Day 8-9 The Legendary Ghan
Today I board the overland railway called the Ghan as I start to head South. The cheap seats were booked by a huge group so I was forced to get a sleeper car for the 2 day trip down to Alice Springs. What a blessing that turned out to be, my car is great and I’m glad to have some down time to relax and reflect on the past week. I fell like I’ve been gone for about a month and it’s only been 7 days (with many weeks to go.) Traveling through the Outback by train is the only way to go and the views are incredible. On Sat. I was able to take a “whistle stop” break and head into the town of Katherine where I found a pub and was actually able to watch the Angles lose to The Red Sox in game 2. Again it’s very strange to be so far away and still be connected to the States.
Day 10 Alice Springs
I arrive at Alice Springs ready for action. This is the town I will use as my base for expeditions into the Outback. The hotel/hostel was supposed to pick me up from the train station but after about 45 mins of waiting, I grabbed a bus into town. As we passed through town I saw a scene that was a repeat of another I saw in Katherine, dozens of Aboriginal people hanging out in groups doing nothing but hanging around. It’s a strange sight. The driver dropped me off at Annie’s place and the girl at check-in profusely apologized for being late picking me up. She said she would buy me a beer later that night to repay me. (that’s certainly fair enough!!) Up to my room and was stoked to find A/C, a king sized bed, TV and a sink (all luxury items in a backpacker hotel.) I did a load of laundry and took a nap. Later that afternoon on the advice of the front desk girl, I walked into town in search of the “baby kangaroo rescue center” I found it but it was closed L. On my walk back I passed a group of girls two of which were speaking with “valley girl” accents (it almost sounded fake) and I asked them where they were from. “We are like from Los Angeles” was the reply. After being in country for 10 days I had come across my first Americans! I said “me too - San Diego” I was very happy to meet some of my countrymen. Well the chicks from LA didn’t share that sentiment and barely acknowledged me. Certainly they didn’t think I was hitting on them?? (The women outnumber the men 10 to 1 in some cities here and the hostels are 80% girls, I would have no need to pursue some So Cal chicks.)
So the first Yanks I meet were kind of kooks. Oh well. More on that later.
The one thing that is consistent with backpacker hotels/hostels in Australia is the nightlife. They always have a rockin pub with very good cheap food and beer specials, so god and so cheap that the locals end up filing up the place so there is a great mix of young Aussie and visitor. Annie’s Place is no exception. I had an incredible Thai chicken salad and a glass of wine. As promised the front desk girl had gotten off work and was there to buy my beer (I switched it to wine.) I ended up buying a bottle and hanging out with her for a while. Pretty cool (although I couldn’t understand half of the things she said.) Back to my room for the massive bag swap and gear readiness for the expedition to the Outback.
Day 11
Up at 4:00 AM and am regretting the wine from the night before. I slip out front to find my other tourmates gathering by our bus. There were 22 of us 17 female and 5 male, this time, no kids or families and I was the oldest by a few years. I knew this was a fairly hardcore trip and was impressed by all the girls. Our guide was a local who went by “Beej.’ We helped him load up and off we went, he warned us it would be hot and it was. I sat up front and could tell Beej and I were going to get along great. He said my job as co-pilot was to tell him interesting stories and keep him alert,- no problem there. We had a blast and it was not long before my MP3 player was jacked in for real rockin. I asked how often he had Americans on the tour he said not very. I told him about the chicks I met back in town and there were kind of stuck up. He said ”Could that be them right behind you?” Sure enough the girls from LA, that I was kind of bad mouthing, were 3 rows behind me. Doh!! Thank goodness to music was up. We stopped at a camel farm and some folks paid for a quick ride. Beej then announced that he forgot some of our food and we would have to buy our own lunches. Not good. I though there was going to be a riot!!
Its 40 degrees centigrade when we did our first hike into King’s Canyon National Park. The geology is amazing like nothing I have ever seen. We went several miles stopping for pictures and wildlife viewing. I found out there were in addition to 3 Americans, Japanese, English, Swiss, Irish, French, Dutch, Canadian and Danish on this tour. In the middle of the hike we stopped for swim at a billabong and enjoyed some shade. Despite the harsh conditions the group was in high spirits and having a great time.
Back on the road we stopped for beer and ice, I got together with the French delegation and we pitched in on a 30 pack of “XXXX” Aussie Bitter. We headed to camp off road. We pulled up just as the sun was setting and I missed getting pictures of my first Outback sunset. At that point I was kind of cursing all those bathroom stops we made – thanks girls!
We unloaded our gear as Beej made dinner – Chili Con Camel with pasta! Yummmm. We had a huge bon fire and consumed much beer and wine.
We slept under the stars in what is called a “swag” a self contained canvas bag with a built in pad (kind of like a tent with no poles.) I was feeling a bit down as I headed off to bed, I think being around and camping with all of those girls reminded me a bit of some other girls that I have recently said goodbye to over the past few months. This was the first time on my trip that I let the last 6 months catch up to me and I guess it was bound to happen. I grabbed my MP3 player and put on Pink Floyd “Astronomy Domine” just in time for a small meteor shower and I counted 27 shooting stars before drifting off. I woke up around 3 and walked around staring at the strange constellations, the Milky Way and a few planets. There was no moon and the sky was breathtaking. My old friend Orion rose up from the North and I found the most famous constellation of the Southern Hemi:
When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
And the truth you might be running from is so small
But it is as big as the promise
The promise of the coming day.
Up before dawn to get some sunrise pictures with the big camera. It was hard to use SLR in the dark and I don’t think the snaps will be very good. We had breakfast and broke camp heading for Aboriginal land. First stop a series of monoliths used as an important ritualistic site called The Ulgas. We hiked up to a peak with a great view of the desert and Ayers Rock (now known by it’s original name Ularu.) The Ulgas remind me of Joshua Tree or Monument Valley in the sense that there is something there that cannot be easily described, the energy is just different.
On the hike back, I split from the group for some quiet time and was rewarded almost immediately when a 5 foot Goanna (monitor lizard) come down at sat on the rock in front of me. I was in such shock that I almost forgot to grab the camera and get some pics. He hung out for a little while then walked off. Amazing – by far the biggest lizard I have seen in the wild.
It’s now well over 100 degrees and we hike back to the van and the A/C. We spent the rest of the day at the Aboriginal Cultural Center where we basked the A/C and ate Ice Cream. I am very much enjoying the Irish girls, I could listen to them talk all day and night (even if I don’t understand them!) Everybody is cool and I’m also enjoying talking with the Canadian couple from Vancouver. They have been on a round the world trip for over a year and I got him caught up on all the happenings in the NHL since they left.
I was all set to purchase some native Aboriginal artwork until I saw the prices – Yikes! We head off to catch the sunset over Ularu but clouds moved in and it’s was not as spectacular as we had hoped, oh well we will be back to the same spot for the sunrise and that should be much better.
We made camp under the stars again and tonight Beej broke out his acoustic, it sounded pretty good and it was funny watching the girls swoon. He didn’t have a pick so I let him use my lucky Smokin Joe Kubic pick that I carry with me everywhere. It does come in handy.
We saw a wild Dingo running around before we went to sleep so everyone was a bit nervous, there was a rumor going around camp that Dingos would run off with your boots leaving you barefoot for the rest of the trip. Naturally I dreamt of Dingos all night.
It’s much warmer tonight and may even rain a bit, as long as it’s not too much that would be cool.
Sure enough a few drops fell and I’m glad I was up last night to see the stars.
Day 12 – Check this off the list
When I was in the 3rd grade all of the students had the assignment to do a presentation on another culture or country. My Mom helped me make an igloo out of sugar cubes and I talked about Eskimos. One of the kids did his presentation on Australia and he had a picture of kangaroos and a big red rock called Ayers rock. When I saw it, I really wanted to go there, and of course I had no concept of how far away it was. I expected my parents would take me there any weekend. That’s what started it, a few years later it was Bugs Bunny and The Tasmanian Devil that got my attention. I now had an idea that it was pretty far away because Bugs had to get on a plane to get there. Later on it was AC/DC records, The Discovery Channel and hand raising Australian Sugar Gliders as pets that kept me close to the place I have always felt an odd connection to.
Now I was here.
Not just here on the continent but at the base of Ayers Rock, the image that had captured my imagination as a little boy. I have planned this moment in my mind for decades. My original idea was to play Frisbee on the top of the rock like I did at Stonehenge and Half Dome but last year I found that it was turned back to the Aboriginal clan that first owned the land. The site is considered holy to them and to play a game on top of it would be sacrilege and highly offensive to them so I gave up on that.
We are up before sunrise so we can break camp and head over to the viewing area. It was amazing and I shot 40 pics (3 of them came out decent.) We have breakfast in the shadow of the monolith and head over to the base. We had the choice of a circuit hike around the rock or a climb straight up the side. As I understand it, the climb route is closed most days and it was fairly rare that to have it open. There was a line forming (just like Yosemite) at the base and folks really wanted to climb this baby. The Aboriginals ask politely that visitors do not make climb but they do not close it. 36 people have died making the trek up and there were two rescues the day we were there. The climb was ROUGH about 10 times longer than the accent up to Half Dome on the cables. At the top I found a side trail and ditched the crowd for some quiet time with “my” rock. Once again Pink Floyd was in order. The way down took over an hour and I was toast by the time I got to the bottom.
I’m getting teased pretty regularly about my accent now. It seems that everyone thinks I talk funny (little do they know it’s they who talk funny) and apparently I say “freakin” a lot. We have a six hour drive back with plenty of breaks for water and snacks. We arrive back at the hostile and agree to meet in the pub for a group dinner. The drinks flowed and it was great fun, Beej was trying hard to get with one of the girls (I can’t blame him) and it was interesting to see an Aussie guy in action with the ladies (I have always heard they were a bit rough and direct.) Not much finesse in his game for sure but I left for bed (to sleep) before I could see if he had any luck.
Oh and the two American girls turned out to be allright. J
Day 13 Roo Joeys and Train Ride
I slept in to a decent 7:30 and got up to repack and head to the train station. I had a few hours to kill so I grabbed a mountain bike and headed back into town. This time the Baby Kangaroo Rescue was open and I made a $5 donation so I could hold a Joey and hang out with the orphans. Hundreds of kangaroos are killed on Aussie hwys every month and many have live babies in their pouches that survive the impact but starve to death or get eaten by birds. These folks go check out road kill and rescue the babies. They hand raise them and turn them back into the wild. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
Now I’m back on the train headed South to Adelaide and cooler weather.
