You’ll never, never know if you never, never go

Alice Springs to Katherine is a solid day’s drive. 1180kms is quite a distance but with five brief stops to refuel and to change drivers we complete the journey in 10.5 hours. We eat our prepacked sandwiches as we drive. There are several reasons why we are able to complete our journey in such good time. Firstly, the roads are quiet  as it’s the mid summer quiet season. Secondly, the Northern Territory’s open roads have a speed limit of 130kms. Thirdly, much of the road is straight and flat with plenty of room to overtake the road trains.  The longest section without a corner we measured was over 40kms. Yes, the petrol costs are higher at that speed but we are now anxious to reach our destination.

 

There’s not much to see in terms of human development during our journey. Tennant Creek is an outback service town, which does not offer much incentive to linger. Apart from that, there are only the occasional roadhouses that appear every 100-200 kms. ‘Outback Roadhouse’ sounds exotic and exciting but in reality they are merely places to buy over priced fuel, experience a grotty restroom (except for one roadhouse whose restrooms were unusable because of blocked drains) and not much else. By and large the staff at these ram shackled establishments give us the impression that we are spoiling their solitude by passing through.

 

In terms of the countryside, however, the trip is much more interesting. After a brief stop at the famous Devils Marbles we continue north where the countryside changes rapidly from arid outback to wet tropics. Red dirt gives way to lush grass, dry creek beds become flowing rivers and the vegetation transforms from sparse to lush. There is less road kill as we head north but we are occasionally spooked by a wandering dingo, kangaroo, cow, bull and quite a few birds who seem to be determined to only move off the road at the very last minute.

The town of Katherine welcomes us with a very pleasant motel complete with a wonderful, hearty, home cooked dinner. Our stay at Katherine is just a stopover but we look forward to exploring Katherine, Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks over the next two years. The following day we press on and finally after travelling 5495.5km from home, we arrive at Darwin where we are greeted by a glorious, cyclonic, tropical storm.

There used to be an ad on TV for the Northern Territory with the slogan, ‘

You’ll never, never know if you never, never go’. Thanks to a Navy posting we are very, very glad we took the opportunity to finally ‘go’ and experience this unique part of our wonderful country.

A town like Alice

Our theory when we visit a new place is to be positive and to always try to appreciate its best features. Alice Springs tests our theory.

It is, after all, just a mid-sized country town, 1500 kms south of Darwin, surrounded by deserts. It looks rather unloved. We had seen TV ads at Uluru about a shopping paradise called Alice Plaza. Sadly it is very underwhelming with about a third of the shops vacant. We were particularly sad to see a Dymocks store closing down – the demise of a bookshop is never a pretty sight.

Worse is to come when Richard, in search of lunch, inadvertently drives in the wrong direction in a car park and encounters the wrath of a ‘security’ guard who obviously has too much time on his hands. Lunch is secured at a bakery that appears to be rather upmarket. This shop, however, could justifiably earn the title for Australia’s Worst Pies. With pastry the consistency of stale cardboard and filling that resembled dog food, the pies were very ordinary. Where have all the country bakeries gone?

On a positive note Alice Springs must be the only town in Australia where you can buy a tourist T-shirt emblazed with a portrait of a Presbyterian minister. Rev John Flynn was the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and their Visitors Centre is informative. Equally interesting is a visit to the School of the Air. Surprisingly it was Flynn’s work in establishing an outback health service and communication system that allowed the School of the Air to reach hundreds of isolated children and to set up an education system that allowed them to be part of the largest classroom in the world.

A walk to Standley Chasm is the highlight of our day. Located on private Aboriginal land, the $10 entry fee is small compensation for the privilege of exploring this small part of the West MacDonnell Range. This range, along with the East MacDonnell Range, provide a stunning backdrop to the Northern Territory’s second largest town.

We couldn’t actually bring ourselves to buy a John Flynn T-shirt but we did like the quote on the back …“ Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers but for powers equal to your tasks."






Free and unforgettable

One of our favourite travel books is Absolutely Faking It by Tiana Templeman. Tiana and her husband are experienced and committed backpackers, who love to travel on a budget. On a whim she entered and won a competition in Vogue magazine to stay at the 13 most exclusive 5 star hotels in the world. What followed was a 6 month world backpacking adventure interspersed with three day stays at some of the world’s most famous hotels. The inspiration we gained from the book, is to intersperse stays in backpacker hostels with occasional splurges in upmarket hotels.

So, after staying at Sails in the Desert at Yulara (20kms from Uluru) on a low season Wotif deal, we head further into the mulga to stay at the Kings Canyon Resort (aka caravan park and backpacker lodge). We chose a standard backpacker double room, which could at best be described as humble. However, the hostel had very effective evaporative cooling, basic communal kitchen facilities and a shower and toilet block less than 50 metres away. It was great!

The highlights of Kings Canyon are the walks. We brave a short walk up the canyon, late in the afternoon on our first day. The temperature is a touch over 40 degrees. The hour long walk takes us along the floor of the canyon, which is beautiful with its ghost gums, lush greenery and palms. The ragged and stony walls of the canyon somehow remind us of an American western movie. A high rock ledge above seems the obvious place for cowboys to exchange gunfire with the sheriff and his posse in hot pursuit.

The Rim Walk is the most popular walk around Kings Canyon and cannot be attempted after 0900 during the summer months. So at 0600 we set off just as the sun is beginning to rise. It is already 30 degrees. A steep climb of about 500 steps to the top of the canyon is challenging. But the rest of the 6km walk, essentially around the top of the canyon, is breathtaking. With virtually no vegetation on top of the mountain the canyon is fully exposed with it’s glorious red sedimentary rocks reflecting the morning sunshine. Thankfully a slight breeze cools our progress and surprisingly the flies seem to have slept in.

Kings Canyon, even on a budget, is not cheap with petrol at $2.30 a litre, milk $4 a litre and a small jar of Vegemite is $7. However the walks in the National Park, the star studded evening sky and the glorious sunrises and sunsets, are free and unforgettable.

Is it possible to go bushwalking in central Australia in the middle of summer when the temperature is predicted to reach 41 degrees?

 Is it possible to go bushwalking in central Australia in the middle of summer when the temperature is predicted to reach 41 degrees?  

Today, Richard thought yes – Wendy was not so sure.

The plan is to do the Valley of the Winds 7.4km walk which will take us right through the centre of what used to be known as The Olgas- but is now called Kata Tjuta (meaning many heads). Because of today’s predicted hot temperatures the track will be closed at 1100.

It means another early morning start and after a 45 minute drive we begin at 0700. It’s already warm, but thankfully there is a breeze.

This walk certainly gets you up close and personal to Kata Tjuta. In fact the track leads up over a ridge and delivers us right into the centre of this strange collection of magnificent, ancient and huge rock formations. Surprisingly it’s green and lush as water often pools in the middle of this natural basin. The track loops for 4kms over several challenging rocky ridges and through more lush gullies. The track is steep, rocky and difficult in places. The flies are troublesome. But we feel part of this environment – at least for a couple of hours. Another walker tells us that the views across the desert to the west remind him of Africa. It looks more like central Australia to us, but then again we are yet to travel to Africa.

When we finish at 0930 the temperature is already 36 degrees. We have completed it in good time.

We return to our hotel to recover by spending time in the pool and then generally lolling about for the rest of the day…this is a holiday after all. 

Celebrity Rock

There are many ways to see a tourist attraction, but our favourite way is to explore it on foot. We arrived early at Uluru this morning to witness the famous changing of colours on the Rock as the sun rises. Considering this is the low season there were still hundreds of people there – most of whom arrived on oversized tourist buses. Fortunately when the impressive sunrise show finished most of the crowd hopped back on their bus, carrying their pre packed breakfast boxes to be delivered to the next attraction.

We however took the opportunity to do the walk around the Rock known as The Base Walk. Even at 0630 in the morning the 10.5km walk was a challenge because of the flies, bright sunshine and the rapidly increasing heat.

Up close, what can be said about Uluru?

Firstly, it is huge. It’s much taller than it appears to be in photographs. We often do the Bay Walk in Sydney and that is a touch over 7km. The fact that the track around the Rock is over 10kms gives an indication of its area.

Secondly, as we walk we wondered why it is, that we humans are so impressed by this geological formation. There is a bigger rock formation on the road in called Mt Conner. There are taller rocks known as The Olgas or Kata Tjuta 50km away, which we will visit tomorrow. Rightly or wrongly Uluru is an international geological celebrity and as we take the time to circumnavigate it we begin to understand its mysterious attraction.

Finally, as we walked today we marveled that local Aborigines were living as tribal hunters and gatherers in this incredibly harsh terrain just 80 years ago. We felt tired walking in the heat for a couple of hours in the early morning, before retreating to our air-conditioned hotel. We can only marvel at a culture that lived in this land for countless generations. What a shock it must have been for them, when some white blokes arrived convinced this was a good place to initially hunt for dingos, to then run cattle and finally a few decades later to fly hundreds of thousands of people in from all over the world.

                            

32 not out !

As we planned this trip we became aware of a very happy coincidence. Today is the day we planned to arrive at the Rock, Uluru. It is also our 32^nd wedding anniversary. We sent an email to the hotel suggesting that, as it was our anniversary, they might like to upgrade our room to one with a Rock view. They gave us a bottle of Champagne…wasted on us…but sadly no upgrade.

We arrived mid afternoon and faced a dilemma. Did we go out to dinner for our anniversary or go to the Rock to see the sunset?  Should we combine both with a gourmet sunset dinner at the Rock? But no matter how romantic it looked, we balked at the $185 per person price tag. After 32 years together we have much to be thankful for, and we both agree that celebrating does not have to be done at great expense.

At about 4.30pm we decided to go travel the 20 kms from the resort to the Rock. We felt the need to see it up close. It did not disappoint.  It is amazing! And much bigger than we expected. Another dilemma… it was 6pm, should we duck back to the place we were staying – grab some food and head back to the Rock to be there in time for sunset at 7.40pm? No… on second thoughts we decided that food could wait and we set up our deck chairs in a prime position as the crowds began to stake out their own spots for sunset viewing.

Then an ingenious idea - our trusty rapid boil butane stove!  As we rifled through our emergency travelling rations we considered the combination of a half packet of macaroni and a couple of tins of flavoured tuna.  Our own DIY romantic meal right there at the sunset. Within 20 minutes we were sipping water out of plastic Champagne flutes from the picnic set, eating macaroni and tuna from our billy and completing the meal with French vanilla almonds (bought at Coles before we left home) for dessert…in the desert. Delicious!

We saved ourselves $370 and celebrated our anniversary in a memorable, authentic, fun, romantic and thrifty manner. Actually a rather fitting description of the last 32 years.

 

You may well ask…

Why haven’t we travelled to inland Australia before now? You may well ask…

Firstly, we had always thought that the distances were too great. However, we have discovered that with good roads, a speed limit of 110kms, virtually no traffic and tag team driving the distance is not an issue at all… especially when you have the luxury of a one-way journey.

Secondly, we don’t have a caravan. Not a problem… there is plenty of reasonably priced accommodation available and the  “I’m too young to be a grey nomad” excuse is no longer valid.

Thirdly, we thought it would be terribly hot but… so far so good…today was 34 degrees and with low humidity we have hardly raised a sweat.  

Fourthly, we expected the scenery to be monotonous. Well yes, the area around Coober Pedy is rather barren but during our journey today we found that the scenery changes are regular, unexpected and often breathtaking. Today we passed huge salt lakes, spiraling willy-willys, significant areas of scrubby woodland, a wonderful diversity of arid land trees and stunning barren mesas (ie flat top mountains).  The huge 60 wheel road trains are impressive as is the sight of a wedge-tailed eagle feasting on road kill.

Fifthly, we expected the road would be flat and straight. While there are some flat, straight bits there are many hills and ranges and quite a few roads that meander like rivers rather than runways. Having said that, there is a runway too. The Royal Flying Doctors actually have an emergency runway on the Stuart Highway. Amazing! Not sure who has the right of way!

Finally, we wondered whether our music collection might get a little repetitive, so we set ourselves the challenge of listening to every album alphabetically in our digital collection. After 2000 kms we are still in the ‘B’s – deeply stuck, but thoroughly enjoying the ‘Best of…’ section.

And then there is Coober Pedy- a strange barren, broken, bizarre and buried town. Most of the buildings including our motel and the local Anglican Church are all built underground. Its cooler, its cheaper and it fills up the space left after you mine the hill looking for opals. While people live underground the surface, for some reason is littered with  the rusting corpses of trucks, cars, machinery and a even space ship.

So we apologise to inland Australia for ignoring you for so long – and we thank you for making us feel so welcome!