Hello again! Apologies for the long gap between blogs - we've been in the outback for the last week and only now that we're back in Sydney have we managed to log on.
We had a fantastic time exploring the Red Centre - it was certainly one of the highlights of our trip so far.
Our first stop was Coober Pedy, which is famous for its Opal mines. Its a small, desolate place in the middle of nowhere and felt very different to anywhere else we've been. Its got a bit of an "end of the world" feel to it, and has been used in films like Mad Max and Pitch Black - there were lots of abandoned movie props lying around. Most of the houses are underground or built into the side of hills to keep them cool, and during the day the streets were pretty empty as everyone tried their best to avoid the 45 degree heat. Although it certainly wasn't somewhere we would want to live it was a great place to visit, and the surrounding landscape was beautiful. We visited an opal mine / museum which was really interesting, although while my back was turned June managed to blow three weeks of our budget on a lovely opal ring! We've added some photos of the area to the South Australia set.
After Coober Pedy we carried on up the Stuart Highway to our next stop, Uluru. We were wondering whether it could live up to our expectations, but it really was a beautiful and magical sight. We visited the Rock at sunset and sunrise to see the shifting colours, and went on a very long hot walk around the base. We decided not to climb up it though as it was made pretty clear that the Aboriginals aren't keen on tourists trampling over their holy ground.
Right next door to Uluru are the Olgas, a collection of huge rocks that we went on another stunning walk through. Due to the excessive heat we had to do our walking in the morning - most people started about 6am, but as you may know we aren't really morning people and only got going at 8ish, meaning that we finished on our hands and knees at midday!
We shared a cabin in Uluru with a lovely Candian couple, Jessie and Dustin, who are doing a similar trip to us in the opposite direction, but who are made of tougher stuff than us, sleeping in tents in freezing temperatures, going for 3 day hikes in NZ and occasionally sleeping in their car. I tried to convince June this might be a good way to recoup some of the cost of the ring, but she wasn't having any of it!
After Uluru we drove on to Kings Canyon, another beautiful area of red rocks and scorching heat. Luckily the hotel we were staying at had a lovely pool, which we happily spent the afternoons floating in after the mornings' exertions.
Our final stop in the outback was Alice Springs, which wasn't at all how we had imagined it. Instead of being a desolate desert town it was a (relatively) pretty place with lots of greenery, surrounded by hills. We took a couple of interesting trips to the Royal Flying Doctor Service control station and the School of the Air, which broadcasts lessons to children living in remote areas by two way radio and web-conferences. We also went to the cinema a couple of times to escape the heat!
All in all we travelled 3000km in the week, and luckily didn't break down in the middle of nowhere or get attacked by wild dingoes / kangaroos / lizards. The worst we suffered was a cracked windscreen and a little bit of heat exhaustion! Our photos from Uluru, Kings Canyon and Alice are here.
Today is our last day in Australia before flying off the New Zealand tomorrow morning. We've had an incredible time here and have seen and done so much. Its a beautiful, friendly and fascinating country, and hopefully we'll be back again one day to try and visit the areas we missed this time.
Speak to you from NZ!
No comments:
Post a Comment