Day
133 - 16th April
This
morning we headed out into the suburbs of Melbourne to pick up our
relocation van. These vans are a great deal – you drive them back
to the depot after someone's done a one-way rental and it only costs
a few dollars a day to hire, plus ours came with $250 of free fuel,
making the van better than free to hire! We drove south of Melbourne
to the Great Ocean Road, where we plan to spend a few days. We
stopped for lunch at Torquay, supposedly the surf capital of
Australia, but sadly we had no time for a surf and tide was going out
anyway. The beach was beautiful and we had a great view as we ate
our sandwiches We drove on through Anglesea, and stopped at Split
Point Lighthouse, which was the lighthouse used in the kid's TV
programme Round the Twist! We stopped at Kennett River and walked up
Gray River Road, which is a great place for spotting wildlife. We
saw loads of parakeets, which were only too happy to be fed from our
hands, as well as our first koalas. There were three just sitting
low in the trees along the road, either sleeping or eating, two of
them close enough to touch, although they didn't seem at all bothered
by us. We drove on to the small town of Apollo Bay to camp for the
night.
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| Feeding the parakeets |
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| Our first koala |
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| Look! It's the lighthouse from Round the Twist! |
Day
134 - 17th April
We
got up early and went for a walk in the forest at Maits Rest, a very
old forest full of towering eucalyptus, huge myrtle beeches and tree
ferns. We drove on to Cape Otway for breakfast but couldn't get
close to the sea so had breakfast in the carpark instead. Cape Otway
has a lighthouse than you can visit but we chose not to go to the
lighthouse and so moved on. On the road back up to the Great Ocean
Road the Koalas had obviously woken up and the trees were full of
them. We headed on to Melba Gully for another rainforest walk
through a wide gully, and stopped at a small waterfall. The walk
took us up to the Big Tree, a major attraction, according to all the
signs. Unfortunately it had fallen down in 2009 so was now just a
big stump! The next section of our journey was spectacular, as we
followed the road along the famous shipwreck coast. We walked down
to the beach at Gibson Steps, to a beautiful sandy beach with sheer
cliffs, huge crashing waves and two stacks just off the shore. We
had a lot of fun on the beach walking along in the waves along the
shore and had lunch in the carpark. We then drove onto the Twelve
Apostles, the area's most famous set of rock formations. The
apostles are a series of stacks, just off shore, although not all 12
remain. Although a major tourist destination it wasn't too crowded
when we were there and the views from the platforms out across the
coast were fantastic. Our next stop was Loch Ard Gorge, named after
a British ship that sank there, and which we thought was more
spectacular than the 12 apostles, with a collection of arches,
stacks, blow holes, deep coves and a beautiful long outcrop of rock
called Razor Rock as it's top is thin and sharp. We drove to London
Bridge, a formation with 2 arches, one of which has indeed fallen
down and then onto the Bay of Martyrs and Bay of Islands, both of
which afforded beautiful views of this magical coastline.
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| The beach at Gibson Steps |
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| Some of the Twelve Apostles |
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| Razor rock |
Having had
our fill of waves, caves, gorges and stacks, we stopped in at Tower
Hill reserve near sunset. The reserve is free to enter and is home
to hundreds of kangaroos, and we were able to get really close to
them as they nibbled their way through the grassy fields. We also
saw black swans on the lake, and emus in the carpark, (we fed them
rice cakes, which they seemed to enjoy!) We camped for the night at
Port Fairy, a small town on the coast near Warrnambool, at the end of
the Great Ocean Road. What a spectacular journey!
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| Jon makes a friend |
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| Kangaroos at Tower Hill |
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| Kangaroo |
Day
135 - 18th April
This
morning we drove north to the Grampians National Park. The morning
was hazy and the mountains of the Grampians seemed to rise suddenly
out of the flat plains. Driving up the road to Halls Gap in the
centre of the park, we saw two wallabies sitting along the side of
the road, one more animal checked off our list! Our first stop was
Brambuk cultural centre, where we learnt all about the Aboriginal
people of Victoria and South Australia, the persecution they suffered
at the hands of the white people, and how they are beginning to
regain control and ownership of their ancestral lands. Feeling
inspired after our visit and with a new-found appreciation for the
surrounding landscape, we set off on an afternoon walk through the
Grand Canyon in the heart of the park. The 4km walk took us through
the canyon, which was steep and narrow, with crazy rounded rocks all
up the walls and along the top. Once out of the canyon we walked
through gum forest and up a steep track, through more crazy rocks, to
the Pinnacle lookout, with spectacular views over the park. We
stopped for lunch at the top before making our way back down. We
then drove to another lookout and to McKenzie Falls, which was the
walk we had originally intended to do. Unfortunately the Grampians
were hit by a huge storm in 2011 and some parts are still closed,
including the McKenzie river walk, but we were still able to walk
from the carpark to a view point to see the falls. We drove on to
the northern end of the park, with Kangaroos and emus running out in
front of the car left right and centre. Our last stop was the
Ngamadjidj Aboriginal art shelter where small white figure can be
seen painted onto the rock. We spent the night camping in the bush
with cockatoos squawking all around us and and wallabies hopping
happily through the campsite. The sunset over the mountains was
beautiful and we went to sleep with the sounds of the bush in our
ears.
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| The Grampians |
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| The Pinnacle |
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| Grand Canyon |
Day
136 - 19th April
Having
taken our time over the last three days in order to make the most of
the Great Ocean Rad and Grampians, we now had some driving to do.
Today was a long driving day – 800km to our destination of Port
Augusta, north of Adelaide. We were up at 6:00 and reached Adelaide
at around 1:00 but didn't have time to stop so had to make do with an
impromptu city tour thanks to the lack of maps and confusing one-way
systems that hampered our attempts to get to the other side of it!
We camped for the night at Port Augusta, arriving at around 5:00pm,
and had a well-earned beer and a dip in the pool.
Day
137 - 20th April
We
had another long drive today to Coober Pedy, around 540km north of
Port Augusta. We entered the outback, only to find that, after
three successive wet years the famous red centre is now very very
green! The land on either side of the road was covered in grasses ,
small shrubs and desert oak trees, giving the impression of a verdant
plain, although if you look closely you can still see that the ground
between the plants is red sand, not earth. We drove past huge salt
lakes, and dried up lakes and rivers and the land here was totally
wild and empty, with no agriculture or settlements visible at all.
We stopped for an hour or two at Woomera, a former joint
UK/Australian missile testing range, where Jon was in his element
rocket-spotting. We arrived Coober Pedy late afternoon, very hot and
covered in flies. Coober Pedy is an opal mining town that sprang up
in the middle of the desert in the early 20th century and is quite a crazy place. There is no fresh water, it
comes from an underground source and has to be desalinated, no plants
can grow and the residents live in underground houses as the heat in
summer is so intense. Most of the areas around town are pits and
piles of red dirt from the mines, giving the whole area a
post-apocalyptic quality. We settled into our campsite and made
plans to explore the town tomorrow morning.
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| Woomera |
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| The long road |
Day
138 - 21st April
This
morning we had a lie in! The weather had changed from yesterday's
heat and today was a cool, cloudy day with rain... in the desert! We
spent the morning in Coober Pedy, where we went to the underground
Serbian church, which has been carved out of the rock, complete with
carved vaulted ceiling, the Big Winch, which doesn't seem to do
anything but has good views of the town, and the Old Timers Mine
museum. At the museum we were able to go wandering around a mine
that was dug in 1914 and then closed until the 1980s, when the
present owner discovered it trying to extend his underground house.
It was really interesting and gave a great insight into the origins
of the town and the lives of the miners. After our tour we tried our
hand at noodling for opals in the pit outside, but came away with
only a few pretty stones. We drove onto the Northern Territory
border, which had free camping for the night, passing dingos and cows
in road as we drove.
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| Serbian underground church |
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| Coober Pedy |
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| Down the mine |
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| Noodling for opals |
Day
140 - 22nd April
Today
we drove our final 300km to Alice Springs, and it rained all day.
Once there we checked into a hostel, which was a cool place with very
friendly owner called Wayne. We were just having a quick lunch and a
cuppa when Wayne cam into the kitchen and said he'd got two places
for us on tomorrow's three day tour to Uluru, at the bargain price of
2 for 1, if we wanted them. We obviously jumped at the chance, so
found ourselves all sorted for our time in the area by before lunch
was over. We dropped the van off and walked back to the hostel
through Alice, which seems like your average small town, with not
much to see but set in some beautiful scenery. Here and in Coober
Pedy we saw the only Aboriginal people of our trip so far, the towns
seem to have large communities but sadly they seem to be mostly out
of work and sitting around on the streets. We spent the rest of the
evening chilling at hostel, and went out to get pizza for dinner.
Walking through Alice is pretty dodgy at night, with lots of people
hanging round on the street corners, asking for money, so we didn't
stay out. We had an early night in preparation for early start
tomorrow.
Day
141 - 23rd April
We
were up at 5:00am ready to be picked up at 6:00 to start our three
day Rock the Centre tour with Adventure Tours Australia. There were
22 people in our group including us, around half of them from Korea
and Japan and the rest from the UK and Europe. Our guide, Simon, was
really friendly and knowledgeable and we enjoyed chatting to him as
we drove the 450km to Kings Canyon, our destination for today. After
lunch at our camp in the bush, we drove to Kings Canyon for a 6km
walk. It had been raining since yesterday, and although it wasn't
heavy, we still needed our waterproofs for the walk – not quite
what we'd all expected coming to the outback! Kings Canyon is wide
and deep and formed of sandstone layers, which have eroded away to
give some spectacular rock stacks and domes. Our walk took us up to
the top of the canyon, through the incredible Lost City, an area of
high domes and pillars, down to the Garden of Eden at the base of the
canyon, which was full of eucalyptus trees, ferns and waterholes, and
back up along the top of the canyon. The views were incredible,
despite the rain, and we learnt a lot about the plants and how the
canyon was formed. We didn't know anything about Kings Canyon before
we came but we had a fantastic day exploring it. This evening we had
spaghetti for dinner before sitting round the campfire (the rain had
eased by this time and helpfully stopped just before we went to bed).
We spent the night sleeping under the skies in a swag (an Aussie
bedroll, which was remarkably comfortable), and just to top off a
great day, the stars came out as we were drifting off to sleep.
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| Kings Canyon |
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| Kings Canyon |
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| Kings Canyon |
Day
142 - 24th April
We
were up at 6:00 this morning, which was still dark, but a cup of tea
and breakfast helped wake us up. Yesterday's rain was a distant
memory and the sun warmed us up as we drove to Uluru, stopping for a
view of Mount Conner along the way. Apparently many tourists think
Mount Conner is Uluru and take loads of pictures of it before getting
to Uluru itself. Our first glimpse of Uluru was incredible and we
both felt it looked different to how we were expecting – more
rounded and shapely than it appears in the pictures. We went to the
cultural centre to learn about the traditions and customs of the
local Anangu people, as well as the significance of the rock to them,
including some of the creation stories associated with it. After
that we took a short walk with our guide to look at some of the
plants around the base and explore some specific features of the rock
that are used by the Anangu people. We then walked around the base
of Uluru, which gave us a great up-close look at this amazing rock.
As it had been raining for the past few days there were still some
waterfalls running down the sides and water in the small streams at
the base, which was pretty incredible to see. You can really see the
structure of the sandstone up close, the surface is cracked and the
whole rock curves in and out as you walk round its base. After our
walk we went to the sunset viewing area and our guide showed us a
place we could go where there would be no other people. He was right
and watching quietly as the rock burned bright red in the setting sun
before turning dark is something that I'll remember forever. The
beautiful view of the sun setting next to the Olgas, behind us, gave
us a glimpse of what tomorrow will hold. Tonight we camped at a
slightly larger site near Uluru, once again under the stars in our
swags.
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| Uluru |
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| Uluru |
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| Uluru sunset |
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| Sunset over the Olgas |
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| Sleeping in my swag |
Day
143 - 25th April
Another
early morning today as we were up at 5:00 to catch sunrise at Uluru.
Although it was tough to be up so early, the sunrise was beautiful
and definitely worth it. We went for a morning 7.4km walk at Kata
Tjuta (the Olgas), a group of red rocky domes near to Uluru. Like
Uluru they were pushed up during the formation of the Peterman
Ranges, but unlike Uluru they are made of a conglomerate rather than
sandstone. In places you can see that the rocks are in fact made up
of lots of smaller rounded rocks all held together. The walk was
fantastic, although we discovered that the Valley of the Winds is
very aptly named! We walked through the narrow gorges and valleys
between the domes and out through some lovely gum forest. On the way
round we saw a small kangaroo, who didn't seem to mind our presence
at all. After our walk it was back to the camp for lunch before
dropping some of the group at Ayers Rock airport on the way back to
Alice. It was a long 450km drive back and we all caught up on some
much-needed sleep. Back at the hostel, we had to make do with toast
for dinner as it was ANZAC day and all the shops had closed by the
time we got back.
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| Sunrise at Uluru |
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| Kata Tjuta / The Olgas |
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| Kata Tjuta |
Day
144 - 26th April
We
spent today relaxing at the hostel after a good night's rest, trying
(and failing) to book another relocation van to drive to Darwin.
Maybe tomorrow will bring more luck, or maybe we'll have to give in
and fly up.
