Melbourne to Alice road trip, and marvelling at big rocks

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.

Feeding the parakeets

Our first koala

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. 

The beach at Gibson Steps

Some of the Twelve Apostles

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!

Jon makes a friend

Kangaroos at Tower Hill

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.

The Grampians

The Pinnacle

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.

Woomera

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.

Serbian underground church

Coober Pedy

Down the mine

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.

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon

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.

Uluru

Uluru

Uluru sunset

Sunset over the Olgas

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.

Sunrise at Uluru

Kata Tjuta / The Olgas

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.