Alice Springs 2 of 2

Aside from the beginning and very end of our trip, where we had a couple hiccups, we had a great time in Alice Springs.

After we got our Wicked van we headed to the West of Alice Springs, out to the West McDonell Ranges. We stayed at a place called Ormiston Gorge. Since it is in the West McDonell Ranges National Park it was pretty cheap to camp there. It only costed us $6.60 per person for the night. Pretty good for a place that had gas barbecues and showers that we could use. The first night we got there, there was a mist over the top of the gorge. It was very rare especially for this time of year because Alice Springs is supposed to be very dry. I guess the past couple weeks they had actually gotten a little bit of rain which made some of the stuff green. The ranger there said we got lucky to see it the way it was and reiterated that it was rare for rain at this time of year. We'll take being lucky.

The second day we drove around the West McDonell Ranges and saw the sites it had to offer. We saw Glen Helen Gorge, where the 39th annual top end Folk Festival was going on and Simpsons Gap. At Simpson's Gap we saw Rock Wallabies on a huge rock pile and were able to get a couple feet away from them. They just stood there and stared us as interested in us as we were in them. Wallabies are just like kangaroos, look just like them, only they are a lot smaller - less than half the size. It was cool to see them hoping down the rocks from one to another, we were amazed at how they didn't fall or slip down the rocks.

(Rock Wallaby at Simpson's Gap)
& (Glen Helen Gorge)

From here it was a short drive back to Alice Springs were we stayed in a caravan park. As soon as we got to the store at the caravan park we bought a blanket. When we booked our first campervan, the one we ended up not getting, it was to come with blankets and sheets and warm stuff. The Wicked van we got didn't come with any of that except two pillows. Needless to say we froze at night. The flannel/fleece blanket wasn't that big but we needed everything we could find. Aside from putting every piece of clothing on before we went to bed the blanket helped a little. It did get down to 37 degrees a couple of the nights.

(Katy by our Wicked Van) & (Inside our Wicked van - at bedtime)

The next day it was up and on the road to Ayers Rock. It was a big drive, some 4 1/2 hour drive from Alice to Ayers Rock. Along the was there was really not much. It was just different scenery and vegetation than we were used to and something, with the red sand, than we have ever seen before. Along the way there were a couple places to stop and get gas. We stopped at a couple and drove through some other ones. Also, on the road we didn't see that many cars and when we did see a vehicle it seemed as though the drive always waved or just us a smile or something.

One place we stopped at, Erldudni, we stopped to get gas and tried to eat lunch. I say tried to eat lunch because as we sat down to have a sandwich at their picnic table we were bombarded with flies. I am talking one or two that would leave us alone, we had at least 6 in our face at one time. (the flies aren't the big flies we get back in Wisconsin they are the much smaller and much more annoying) You could kill them or shoo them away and more would just come back. We had to shake our shirts off before we got in the van, but even after doing this we still drug some flies in with us.

We made it to Ayers Rock Resort about an hour before sunset. We quickly checked in and headed into the national park so we could see the sun set on the worlds largest rock. The park fee at $25 a person to get in, which only lasted 3 days, was a little steep but I guess if it helps the upkeep and preservation of the park it was worth it.

We made it to the sunset viewing park about 25 minutes before the sun went down. We picked our spot and watched as the rock changed colors as the sun went down. Orange to pink to blue to a dark shade of purple, and asit was geIt was so cool to and we were able to get some great pictures as we just got our new canon camera the day before we left.

Once the sun was down it was back to the resort to cook dinner. The resort was quite big. We stayed in the campground part of it, but there were other parts the had hotel rooms, apartments and many different types of places you could stay at.

After a dinner we were headed back to the van and saw some people having a fire and asked if we could join. They said we could come over so we did. The people we met were two different groups that were sitting around the fire. One group was from around Melbourne. They had drive over from the state of Victoria and were going up through the middle of Australia up to the top end (up to Darwin). The other group was from Adelaide. They were doing the same thing. Going up through the middle up to the top end. Since they had a similar Itinerary they had met up the night before and were staying at the same place this night. It was fun to sit around the fire and listen to them and b.s. with them a little. They told some good jokes and we had a good time. As the night went on and it got later and later more and more people kept heading to bed. When it was about 12:30 we decided it was finally time to call it a night, but before we did we went to the lookout and saw Ayers Rock lit up by the full moon. It was really cool.

Also while we were sitting by the fire Katy spotted a dingo (and no it did "my baby") and we heard it when we were on the moonlight walk only a few hundred feet away. We tried to find it but it was gone. It was cool to see one in the wild, even though we could really only make out its silhouette, especially since it went right past our campfire.

In the morning we decided to get up to see the sunrise on the rock. It was a very early morning, but after a very cold night it was okay to get up and get moving. It was cool to see but we both agreed the sunset view was the best. From there we went over and started the climb. It was amazing but tough. Right away they had chains that you could hang on to as it was very steep and if you fell you would be done. Then once you got past a certain point the chains ended and you had to climb the rest of the way on your own. But at this point it wasn't as steep as you were on the top side of the rock. If you have fallen here it would have only been a couple feet a most and not totally off the side

We thought it was only going to take maybe an hour or so but it ended up taking a lot longer a couple hours. We did stop quite a bit and take in the scenery and took a couple breaks, we felt like we had to as we wanted to enjoy it as much as we could.

When we got back down to the bottom Katy kissed the ground as we were happy to be back down. Then it was over to the cultural center to learn about the aboriginals of the area and the rock. One thing we did see there was a sorry book about all the people that had taken a piece of the rock with them and wrote a letter to send the piece back and say sorry, and that since they had taken it a lot of bad things had happen to them. Needless to say as soon as we left the center we drove straight back to Ayers Rock and put the rock in make pocket back where it had come from.

After putting the rock back in its sacred place we headed over to the Olgas, another large rock formation. On the way there we saw 3 wild camels, it was cool. At the Olgas we did a walk, took some pictures and headed out. On the way out of the park we saw a huge mob of wild camels - 20 or 30. Did you know Australia has the largest population of wild camel in the world.

On the way back toward Alice Springs we decided to stay our first night at a place called Curtain Springs. Curtain Springs is a large cattle station - 1.2 million acres large. Here they had free camping with $2.50 showers. We stopped here to get gas - $1.88 a litre - the most expensive we have ever paid in Australia. We decided to stay here as the people we met around the camp fire the night before were going to stay here. We found ourselves around their fire again at night, b.s.ing again and having another good time.

The next day we headed to Kings Canyon. A big canyon with a long walk. It was very cool to see all the colors of the rocks and the big cliff faces.

(Katy at King's Canyon)

At night we drove back as far as we could toward Alice Springs and ended up having to stop due to darkness at a place called Stuart's Well (at night is when kangaroos are at the worst, in terms of driving, and we really did not want to hit one). Here they had free camping and we took advantage. Stuarts Well has Dinky the singing Dingo. This dingo would hop up on the keys of the piano and as he would move his paws along he would howl. He has been on international news shows and is a question in the 20th anniversary edition of Trivial Pursuit. It was really funny/neat to see him play and had a good time. Here we also got to try camel-had a camel burger-it was very good!

(Dinky doin his thing)

Then it was back to Alice Springs. During the day we walked up the main street with all the shops - Todd Mall and took a free Didgeridoo lesson. The lesson was cool and the guy who was showing us how to do it was amazing. He has been playing the didgeridoo for 20 years and showed us a couple cool things.

(Katy and I playing like pros - or trying to)

Before sunset we were off for our camel ride. Katy and I got to ride on Greyhound, an ex-racing camel. Marcus, our guide, asked us not to kick him. That would have been something if he would have took off running. On the camels we got to see kangaroos and had a good time. It is kind of like riding a horse, but the one humped camel is a lot taller and we sat much higher up off the ground. It was a pretty smooth ride. The camels at the place we went to were very healthy, not like the skinny ones you see in the states. One of them was absolutely massive with a hump that seemed to be just as big.

(Katy and I with Greyhound - he's even smiling for the picture)

After our ride we got some pictures and had the chance to feed them. They love their straw/hay.

After one more night sleeping in the cold we hopped a plane and headed back to Melbourne. It was a great trip and even though we spent a little more than we had originally planned we both said it was well worth it.