November 12, 2010

In Alice Springs. Final stop before going home. Well, back to Syd on Saturday, and THEN back home.. Well haha, then Cali, then home. Whatever… it's almost over is my point. Pretty sad. The outback tour was pretty impressive. Overall a good time. The driver was Tommy and she was so killer. She's a surfer chick with dreads and super fun. Sounds like she's been doing a lot of traveling and completely loves this job so everyday was cool for her. The bus was only 9 people, all older, but really friendly. There was a couple from Holland, couple from England, a girl from Malaysia and three girls from France. They were always on French time so when we were told to be back in 15 min it always took them at least 20. I thought it was funny the first few times and we all managed to just laugh it off, but I don't understand the concept of NOT being back at a specific time! The weather held out really nicely for us. It's the outback, so clearly it was hot, but it's spring so it's not as hot as it could have been, No rain or clouds either. I guess since we're in the outback it's usually dry, but it is still possible. The days were long; we had to get up at 4-430 almost every morning. Most days we had fairly long bus rides so we could sleep there, but sleeping on a bus isn't quite the same. First day we drove from Adelaide to Quorn; a shithole town a few hours north of Adelaide. We stayed there for two nights, which seemed like a bit much. Flinders Ranges are there, so pretty mountain ranges. First day we did a 3hr walk, 8km all uphill. The slope wasn't too bad but I was definitely winded at the top. Down was easy. Pretty views. It was starting to cool off a bit when we were up there so it was nice. Next day was a huge walk. Shorter, like 6km return, but up a steep hill. It was tough and it was hot. I'm way too out of shape so me and another girl were the last ones up to the top. We went with another group so the guides split into two groups; one to do the hard walk and another to do the easy one. For some horrible reason I chose the hard one. When I got to the top I remembered why. The view was incredible. Basically 360 view of Flinders Ranges and Wilpeana Pound. Really pretty. 1.5hrs to get down and had lunch. Later that evening we got to do something I was so stoked about! I got to go on a camel ride!!! How bizarre! I didn't even know Australia had camels, but I guess they have heaps, and I got to ride one for a half hour. The guide, Graham, was hilarious. Definitely a country boy… kind of a hick, but so funny. He'd just talk to the camels and tell weird stories about camel races, which I now HAVE to go to. Dinner was camel sausages… so ironic and terrible, but they tasted pretty good. Next morning we got up early to get to Coober Pedy, opal capital of the world. We slept in an old mine, which was pretty cool. They had done some renovations to it so there was some wood paneling in the walls and some of the sandstone cave-like walls were painted, so it didn't look as legit, but it was still pretty cool. We did a tour of a mine, bought some opals and did a bit of our own mining. Our mining wasn't in a mine though, it was in a big pile of rocks. Didn't find anything, but Tommy found heaps of little bits so she put one on the ground in front of me and was like, "Emily, what's that? You found one!" I got to keep it, yay! Oh, and the coolest part of that day was that Tommy knew some people that had a kangaroo orphanage. Guess people hit roos on the road all the time and sometimes find babies in the pouch or kids will catch a baby or something and keep it for awhile and it gets sick. These guys get them all fixed up and let them back out. They had 6 roos: 4 "children" and 2 babies. We got to watch them drink bottles, which was so adorable. One was fighting with one of the owners too. So cute watching a kangaroo box a human. The babies were still in the pouches they had made for them so we got to watch one climb in and out and hop around. One of the bigger ones came up to me at the fence and was letting me pet him and gave me little kisses and then when the feeding was over we got to hold the babies! I got to hold the tiny hairless one. Definitely an experience. Next day we went up to Uluru. Long drive so we got there basically in time for the sunset. Sunset and sunrise at Uluru are a big deal so it was crazy crowded. Tommy found a nice quiet place down the path a little bit. She said most tourists are typically lazy and she was right, we walked like 3min further down the path and there was no one there. Sunset was incredible. Even if there wasn't a huge rock in front of us with pretty colors, I'd still just watch the sunset all by itself. We waited for the other buses to filter out before we left and got back to camp and went pretty much straight to bed. This night was at a campsite and it was nice one! The tents were permanent tents and had actual beds in them. Surprisingly though, we slept outside around the fire. The weather was perfect; not too hot and not too cold. There weren't any mozzies or bugs around. Because we're basically out in the middle of nowhere the stars were incredible. Once the fire died down a bit we all just laid around watching the stars. While doing this a HUGE shooting star shot by. I swore I was dreaming because it was too perfect. It wasn't like the small little ones zipping by, this one was massive and went across the entire sky. Incredible. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night and thought I was inside until I opened my eyes and saw an incredible blanket of stars above me. I could definitely do that every day. In the morning we did sunrise, which was basically the same. While driving to the sunrise carpark we stopped to take incredible pics of the sun just starting to come up. The sky was still pretty dark but right at the horizon there was bright red and yellow streaks. We got cool pics of uluru's silouette with the cool colors. There was even one bright star right above it too. Perfect pic. After sunrise we did a walk around the base; 10km and three hours, but all flat so super easy. Hung out at the pool for a bit and then went off toward Kings Canyon. Got there and went straight to camp. Same deal as the night before, slept outside under the stars. In the morning we did a big 3hr hike around the canyon. Steep first 15min or so hiking up, then flat all around the top until some steps down. Really cool and really pretty. Much nicer than I expected. We did that super early because it was meant to get above 100F. Finished the walk around 9, went to another pool for an hour or so and got to Alice Sprtings around 5. We had dinner together at a pub later that night and I came back to the hostel. The trip officially ended when we arrived in Alice so we're all in different hostels so I'm in an 8bed dorm alone. The receptionist was from NY so we chatted for a bit about the good ole USA and she upgraded me to a nicer room. It's right behind the pool so I just walk behind my building and there it is! Got my own bathroom and A/C. Go me! Have one full day in Alice before heading back to Sydney on Saturday. Plan for today is some laundry (being in the desert for 6 days gets you pretty dirty), gotta pick up some food, close my bank account, do some correspondence and internet stuff with bookings in Cali, then lay out at the pool all day. Figure I'm in the hottest place in Oz so I should take advantage of the sick hot sun before getting back to MI in November.