the sunscreen, the heat radiating from all directions, bouncing and glaring. It's spectacular, yet deadly. We think about the pioneers. People who crossed this region on foot or on camel, facing the heat with none of our modern equipment and comforts.

Named for John Edward Eyre, the first European to see this lake, Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia, 15m below sea level and when it fills as it partially did in 2009 and 2010, the largest lake in Australia.


Past Lake Eyre and we bush camp at Anna Creek now the largest cattle station in the world with 6 million acres or 24 000 square kms. It's a beautiful setting but alas the flies! From day 1 the flies proved themselves a nuisance and we were grateful for the head nets, today is the worst and it's only as the light goes that we have relief. Australian flies are far more obnoxious than elsewhere, not content to land on you they're only happy when they're attempting to enter eyes or nose, ears or mouth. Dinner is cooked by fire tonight (we stopped and collected some old railway sleepers earlier!), kangaroo steak on a hotplate and potatoes and vegetables baked in the embers. The sun sets and millions of stars grace the skies.

Flinder Ranges- 11th Dec

Wilpena pound

Awake with the dawn and the shrieks of the corellas we head north, stop for our first puncture and tyre change and continue onto Kanyaka homestead- picturesque ruins of a cattle station built in the 1850s. The wonder isn't the ruins, the wonder is that anyone could live out here for any time in this harsh land; the outback is beginning, desert country.

We visit Yourambulla caves to see some Aboriginal painting. Then on through the Flinders ranges to Hawker and from there to Wilpena pound.

Wilpena Pound must be the most famous part of the Flinders Ranges national park. A natural amphitheatre 8 by 11km inside with peaks up to and above 1000m enclosing it. It was a hot walk in, we spotted a daddy Emu with chicks (the females don't really get involved) and kangaroos sheltering in the shade.

After lunch we drove through Bunyeroo gorge seeing spectacular Flinders Ranges scenery and continuing into Brachina gorge our bush camp for the night. A stunning spot where we spotted rare Yellow footed rock wallabies. 

Yellow footed rock wallaby

Razorback lookout, Flinders Ranges

The Journey begins again: Adelaide to the Southern Flinders Ranges (Mon 10th Dec)

I'm slightly sad to be leaving Adelaide, it had come to feel a bit like home after the weeks spent there. But I'm excited to see what lies North. As we drive out of the city flat plains give way to the undulating hills of the Yorke Penninsula but it's all a sunbleached, straw-coloured ground where the wheat has been harvested with just odd gum trees providing a flash of green, contrasting beautifully with the blue sky. A sliver of sea, our last look, is visible on the left as the Flinder ranges start to appear on the right. We see a few small salt lakes, shimmering white and crystalline, an occasional lurid pink patch where they're not completely dry: cyanobacteria doing their thing. A stop at Port Wakefield then continuing North where the Spencer Gulf ends at North Stirling and goodbye to the sea.

Into the Flinders ranges we take a short walk at Mambray in Mount Remarkable National park and see some lizards, euros (a smaller member of the kangaroo family) and emus in a big flock down below us in a field. Beautiful scenery and the greenest we're going to see for a while.

Another couple of hours drive North and we're in Quorn. This town was once a major rail centre on the Ghan railway (runs between Adelaide and Darwin) until it was re-routed. This will be first of a few towns that we visit along the old Ghan route and whose heyday has now passed. The original Ghan (first called the Afghan express after the Afghan camel drivers who helped build it) followed the route of the overland telegraph and also the route of John McDouall Stuart taken in 1862 when he crossed Australia. A route with reliable water for steam trains it was notorious for washouts and other problems so eventually shifted 160km West.

It's great to swag down under the stars, it's actually quite cool tonight and by dawn I'm chilly in my sleeping bag and swag- but that's the last time for sometime...

Working in Adelaide, Oct-Dec Part 2

 

 

Time always passes quite quickly when you're in a routine and working full time. There is some variety in the form of walks in the hills to the east of the city- beautiful areas of forest with trails running through. Lovely in the evening at the end of a hot day with the slanting warm hues skimming the branches. On one walk I spot 39 koalas, 3 kangaroos and a fox. A personal best for the Australian I was walking with too!

Adelaide does very well for wine, there's the Barossa which I'd visited before- where they make the Shiraz, the Mclaren vale and the cooler Adelaide Hills where they make my favourite: sauvignon blanc. I love the scenery of the vines, visiting the cellar doors and tasting, sometimes buying. My favourite wineries are small ones with a view of vineyards undulating over the hills, shady gum trees, rose bushes. A winery dog greeting the visitors and begging for leftovers from a winery lunch in the garden and then a wonderful cool interior where wine is treated tenderly and enthusiasts discuss the different flavours and tones in subtle or pretentious detail!

Travelling through the countryside when I first arrived back here it was nearly as green as England. But that was at the end of Winter. Soon the fields are straw-coloured, only the gums and the irrigated vines provide the green.

In mid-November they put the Christmas decorations up. This is very strange under a clear blue sky on a hot and sunny day but mostly I realise, after quite some time, because their backdrop is green leaves- there's less emphasis on lights too which given that on Christmas it'll be light until about 9pm makes sense.

But when I'm not working and not escaping into the hills or along the river I'm trying to plan the next bit of travel. As always it's the options that stall me, too many good ones! There's also a few things that need to be done whilst in one place for a while- tax docs, royal college registrations, travel insurance, Christmas shopping.

Now it's the start of December and with less that a week to go I'm nearly organised, ticking off the chores and looking forward to the next adventure- from Adelaide I go North, winding my way to Alice Springs over 10 days via Flinders ranges, Coober Pedy, Lake Ayre and Uluru. 10 days in the desert, next stop The Red Centre!