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Hello once again from Aus, and this time from the capital of the fly - the Northern Territory! Hopefully this journal wont be as long as the last, as I update you on our progress as we whip around this little island, with just over 2 weeks to go until we hit New Zealand!
Leaving Melbourne we again hired cars, this time Me, Josh, Sally, Leah and Jammo were the travelling group and we headed off in search of the great ocean road, a speeding ticket and a hatful of dreams.......! The great ocean road is the scenic route into South Australia, via the coast - and includes sights of natural beauty such as the Twelve Apostles - there never were 12 apparently, only 9 - and now there are 7 because they keep falling into the sea! (Again apologies for the delay in pictures, i am still awaiting on Josh this time to upload some of his photos so i can pinch them!)
We stopped twice in the towns of Apollo Bay and Mount Gambier on route, and spotted plenty of wildlife - Koalas, Emus and lighthouses to name but a few! Eventually we rocked into Adelaide 3 days later for the briefest of stays, 1 night only - before heading onwards into the red centre on "The Ghan" - the legendry train that now runs all the way from Adelaide to Darwin.
This journey took 20 hours as it made its way through endless desert to the salvation that was Alice Springs, and whilst the train is a great way to travel, and it did make me feel like Michael Palin - I doubt he would have got as little sleep as I did in my semi-reclined seat!
In Alice, salvation quickly turned to horror as we realised how hot 42 degrees really is, and how many black flies that attracts to your face like a crusty faced old horse!! Annoyance is not the word, but this was nothing compared to the constant bombardment we recieved when we headed into the outback for 3 days on an Uluru adventure!
Uluru or Ayers rock, was quite a sight - although I think we had all had enough of the thing when we were walking the 10k base walk around it on the 3rd day of hiking the best part of 25k's in total! Both Kings Canyon and the Olgas provided the warm up entertainment before the main event, and were both equally as impressive. However it was the rock we had come for, and whilst I was disapointed that the sunset show didnt include music from the lion king and a performing circus, we were still lucky enough to see the rock do its favorite trick and change colour in the sunlight!
2 nights of camping out under the stars in the remoteness of the outback were also quite an experience - altough getting up at 4.45 each morning and packing up in the dark was not perhaps as much fun! Rain answered the question of - "to climb or not to climb" when it came to the final morning, forcing us into the base walk - although I was more confident in my own survival doing that than climbing the rock itself! The rough guide said that anyone who is "in anyway slightly unfit or scared of heights should not even think about the walk to Uluru's summit".....Hmm!!!
Anyway, Me Josh and Jammo head for the east coast and Brisbane on Saturday, so I shall end it here and head on my merry way to the airport whilst plotting a biological weapon capabel of killing off the fly population of the world.........!!
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