Musical Adventures: Springtime in the Outback

During the first part of my mid-semester break, Jamie and I went on an outback tour in the center of Australia! It was a whirlwind tour but we saw and did a lot in the few days we were there.

On the first day, we got up at 4am to catch a cab at 4:50 to the airport for a 6:30 flight to Alice Springs. Everything went pretty smoothly even though the flight was delayed an hour. Tiger flies out of a terminal that is a remodeled airplane hanger separated from the rest of the airport. To get onto the plane, you walk out onto the tarmac and up a flight of stairs. It’s kinda fun and different. I had a window seat so I could see a lot during the short while it wasn’t cloudy. The hostel we where we were staying had free airport pickup so by about 11am we were all checked in and on our way to explore the town.

First, we wandered north into town. The Todd river that runs along side the town of Alice Springs was really flooded. They have been getting a lot of rain recently and actually the whole dessert was really green and alive with flowers while we were there. It was a Sunday morning so there was an outdoor market where we got some delicious lunch and wandered around looking at paintings and crafts etc. After heading back to the hotel to drop some things off, we continued to the southern end of town where the MacDonnell ranges split and then we walked all the way back to the top of the town to climb a hill where we could see quite a distance on the mostly flat but still quite hilly dessert. Dinner that night was an adventure. We got some pizza / focaccia things from one of the bakeries to heat up in the hostel kitchen but when we got there, we discovered that there was no oven or microwave. Just some gas burners so we sort of heated them up on top of them. It actually turned out quite well.

the flooded Todd river

the split in the MacDonnell ranges

Lion's Walk up the hill in the north part of Alice Springs

Pizza!

On the second day, we got up around 5am to be picked up at 5:45 for our tour. The outback was a whole lot greener and hillier than I expected. There were 3 Germans, 2 Dutch, 1 Danish, 1 English, 6 Japanse, 1 Chinese plus Jamie and myself on our tour. After a 5 hr drive through the dessert with 14 new friends we set up camp and had lunch before heading out on our first adventure. On the way to Kata Tjuta, we saw a small heard of feral camels. Camels were brought over to help explore the interior of Australia and later released when they were no longer needed. Kata Tjuta, also known as the Valley of the Winds and The Olgas, is a cluster of large domed rock formations. Kata Tjuta is a sacred mens area to the Aboriginal people and the name means "many heads." They look very small from far away but up close they are absolutely enormous. It was a really cool place.

On the way back to camp we stopped to watch the sun set on Uluru. It was really neat but there were so many tourists it made it quite synthetic feeling. We had some good singing around the campfire that evening accompanied by a guitar. We camped out in swags - a plastic covered mattress with a canvas sleeping bag cover contraption - they were quite comfortable and the sky was so clear that you could see millions of stars. It was very close to a full moon so that blocked out quite a few but when we got up really early the next morning (4:30) the moon had just set and it was absolutely incredible.

sunset on Uluru

On the third day we were up at 4:50am to pack up and eat breakfast and be on the road by 5:50. We drove to the other side of Uluru this time to watch the sun rise. Not as impressive as the sunset but still pretty cool. Our guide (who is from England by the way just living in Australia) took us all for a short walk near the base of Uluru and talked about some of the significances of the rock and its uses to the Aboriginal people. The climb was closed due to high winds so we went to the cultural center for a while where I got a star map for the southern hemisphere and then walked the 10K base walk around Uluru. Actually we started out running but I only made it about 1.5K's. Jamie made it the whole way!

After lunch we drove out to Kings Canyon, stopping a couple of times to see an inland salt lake and some huge sand dunes. After setting up camp, a few of us went on a walk and saw a gorgeous sunset before dinner. That night we played and sang some more and camped out under the stars in swags again. I got up early again to look at the stars - they were so beautiful!

On the last day we hiked the rim trail in Kings Canyon. It was absolutely beautiful and my favorite place from the whole trip. We started hiking just after the sun came up and the first part of the track was straight up a wall of stairs. In just a short hike the landscape changed so much. The rocks and cliffs formed so many different patterns. A couple of the scenes from The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Dessert were shot along the trail. About halfway through the hike we reached a body of water in 'The Garden of Eden.' A few of the other girls decided to go swimming in the freezing water.

After completing the hike we pretty much drove straight back to Alice Springs stopping briefly for lunch and again to refuel. Once we returned, Jamie and I wandered out to find some dinner and stopped at the Second Hand store where I found a used copy of April Fool's Day by Bryce Courtney - great reading for the next day spent almost entirely in the airports!