Love Me Like A Rock
Trip Start
Feb 26, 2004
1
32
84
Trip End
Nov 16, 2006
Alice Springs,
Australia
Friday, April 22, 2005
It's funny how things work out...I actually knew someone on the trek: My old friend, the cheap boxed red wine, Morris joined us, and by the end of the trip everyone else loved him as much as I did.
Apart from that, my time since Adealaide has been spent in the outback with the tour guide and 9 complete strangers.
Besides Uluru, I hadn't really thought much about what I was going to see, but we took in so much and did a few brilliant treks. Highlights included Lake Ayre (a dried up lake which at this time of the year is just salt as far as you can see), Coober Pedy (a small town, most of which is located underground to avoid the heat), Painted Desert, Hot Springs and various water holes, as well as The Olgas and Kings' Canyon (both of which would rival Uluru for impressiveness)
01 - A Typical Evening Set Up
.It was all just so damn good. Being in the middle of nowhere again was fantastic. I loved every bit of the trip (except for the firewood collection) and I genuinely didn't want it to end. And finally I got to sleep in a 'swag' (kind of an oversized sleeping bag which you can seal yourself in completely), out in the open air looking up at the stars, and truly feeling like I was in paradise.
But of course as is often the case, the absolute highlight for me were some of the other people, and talking with them around the fire, dancing and generally pissing about. There was the obligatory old guy, a couple of Danish girls (one of which had to be flown by the Flying Doctors for fear that she had thrombosis...she got the all clear and was back with us the next day), and two Swiss guys (one quiet one, and one guy who had a voice which sounded like a donkey being beaten to death with a wombat, but who I couldn't help but like.)
They were all great but of course there were my 4 'favourites':
Alex, my right hand man and drinking buddy who was a great laugh. He's since moved onwards and upwards, continuing his travels where he will eventually meet up with a Hawaiian girl he fell in love with in Asia, but we have already made plans to meet up in Auckland.
Lyndsey, a Shirley Valentine-esque English girl who became my temporary sister. We're probably going to carry on traveling together for a bit before she heads back to Melbourne.
02 - Another Amazing Australian Sky
Sarah and Monique, one Dutch and one Danish, one a free spirit and one tied down, one Spiritual and one Scientific. Both completely different, and both amazing people to talk to, they became like Barnes and Elias to my Charlie Sheen...fighting for posession of my soul.
And of course I got to see Uluru.
The drive up to it was very cool, and reminiscent of the drive to Vegas: nothing around you and finally you catch a glimpse of it. As you get nearer more and more of it is revealed, and it continues to get bigger beyond where you think it will stop, until it just dominates the landscape.
We didn't climb it. We walked around it. It's sacred land to the Aboriginals, and I had heard walking on it is comparable to walking on a pregnant woman's stomach, or going to someone's church and urinating on the altar, both of which I'm not inclined to do.
So I was more then happy to spend 3 hours walking around its base. Alot of people still choose to climb it, some steal rocks from it (there is a display devoted to rocks which were sent back from people who found out how offensive this is), and some parts have even be closed off as people such as 'Anto' have been writing their names on it
03 - Salt Lake
.I had naively thought from photographs that the whole thing was smooth and consistent and just a solid rock. But it's not. There are thousands and thousands of nooks and crannys making it look like a totally different rock from every angle.
I assume it is all psychological, but there is a weird energy coming from it. You can feel it. It's powerful and it's eery, and I think that is what makes it more popular and impressive than The Olgas and Kings' Canyon, which are both more visually pleasing.
Now I am currently checking out Alice Springs. Sarah, who is studying Aboriginal culture, had called it depressing and I can see what she means, but it has its charms. We just visited 'The School Of The Air', the worlds largest classroom catering for children of the outback, made possible by radio and internet.
So that's it, I'm back in the real world and trying to figure out the next step. My time in Australia is rapidly running out. Realisitically, I'm not going to get to do the East Coast this year. The only other thing I desperately want to see is Canberra, so Lyndsey and I are looking in to getting there before I return to Sydney. We'll probably go via Adelaide, which will give us a chance to see Sarah again and get another taste of her absolutely amazing spirituality.
Yes, the last 10 or so days have truly been a very spiritual time, and it's kind of worrying to feel this overwhelming hippy/backpacker/hobo/tramp becoming so addictive.
It's trips like these, and people like Sarah that make me want to throw my shoes out the window and head off to some island to live off coconuts.
