I've just arrived in Alice Springs, at the center of the "outback", having flown here from Cairns this afternoon. It was a lovely flight and I had great views of the cayes off the coast of Cairns and the red desert spotted with green trees on the way into Alice. Nice topography here, too, we could see plenty of small mountains and river beds coming in for landing. It was raining when we arrived, and muggy. Since it is usually dry desert I am expecting this may mean some nice wildflowers during my upcoming 8 day bus tour through the outback. But I digress.
I just completed 2 weeks WWOOFing for a lovely couple out on the Aterhton Tablelands, about 2 hours east of Cairns. I dug up their fallow garden beds and helped plant the spring seedlings, prepped the flower bed, mulched fruit trees, planted seeds in trays, and other miscellanea. They fed me wonderfully, including much meat, turning into a downright carnivore! John made lovely desserts as well, including a sorbet from the soursop fruit which was totally divine. On the weekends I played, spending one in Cairns visiting the reef and the other in a town named Yungaburra on the tablelands (due to an aversion to returning to the muggy lowlands!) where I canoed at night, swam in waterfalls, biked around, and layed in the hammock. Back at the "homestead", where John and Melody live a fairly simple lifestyle whilst building their home, I cleaned up by swimming in the river every afternoon when I was done working. I enjoyed the wildlife, including little rock wallabies, strange big bugs, noisy cicadas, big raucous cockatoos, bandicoots, and not a single snake sighting. We had wonderful conversations during meals, and I enjoyed hearing the opinions of my hosts, who are tourism consultants and very well travelled. I hope to have such good luck with my future WWOOF hosts, because my first two stays have been excellent and worthwhile, and have provided lasting memories. An added benefit is that I don't spend much money while WWOOFing, whereas everything else in this country is expensive!
