As previously mentioned, we had a couple of days to kill in Alice Springs before we headed down on the first leg of the trip to Adelaide. Now, to me the name Alice Springs makes me think of a lush desert oasis plopped right in the middle of the Red Centre… I was wrong… like the rest of the area it was hot and dusty… oh well! I guess it being so close to the geographical centre of Australia should have been a bit of a giveaway! After an evening of settling in to the YHA and partaking in a few drinks at a bed-bug ridden hostel we managed to escape, nice work Amy, we turned in for a well earned lie in!
Now, for the past 6 days or so we’d been living off cereal and sandwiches, so as you can imagine we were ready for some decent tucker and a good coffee! So in that spirit we decided to spend the day not as backpackers, but as flashpackers! So the next morning we sat ourselves down for breakfast at the best looking eatery we could find, and indulged in Eggs Benedict with smoked Salmon, fresh orange juice and one of the most gratefully received cappuccinos I’ve had in a long time! We relaxed chatted and gossiped for a good couple of hours before having a wander around the bustling (!!) centre of Alice Springs. We trawled every Didgeridoo shop we could find in the hope that Kat could find… the one… we failed. We browsed in a place that was not for browsing (You had to be there!), and I spent money I couldn’t really afford on a hat I’m not likely to wear again until I’m next in a desert… or perhaps on a ranch! It was an enjoyable stroll none the less, and along the way we got to learn a bit about the Opal industry that this part of Australia is so well known for.
4 of us had decided that we had to find a way of seeing the landscape around Alice Springs at its best, so naturally the sensible answer was to go on an hour long tour on the back of an animal that actually looks a bit out of place here, but is the best mode of desert transport… a Camel! So we spent the last hour of sunlight being carried across desert and scrub by our lumbering beast, it offered some pretty stunning views as the sun descended over the horizon (Pictures to be uploaded one day!). It was then time to slope back to the hostel to tidy ourselves up for one last knees up as sadly we were not all on the same tours out of Alice, and not all of us would venture on to Day 9 of the Adventure Tours Bus. We had a great meal out, and then went for a boogie that sadly ended prematurely, and without the tune that had become a bit of an anthem.
After getting up early to say goodbye to those that were leaving us… and after our rapid return to our beds after we’d said goodbye… we had a quiet day, with another wander around Alice and a conversation that led me to ask the rather poignant question… what about Kat though? (Again… you had to be there!). We caught up on a bit of laundry and checked our emails, before turning in for an early start. I don’t think Alice is somewhere that’ll stick in my mind, just the people I was with. It’s a bit of a ghost town that is really only a gateway to the Red Centre and the attractions, both natural and manmade, that you find there.
Well, I think that’s it for now… more catching-up will appear very soon, and you never know this might be up to date by the time I come home!!!
Now, for the past 6 days or so we’d been living off cereal and sandwiches, so as you can imagine we were ready for some decent tucker and a good coffee! So in that spirit we decided to spend the day not as backpackers, but as flashpackers! So the next morning we sat ourselves down for breakfast at the best looking eatery we could find, and indulged in Eggs Benedict with smoked Salmon, fresh orange juice and one of the most gratefully received cappuccinos I’ve had in a long time! We relaxed chatted and gossiped for a good couple of hours before having a wander around the bustling (!!) centre of Alice Springs. We trawled every Didgeridoo shop we could find in the hope that Kat could find… the one… we failed. We browsed in a place that was not for browsing (You had to be there!), and I spent money I couldn’t really afford on a hat I’m not likely to wear again until I’m next in a desert… or perhaps on a ranch! It was an enjoyable stroll none the less, and along the way we got to learn a bit about the Opal industry that this part of Australia is so well known for.
4 of us had decided that we had to find a way of seeing the landscape around Alice Springs at its best, so naturally the sensible answer was to go on an hour long tour on the back of an animal that actually looks a bit out of place here, but is the best mode of desert transport… a Camel! So we spent the last hour of sunlight being carried across desert and scrub by our lumbering beast, it offered some pretty stunning views as the sun descended over the horizon (Pictures to be uploaded one day!). It was then time to slope back to the hostel to tidy ourselves up for one last knees up as sadly we were not all on the same tours out of Alice, and not all of us would venture on to Day 9 of the Adventure Tours Bus. We had a great meal out, and then went for a boogie that sadly ended prematurely, and without the tune that had become a bit of an anthem.
After getting up early to say goodbye to those that were leaving us… and after our rapid return to our beds after we’d said goodbye… we had a quiet day, with another wander around Alice and a conversation that led me to ask the rather poignant question… what about Kat though? (Again… you had to be there!). We caught up on a bit of laundry and checked our emails, before turning in for an early start. I don’t think Alice is somewhere that’ll stick in my mind, just the people I was with. It’s a bit of a ghost town that is really only a gateway to the Red Centre and the attractions, both natural and manmade, that you find there.
Well, I think that’s it for now… more catching-up will appear very soon, and you never know this might be up to date by the time I come home!!!
Right… I suppose it’s time to face the music and update this thing! Well, seeing as about 3 months has passed without me finishing writing about what I was doing… I’m almost inclined to miss it out all together, but I won’t, one thing I will do to make the whole experience nicer for us all, is skim over the 3 day journey from Darwin to Alice Springs. To give you an overview, we drove around 1,500Km in 3 days, through what was mainly desert! We had a couple of stops on the way down with our driver Spud, the first of which was Katherine Gorge.
Now, I’ll get this out of the way… we didn’t do much once we got to Katherine, now it’s no that it wasn’t beautiful, because some of the views were spectacular, and it wasn’t that there wasn’t anything to do, there was a ferry ride we could have jumped on to check out one the main gorge from the water, it was just so hot! We felt almost obliged, despite the heat, to have a go at a bit of a walk, there were plenty on offer from half an hour to four hours (And even longer treks designed for masochists!). Now, before setting out we thought a couple of hours would be just fine, so we purchased a couple of icy cold bottles of water from the obligatory gift shop, strapped on our walking boots and hit the trail. Oh my word, within 10 minutes, I for one, was ready to turn back! However, seeing as by that point the only landmark we’d seen was the porta-cabin toilet we pressed on. To get to the first stop, the main look-out took us around 30 minutes… and by the time we got there we were all red-faced dripping with sweat, and fast running out of water! We stayed for 5 minutes, and then with a unanimous decision headed straight back for home! Now the view was nice, not mind-blowing but nice, and maybe had we carried on the views might have got better, but we weren’t going to find out! Ice cream was calling, and its shout was louder than a view of some trees! So with new inspiration we headed back double-time to relax in the shade with an Icy Pole or two! We got back exhausted, but not with the feeling of missing out, had budget been no issue a helicopter ride would have given us the opportunity to see all of the gorges (Of which there are 7) and had the eater levels not been quite as high we could have done a Jet boat trip, but with these options taken away from us we'd made the best of it, without leaving ourselves de-hydrated wrecks!
The second visit along the trip was a stop off at the Devils Marbles, large chunks of granite weathered down into giant marble like objects clad in the iron filled dust that covers this part of Australia, appropriately called The Red Centre. Formed over 1.7 million years by the erosion of the soft sandstone above, and eventually by the wind and rain sculpting them ever so slowly into something you'd (Despite the name!) never win in the playground. Plenty of fun was had clambering over these slightly odd objects that look as though they've been dumped by a spaceship, with many a photo opportunity to be had, we spent a good hour looking around before jumping on the minibus to hit the road again!
We also had a stop at the Daily Waters pub, which for me was certainly a highlight... for no other reason than partaking in a nice frost bottle of Cooper's Sparkling Ale... nice!
The rest of the time was spent bonding with everyone on the bus, learning our likes, dislikes learning about our families and friends, favourite food, drink, colour, what we did back home... seriously, when you're stuck on a bus for as long as we were with little to see other than kilometre after kilometre of outback, you get plenty of time just to chat, with the occasional yell of ROADTRAIN!!!!! Whenever we saw one of these mechanical desert snakes approaching! So, by the time we got to Alice Springs, a little group of us had bonded quite nicely, which was particularly good as we had 3 days to relax before starting on the next leg of the journey!
"Alice Springs and beyond" will be featuring on a blog near you soon (ish!)
Take care Y'all
Now, I’ll get this out of the way… we didn’t do much once we got to Katherine, now it’s no that it wasn’t beautiful, because some of the views were spectacular, and it wasn’t that there wasn’t anything to do, there was a ferry ride we could have jumped on to check out one the main gorge from the water, it was just so hot! We felt almost obliged, despite the heat, to have a go at a bit of a walk, there were plenty on offer from half an hour to four hours (And even longer treks designed for masochists!). Now, before setting out we thought a couple of hours would be just fine, so we purchased a couple of icy cold bottles of water from the obligatory gift shop, strapped on our walking boots and hit the trail. Oh my word, within 10 minutes, I for one, was ready to turn back! However, seeing as by that point the only landmark we’d seen was the porta-cabin toilet we pressed on. To get to the first stop, the main look-out took us around 30 minutes… and by the time we got there we were all red-faced dripping with sweat, and fast running out of water! We stayed for 5 minutes, and then with a unanimous decision headed straight back for home! Now the view was nice, not mind-blowing but nice, and maybe had we carried on the views might have got better, but we weren’t going to find out! Ice cream was calling, and its shout was louder than a view of some trees! So with new inspiration we headed back double-time to relax in the shade with an Icy Pole or two! We got back exhausted, but not with the feeling of missing out, had budget been no issue a helicopter ride would have given us the opportunity to see all of the gorges (Of which there are 7) and had the eater levels not been quite as high we could have done a Jet boat trip, but with these options taken away from us we'd made the best of it, without leaving ourselves de-hydrated wrecks!
The second visit along the trip was a stop off at the Devils Marbles, large chunks of granite weathered down into giant marble like objects clad in the iron filled dust that covers this part of Australia, appropriately called The Red Centre. Formed over 1.7 million years by the erosion of the soft sandstone above, and eventually by the wind and rain sculpting them ever so slowly into something you'd (Despite the name!) never win in the playground. Plenty of fun was had clambering over these slightly odd objects that look as though they've been dumped by a spaceship, with many a photo opportunity to be had, we spent a good hour looking around before jumping on the minibus to hit the road again!
We also had a stop at the Daily Waters pub, which for me was certainly a highlight... for no other reason than partaking in a nice frost bottle of Cooper's Sparkling Ale... nice!
The rest of the time was spent bonding with everyone on the bus, learning our likes, dislikes learning about our families and friends, favourite food, drink, colour, what we did back home... seriously, when you're stuck on a bus for as long as we were with little to see other than kilometre after kilometre of outback, you get plenty of time just to chat, with the occasional yell of ROADTRAIN!!!!! Whenever we saw one of these mechanical desert snakes approaching! So, by the time we got to Alice Springs, a little group of us had bonded quite nicely, which was particularly good as we had 3 days to relax before starting on the next leg of the journey!
"Alice Springs and beyond" will be featuring on a blog near you soon (ish!)
Take care Y'all
