True Blue Outback!
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
69
91
Trip End
Jan 11, 2009
Alice Springs,
Northern Territory,
Australia
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
After all the pickups, we met the main bus to transfer all our things, have one last toilet stop for a while, and load onto the bus. It didn't seem like long before we arrived at our first stop, the Millstream falls. Not bad! Being back off the bus, we were able to start chatting more and getting to know one another. There were 25 people on the tour.
A few hours later, it was time for lunch and we stopped at the Oasis Roadhouse to prepare our picnic lunch. This is the home of the worlds smallest bar- about the size of your average washroom at home! With the size of the group, it made setting up and cleaning after lunch super quick. It was really good!
Later on we stopped at the porcupine gorge, what they like to refer to as the "Mini Grand Canyon". It was pretty cool actually, to just be driving along in what seems to be increasingly empty landscapes, and then suddenly you are looking at this stunning scenery. Our overnight stop was in Hughenden, where we stayed at the Great Western Hotel (at a pub). We had a fantastic dinner, and some of the group participated in some killer pool with the locals. Sad to say the locals won! I attempted an early night, but it took me ages to get to sleep so I wasn't as fully rested as I would have liked when we awoke at 5:20am the next morning, to pack up and eat brekkie!
Once on the bus, we drove for a while, until the sun was about to pop up from behind the horizon. We piled off the bus for the obligatory photos. Once we had all rested a bit more, Alan, our driver, taught us the lyics to "Waltzing Matilda". Its the unofficial national anthem for Australia. It was never made official despite its massive popularity (more people know it then the national anthem!) but based on the fact it is about a sheep thief who drowned himself rather than be captured, it was decided to be slightly inappropriate for such purposes.
Shortly afterwards, we arrived in Winton which is the actual birthplace of the song. We had half an hour to run madly around the town and take as many photos as possible. (Ok, it might have just been Erin and I running madly, but it was SUCH a cool little town!) Winton is full of random sculptures, the birthplace of Qantas airlines, and eccentric wall-builders. There was more but I'm forgetting!
After Winton, we headed further on, to view the apparently original "Three Sisters" rock formation. (You may recall I have already visited Three Sisters on my Blue Mountain day trip from Sydney).
Once we were done taking in the amazing scenery of Mary, Maude and Kate (the sisters), we headed to Carisbrook Station to set up our lunch. There is a sheep shearing shed there, so we were able to escape the sun and of course take full advantage of numerous photo ops. We (meaning the boys) fired up the Barbie and we had sausages and sandwiches. Delish! Once we were fed, watered, and everything packed back onto the bus, we headed toward Middleton: Population 3. They have a pub there, so we had a beer while exploring the tiny area- the "Hilton Hotel" across the street, the camels out back, the solar powered phone booth, and the carriage out front. Cool, but I can never imagine living there!!
After Middleton, it was on the Donahue highway to head to our nights stop. We briefly stopped in Boulia to check out the pub (code for use the washroom) before arriving at Wirrilyerna Station. This place was seriously in the middle of nowhere- the driveway was 8 kms long! We got there with enough tie before sunset to wander around and check out the area, before climbing up the hill to join the rest of the group in watching the spectacular sunset, and pose for about 20 group photos! Our cheeks were hurting after that!!
After showering up, we joined the group around the campfire where the bolognaise was cooking. We had dinner and even dessert, and then played a bunch of games around the fire before I finally realized I better get to bed if I wanted to get out of it at 5am! The power was cut off at 11pm, and when I had to use the toilet (which meant going outside) at 4 in the morning, needless to say I was a little creeped out due to having a song we heard on the bus playing on repeat in my head:
"Red back, funnel-web, blue ringed octopus, taipan, (something I forget) and the seashell that stings you when you pick it up... Welcome to Australia, you might accidentally get killed... you only have 3 minutes to live!" Too funny.
After brekkie in the morning, we drove for nearly 2 hours before the sun came up! Today was the big one, in the driving sense. 800kms on mostly unsealed roads. Needless to say we didn't actually do much. We walked across the border from Queensland to Northern Territory, setting our watches back ½ hour, and taking heaps of photos of the sign with a spelling error that they correct by putting a little red cross-out over the extra letter in "Terrritory". We also stopped at a termite mound that was 5m tall and 200 years old, and we stopped at another station for lunch where we once again fired up the Barbie to make toasties. (Toasted/grilled sandwiches). Yum! Following that, it was pretty much a straight haul into Alice Springs, where most of us met up later at Bojangles for one final night as a group. It was the perfect ay to top off an amazing trip!!
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Comments
Middleton
'...we headed toward Middleton: Population 3. They have a pub there...'
hahahahahaha!