Wayoutback Desert Safari
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2003
1
47
83
Trip End
Aug 2004
Alice Springs,
Australia
Friday, May 14, 2004
Flew Qantas from Cairns to Alice Springs - the flight was uneventful (even though the plane was small), but I did laugh when they showed us how to use the life jackets - how much water is there between Cairns and Alice!!!!?????? The view out of the window was amazing - for the first half hour, it was mountains and trees, but for the next 2 hours it was red desert and not a lot else - you really do not realize how big this country is until you begin to travel around it!!
When we reached Alice I was really surprised at how many mountains there were - I expected a small town in the middle of nowhere on completely flat land, but no, mountains galore!!!!!
We walked to Anzac Hill for sunset - it was very beautiful to see the sun disappear behind the mountains and it gave us a view of Alice and the surrounding area
Collecting firewood
.After we reached the hostel we were told we should not go out alone at night - Alice has an inner city feel to it, very uncomfortable at times, so we went out as a group to the local pub - Bojangles - where they were having a Flying Doctor charity night - good fun.
8th May
Picked up at 6am and we went to watch sunrise from Anzac Hill. There were 9 of us on the tour, although some were 3 day and would be dropped off at Ayres Rock Resort later. Today we were driving to Kings Canyon, but first we stopped at a camel farm for rides (if you wanted them) and toilet! Then we were off again - we drove for miles and miles, some on tarmac and some on dirt tracks. We saw our first wild camels on the 4WD road, the first of many!!! We had to stop in the bush to collect firewood for this evening, but eventually reached the campsite. Now, we were not staying at the main Kings Creek campsite where everyone else was staying at, no, our campsite was 5km away, literally in the middle of nowhere!!! The best thing was though, we were able to use the toilets and showers at the main campsite as well!!!
The afternoon was spent walking around the rim of Watarrka (Kings Canyon)
Endless Road!!!
. We did the full rim walk which was 6km, but very hard and rocky! The first section of the walk is called Heart Attack Hill, so imagine how steep it was!!!!! The walk actually took 4 hours, but it was well worth it - the views were stunning - we walked to the Garden of Eden, a small rock pool, which has great Aborginal importance. The whole area was beautiful and a great start to the tour.After we returned to camp and when we were sorting out for dinner, I spotted some horses in the bush. Tim said they were wild brumbies, so I decided to see how close I could get, thinking they would run! But no, instead they came trotting towards me!! I decided to stand behind the tree, as we were not sure what they would do, but not to worry, the lead grey walked right up to me and muzzled my hands!!!!!!!! This was fantastic, they were wild horses - Tim was so amazed he had to get his camera to take a photo!!!!!! The other two horses were a little more nervous, but I managed to touch them as well!! After this I was known as Dr Dolittle!!!!!!!!
We had dinner of sausage pasta, then we sat around the fire in our swags until we fell asleep under the millions and millions of stars!!!!!!
9th May
Up at 6am today after a good night under the stars and more sleep than I expected! After breakfast and when we had packed up we began the journey to Uluru. We drove past Mount Connor, which is huge (30km around the base!!!), and eventually reached Yabarra, which is Ayres Rock Resort, at lunch time. We had already seen Uluru from a distance as we drove towards it, but now we could see it close up - what a colour - it is the brightest red rust colour, and so big!!!
Palm Valley
!First we visited the Cultural Centre, where we learnt about Tjukurpa (Aborginal law and religion), then we went to the rock itself. I did not realize how enormous the rock is - we did a full base walk, which took two hours and was almost 10km long!!! Just to walk around it!! The rock is amazing - its full of nooks and crannies - not smooth as I imagined it to be. The colour was awesome, such a bright rust red! I was very impressed with Uluru and could understand why it is of such importance to the Aborginals. It was for this reason that I had already decided not to climb the rock, which was just as well, as when I saw how and where you had to climb it, there was no way I was going to do it anyway!!!!!!!
We drove back to camp and climbed a nearby hill to watch sunset - this was stunning as we could see Uluru in one direction and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) in the other. Sunset was also accompanied by champagne and dips and biscuits - who says I don't do these things in style!!!!!!!!
You may have noticed that I use the Aborginal names for the places - Uluru is Ayres Rock and Kata Tjuta is The Olgas, the reason for this is the area has been given back to the rightful owners, the Anangu Community of Aboriginals, who live near the rock
Sunrise at Uluru
. Of course they do not want there religious sites to have "white people' names, so they have insisted the original names be used instead. Quite right too!!! The Anangu community are the only growing Aborginal community, their numbers have grown from 200 to 350 in recent years.10th May
Up very early today, at 5.15!!!!!! After breakfast of bacon and eggs (!!!!) we drove to an area between Uluru and Kata Tjuta for sunrise - boy, was it cold!!!!!! It was well worth it though - the sunrise was incredible and we could see both Uluru in the distance and the sun shining on Kata Tjuta at the same time.
After this we drove to Kata Tjuta to walk through the magnificent Valley of the Winds. This was an 8km hike, which took 3 hours, and went right through the middle of the mountains. It was an absolutely stunning walk and my favourite of them all. The cliffs were so high and the colours so bright - I have never seen the sky so blue as I have in the past two days, and this, contrasted with the red of the rocks had to be seen to be believed!!!
After lunch Hieki and the boys left us and we drove to Curtain Springs Cattle Station
Sunset at Uluru
. Here we left the road and really began the outback tour!!!!!! We took a bush track from Curtain Springs to Kings Creek which isn't on any maps and Tim had to carry a SAT phone is case of emergencies!!!! We were really Wayoutback now!!!!!!! The area we drove through is only seen whenever the tour uses it - no one uses this track except us, so we were seeing parts of Australia that only a few people have ever seen!!! The track went on for over 100km and took 3 hours to drive along - I think it had to be one of the most exciting tracks I have ever been on!!!!! We saw more wild camels, but best of all we saw some huge Red Kangaroos - they are massive - almost 2m tall and they could move faster than us in the 4WD!!!! The best sight was as we drove along a plain and camels and kangaroos hopped and ran along with us - real safari stuff!!!!!!!Eventually we came to a fence and gate which separated Curtain Springs and Kings Creek Stations, both of which are 2 million acres each!!!!!!!!! What a day!!!!!!!
11th May
Cor, we had a lie in today - didn't get up until 7am!!!!! We were actually woken up by two noisy crows! Drove the Mereenie Loop today, a 4WD track which took us from Kings Creek to Hermannsburg
Swag!!!
. We saw lots of wild brumbies and mules on the way, but I didn't get the chance to tame any!!!!!! Hermannsburg is a Lutheran mission which was established in 1886, but is now the largest Aborginal town in Australia. It has a population of about 700, only 5 of which are white! No alcohol is allowed to be sold in the town, a fine of $10,000 is to be had if any is found!!! After a quick stop in the supermarket here, we continued to Palm Valley. We had to drive down a 4WD track to reach our bush camp - this was real camping - no showers, no toilet, nothing!!!!!! The campsite is actually in the Finke River (luckily its not flowing!!!) and was just a sand area with a water hole - fantastic!!!!!! It is said that the Finke River is one of the oldest water courses in the world.After lunch we unhitched the trailer and drove up to the Finke River National Park - this was the worst (or best???) road we had been on! We had to drive over rocks, up and down banks just to reach Palm Valley. This was an amazing place - it is home to really tall palm trees, which are able to grow because of a combination of the type of soil and the moisture held. It was just like being back in Thailand, in the jungle!!!! On the way back I spotted a black-footed rock wallaby and just after that we saw a red kangaroo!
Dinner was rather special tonight - there we are, in the middle of nowhere, no toilets, no power, a fire to cook on and what did we eat - Thail green curry and jasmine rice!!!!
The 4WD
! Its a good job Anne was on the trip with us - she made the food so much more exciting!!!!!12th May
Final day!!!On the road again this time to view Gosses Bluff, one of the biggest meteorite craters in the world. We drove up a 4WD hill to view it across the valley - its huge (like everything else in Oz!!!). After this we made our way to the West McDonnell Range and to see several gorges. The first was Redbank Gorge, this was full of purple stones and we saw another rock wallaby. Next was Gorge Helen - the best thing about this one was the pub, where we had a beer!!!!
We had lunch at Orminston Gorge, which was my favourite - massive red cliffs, towering above us! Finally we visited the Ochre Pits and Ellory Gorge.
This was an amazing five days - we travelled 2,500km and saw so much. I was absolutely knackered by the time I got back to Alice, but still had enough energy to go to Bojangles in the evening!!!!!! Fantastic!!!!!!
