day 251 – today was hot, so i spent a lazy day in alice springs. i had an early coffee and talked to the owner of a didgeridoo store. the owner was a didj player and i got some advice from him. afterwards i got online, catching up on some chess games and had dinner. that night i watched a movie on the big outdoor screen. the yha was a converted open theatre and they still showed nightly movies. i packed (anticipating my early start) and got some sleep.
day 252 – i woke up at 4.30am, finished packing, had a little breakfast and checked out of the hostel. i was annoyed that the hostel kitchen didn’t open as early as i’d hoped … until i realised that i hadn’t set my time for the northern territory and was an hour ahead. i was annoyed that i could have got an extra hour’s sleep but happy that i still had time to get ready (it could have been worse, i could have been an hour behind!!).
i was picked up by the tour bus and we headed south. i was the only aussie on the trip (excluding the driver). we drove south and eventually reached our first destination – king’s canyon. the walk around the canyon was difficult due to the heat. the first part of the walk was up a fairly steep hill, but the rest was easy enough. we were all sweating and guzzling water. i had a good look around, took some photos and headed back to the bus.
in the evening we made camp at an open campsite. we all pitched swags under the stars. the tour concept was fairly simple – the guide organised everything, but we did most of the work. a few people unpacked swags, a few helped cook dinner, i took control of the fire and had a few helpers to keep the bonfire ablaze. even the guide was impressed by the fire. hehe, FIRE!!
i talked to a few different people in our group. there were two italian girls, three french guys, about five germans, and a mixed group of asians (two chinese malays, one japanese guy and a korean girl) … oh, there was also a young british guy, from bristol, who loved talking about football. after a long hot day we were all tired, so after dinner most of us crashed. it was nice to sleep under the stars and, being so far away from other buildings (light sources), the stars were very bright.
day 253 – we had another early start, heading straight for the olgas. it was another hot day. most of the group took the long trek through the hills, but i chose the short trek and got back early. i talked with the guide while we waited for everyone else to return. afterwards, we moved to another camp site. this one was near uluru and had a toilet and shower building. the group took the afternoon off, most people grabbing a shower or going for a swim in the small pool.
in the late arvo, we went to uluru for our first close up look at the monolith. the first bit of time was spent looking around the cultural centre near the rock. i bought a niftly little water bottle holder with an indigenous print on it. i also looked at the paintings, dumbstruck at the enormous prices (some artworks were valued over $10,000).
after that, we walked a short course around the front of uluru. we looked at some caves and grottos that aboriginals used for ceremonies. then we all went back to the bus to go to the sunset viewing point. the viewing point had a good view of the rock and we enjoyed watching the sunset. we had dinner there and grumbled about the number of busloads of tourists which arrived after us. one big bus full of chinese tourists came and the all disembarked noisily. they yelled and shouted to each other, taking photos and being generally annoying. their tour organisers set up enormous tables with champagne (including expensive champagne glasses) and other foods. there were so many that they pushed into the area that we’d taken, pushing and jostling for the best ‘view’ and photos. there was plenty of space, but they weren’t happy with the space that they had, so they came and stood in front of us. i had my tripod set up and i kept expecting someone to knock it over. a woman looked like she was going to move my tripod so that she could take the space, but looking at us, she thought better of it.
they all left quickly, but we stayed and enjoyed the last splash of light, waiting until dark before we left. our group returned to camp to settle in for a night around the bonfire (my speciality).
day 254 – for the third straight morning, i got up early and we headed to the viewing point for an uluru sunrise. most people went to the ‘sunrise’ point, but we returned to the sunset point which we’d been to the day before. it was a good idea. although it was the same place, we got to see the sun rise behind the rock, creating a cool silhouette. we enjoyed breakfast there and headed into the uluru grounds for a walk around the rock.
most mornings, the walking path ascending the rock is open. it’s free to climb ulur if the trail is open. the previous day and in the morning, the guide had harped on about how insensitive it was to climb the rock. historically, indigenous australians never actually climbed uluru. they revered it and only stayed at its base. he said it would be disrespectful and also mentioned that people do get killed occasionally when they fall on the steep path. when we arrived, we had the choice to climb uluru or just walk around it … however, as luck would have it, there was no climbing the rock on the day we were there. if the wind is too strong or the morning temperature is too high, the climb is suspended to prevent accidents. the climb will eventually be closed permanently, but it seems that the government (who control the climb, despite the fact that aboriginals control uluru) is reluctant to stop climbs, for fear of losing tourist dollars.
so, our only option was to walk around the rock. the british guy and i set the pace, walking the circumference of uluru, taking photos and talking about football.
that signalled the end of the rock tour, and we headed back towards alice springs. on the way, we stopped for a break at a camel station. some of the group did short camel rides. i took photos. returning to alice springs, the driver dropped me at the train station (along with one of the french tourists) so that we would be on time for our trip to darwin.
the alice springs to darwin train is called “the ghan”. it’s an arabic word (i think) and is a hommage to the camel trains that used to ply the tracks between alice and darwin, following the route which was also used for telegraph lines. when australia was an explorer’s wet dream, most adventurers quickly realised that horses weren’t suited to the heat and desert. so camels were imported for their ability to survive the outback. camels quickly became popular and enormous numbers were introduced. many became wild and over the course of about 150 years, wild camel numbers grew to reach a million. so, interestingly, even though camels are not native to australia, we have one of the largest camel populations in the world.
on the train i had a ‘first’ … i was still dirty and stinky from the two day uluru tour. however, our carriage had two showers and for the first time ever, i had a shower on a train. then i headed to the dining carriage for my usual beer fueled train trek. it’s become a bit of a tradition for me to get into the piss on long train trips. me, the french guy from my tour and two funny germans got stuck into the beer and put away quite a lot of it. we drank into the late evening, getting rather pissy and talking about everything from german football, linux (one of the germans was a programmer) and african economics (wtf??).
day 255 – nursing a small hangover, i had breakfast with the germans in the dining carriage. at midday the train stopped in the small town of katherine. there were tours to katherine gorge and other places, but i chose to walk around the township. then i caught the bus to a homestead which was the meeting point for those returning to the train. i talked to a belgian guy who is a teacher near brussels. we had a great conversation about education and it has put belgium on my list of possible teaching destinations (partly because the work is good there and partly because houses are surprisingly cheap to buy).
back on the train, it was only a few more hours to darwin. i got a city bus to my couchsurfing host’s house. the people i stayed with were, without a doubt, hippies. my host’s name was ‘noodle’ due to his height and gangly appearance. they were fun people. they had an open house, a lot of marijuana, and i slept on a mattress in the front room. at first i was doubtful about my decision to stay there, but it turned out really well. i had a shower, started reading ‘atlas shrugged’, talked with my hosts, smoked some pot and got some sleep.
