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Sun 8th- the bus came late cos the pickup before me had a bunch of still pissed girls on it. to be fair to them it made the morning trip to kings canyon quite fun and they are a sound group of girls. the heating didnt work which was bad enuff but the f***in air-con was stuck on and it made the bus like an ice cube- fun is wasn't! kings canyon was the first jump off, twas ok nowt special really. a good little walk (well 7km) round the gorge, some spectacular views and panaramas from the top. we went to the garden of eden too, too cold for a swim but still had a little paddle none-the-less. ddint stop again till we got to the Yulara resort near Uluru, its seems weird that in the middle of the desert there is a huge resort catering for everyone, backpackers/ celebs etc- i guess it shows why the local Anangu ppl were so pissed when the initial resort was right by the rock. fire and food and beer (again) before a night in the swags.
mon 9th- up for the spectacular sunrise over Uluru, we and about another 200ppl all crowded round the bus sunrise stop hoping to see the postcard moments. it was ok but like at Litchfield there was so many ppl there that it lost all the specialness cos you were sharing it with so manjy other ppl. on the plus thou there was a californian chick who was wearing the same clothes as me (well orange hoody, and green shorts) adn we had a few pics next to the rock seeing if we could merge ourselves...we failed! onto the cultural centre for a quick lesson in Anangu way of life and the meaning behind the sites and stories. decided against the summit walk (in the end it was closed anyway) cos of the wishes of the tribal elders to perserve it, so we walked round the base for 9km ish. lunch and then over to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) which in my opinion was so much better than uluru, while that was a single monolith, the kata tjuta (many heads) were 36 rocks of a lot more meaning and just MASSIVE. it hard to explain the actual size or the imposing nature of them, but it was brilliant. we had a walk round the site seeing the valley of wind and the majority of the rocks. there were no info points anywhere cos the site is really only for initiated males (the native females are forbidden to go there). a quick trip back to uluru for sunset which was enjoyed with champagne and nibbles, before heading back to the camp for the usual.
tues 10th- we had a long drive to coober pedy today, the opal capital of the world (it produces 90% of the global supply). there was a quick stop at the Breakaways which was like space- it is actually used in films to resemble alien planets, like mad max, pitch black and priscilla queen of the desert. it was just weird how this area just appeared and didnt fit in with the local topography. when we arrived there was a quick tour of the city, and then to the old mine site and an underground house - the temps get over 50 in the summer and as low as -10 on a winters night. the underground house was interesting esp as i heard that the town was underground, when actually it was more like built into the sides of mounds and they had real above ground shops too- so not like i expected but stil a weird place. acc to tax forms only 200 ppl live there, but over 4000 ppl get mail! pizza for tea in an above grouns shop, then to an underground bar for beers and then we went back to the underground bunkhouse for drinking games with the lovely goon! it got messy and there are a few black marks in my memory!
weds 11th-another long day of driving but it was split up into little journeys with plebty of stops to stretch our legs. one included a salt lake where we played frisbee and AFL for a bit, before heading to woomera, the aussie launch site for missiles and satellittes etc. onto rawnsley park for camping and food- nowt special really but a bit more homely than the underground- well i mean i didnt have to duck all the time to avoid twatting my head on the roof.
thurs 12th- cold cold cold. we arrived at wilpena pound for a shortish walk, the only prob was that it was nearly vertical in places so it took over 3hrs in total to scale the thing and then bounce down. the views on the way up and at the top more than made up for it with brilliant views across the entire flinders range region and of the mix of forest, trees, lakes and desert on the very edge of it. there were plety of good pics and then i went climbing and exploring the numerous little holes and rocks- a didnt fall at all, maybe i'm gettin some coherence after all these years! as our last night there was a huge bbq and it was an ecletic mix of food- camel sausages, emu and kangaroo- the roo was absolutely gorgeous in a teriyaki marinade. then guess what happened...drinking, fire and games!
fri 13th-the morning was spent in the bus and then at Yourambulla for some SA rock art. it varied so much from the Northern Territory pieces of art but the clarity was perfect (thou they may have been touched up recently). a few stops to see lookouts, eat etc and then we had a winetasting seesion in the Clare Valley- a few good wines there but alas i didnt have either the money to buy a case or the ability to transport it round with me if i bought a bottle :-( onto to adelaide and its a big city again with cars and loads of ppl- the last time i was in a place this big was brisbane. had a really nice and cheap meal at marble bar, then it became happy hour for cocktails- we drank loads of them and a bit of dancing. met up with tom again, and we wandered to a bar called the church were it was 2-4-1 beers...cue more drinking and more dancing before i crashed at the yha, and then got threaten with police action if i didnt leave, someone must have called the porter the b******s!
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