Around Adelaide

Still not wanting to think about the fact that our holiday was coming to an end we had a great few days around Adelaide, visiting quite a few wineries and enjoying the gorgeous countryside (so lush and green with windy roads and hills………all so different to what we’ve driven through for the past 3 months).  The weather in Adelaide was beautiful and we had a lovely dinner with friends on Thursday night.

After spending most of the day on the Fleurieu Peninsula on Saturday we started to head for home and suddenly everyone was quite excited!  And today we’ve been lucky enough to have breakfast with friends in Horsham and lunch with friends in Ballarat……a great way to spend our last day.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting and following our trip…….what an awesome country we live in!!!

Over the next week I’ll sort out some of our favorite wildflower, rock art and wildlife photos and post them, so pop back and have a look if you are interested.  (I figure that’s much better than making anyone sit through a slide show of our 5000+ photographs………!!!)

Ciao

xx

Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy is a place like no other!  The hard copy Lonely Planet guidebook describes it in a more unfavourable way than their website which just states ‘it  is in an inhospitable environment where rainfall is scant, so even in the middle of winter the town looks dry and dusty, and water is expensive. You could never describe the town as attractive. In fact, it looks a bit like the end of the world.’ Well, we were there after a season of high rainfall so there was some green around but it was still dry and dusty!  But a very interesting place to visit.  80% of the town’s 3500 residents still live underground.  And there is still lots of people mining for opals – and regulations state that the miners are not allowed to fill in their holes once they have mined so there is about 2.5 million shaft holes scattered around with piles of rubble beside them.  We visited a ‘working’ mine (although I think the ‘working’ is for the tourist’s sake), an underground house and 2 underground churches. And drove around and marvelled at the old cars, trucks and just about any junk you can think of sitting around rusting. 

 

 

On the drive into Coober Pedy we detoured and visited The Breakaways which were much like the Painted Desert, drove alongside the Dog Fence  and saw the Moon Plains – a desolate area where lots of Hollywood movies have been filmed.

Although it was interesting and Coober Pedy is a must for anyone travelling through the Australian Outback,  a couple of nights was enough for me and I marvel at the fact that one of my closest friends lived here for 10 years as a child!!

Kings Canyon

The drive from Uluru to Kings Canyon took us quite a long time – mainly due to the fact that my family would stop and rescue any lizards that they saw on the road!  We saw our first (live!) Thorny Devil quite early on and stopped to take photographs before ‘encouraging’ it to move off the road.  This attracted quite a bit of attention and before long we had another 4 cars stopped and a group of about 20 people standing around snapping photos and helping in the ‘rescue operation’!

 We stopped at Kings Creek Station first and the girls had a 30 minute camel ride through the bush which they thought was great. (Didn’t get many photos though as Mum and Dad were too busy having a ‘real’ coffee and missed them coming back!) 

After sunset that night we went to a great Ranger Talk about the flora and fauna of the area. 

 Early next morning we set off on the magnificent Rim Walk around the top of Kings Canyon.  This 6 km walk was amazing.  At first it was a steep climb to the top which the ‘mountain goats’ loved and then a gorgeous walk around looking down the sheer cliffs into the canyon, at the beehive domes on top and at some VERY old cycads.  We normally do walks quite a bit quicker than the stated time but this one took quite a bit longer as certain members of the family looked in every nook trying to see a Stimson’s Python to no avail!  Again, this is a place that is hard to photograph – it’s so vast and beautiful that the photos don’t do it justice.

In the afternoon we did the walk along the creek at the bottom of the canyon with the ranger which was good also.  The wildflowers are incredible – apparently better than they have been for over 10 years.  And everything is so green – if we came back in a couple of years it would look completely different.

That evening we had a BBQ at a different sunset viewing place.

Next day we went to Kathleen Springs nearby.  It was pretty with lots of wildflowers but not as good as the walks the day before.  We did see two snakes though bringing our total to 16.  (Not counting the one we saw on the road between Uluru and Kings Canyon which was alive when Mal drove past but by the time he turned around to show everyone else a big tour bus had flown past and……..let’s just say it wasn’t alive any more!)

Back to Kings Creek Station and Mal went on a  hour’s Quad Bike ride out into the bush and came back absolutely covered in dust but smiling!  (Boys will be boys!)

We spent the rest of the day reading, doing journals and swimming enjoying the last of the warm weather before we head south……….none of us really want to start ‘going home’ but as we are due back at work and school next Monday and are still about 3000kms from home we really did need to think about it!

 

Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)

I read in my guide book a few days ago that ‘the first sight of Uluru will astound even the most jaded, road-weary traveller’ and that is certainly true!  The looks of sheer delight on the girls faces when we first glimpsed Uluru was lovely.  And we have had a wonderful few days here. (So be warned this is another of those places where we’ve taken hundreds of photos so there are lots to show…….)

After setting up camp on the first day we headed out to the viewing area and watched the amazing rock change color as the sun set.

(Edit:  These are all the photos I have time to upload before we leave for Kings Canyon where we won’t have reception for a few days but after that we are heading down to Coober Pedy so I will add more then…..)

The next morning we walked the 10 kms around the base of the rock.  It was an easy walk and just great to see all of the different crevices and caves and angles.  It was a bit disappointing though that part of the walking track is now a long way from the base and photographs are not permitted due to these sections being indigenous sacred sites.  We also saw a couple of rock art sites but nothing as good as the amazing Kimberley rock art that we have been so lucky to see.

In the afternoon we visited the Cultural Centre and then watched the sun set again from the camping ground lookout.

Yesterday we were up at 5am and saw the incredible sunrise over Kata Tjuta and Uluru.  Mal and I both said it was probably the best sunrise we’d seen which Ella enthusuastically agreed with…..and then said it was the first sunrise she’d ever seen.

We then did the Valley of the Winds walk and after lunch the Walpa Gorge walk – both of which were great.  The wildflowers were beautiful.  In fact the ranger told me that different types are springing up everywhere.  The botanists are apparently very excited by the ‘upside-down flowers’ near the sunrise lookout which haven’t been seen for at least 10 years!

And it was another gorgeous sunset again last night.

I think the girls were a little disappointed that the climb was closed due to wind for the time we were there but as climbing is strongly discouraged by both the traditional owners and the rangers it really just saved us having to make a decision!

Rainbow Valley

Our original plan had been to go around the Meerenie Loop to Kings Canyon but it was closed due to all the rain so we headed down the highway instead.  But the upside of this was that we got to camp at beautiful Rainbow Valley and watch the colours dance on the rocks as the sun set.

West Macdonnell Ranges

We spent a day in the West Macdonnell Ranges which were lovely but as the weather was still cold and a bit overcast I don’t think we got to see them at their best.  But we did get to see them with lots of water flowing which is quite unique!!

Here’s a snapshot of places we visited.

John Flynn’s Grave

Simpson’s Gap

Standley Chasm

Ormiston Gorge

Glen Helen Gorge

Rainy days

Our next few days in Alice Springs were cold and wet…….but really we can’t complain because it’s the only rain we have had since our first night  on the road.  And if we were to have rain it was good timing because we were staying in a well equipped caravan park, could find ‘indoor things’ to do in Alice and had Grandma and Grandpa’s motor home to shelter in for meals!  But really the camper trailer stood the test and we didn’t have any leaks.

So we spent our time visiting the Royal Flying Doctors’ Service, School of the Air, The Old Telegraph Station and Araluen Cultural Centre along with some galleries and some souveneir  shops (at least twice for each one whilst the girls decided what to buy!!!)  We went to see Wombat Stew at the Araluen Arts Centre which was fun and a great performance. We spent a day in the West Macdonnell Ranges and then a day at Alice Springs Desert Park  once the weather had cleared.  It is a great park, especially the Nature Theatre and the Nocturnal House, but nothing beats seeing the animals in the wild and we have been so lucky to see so much over the past couple of months!  So far we haven’t seen any Thorny Devils though so I was pleased to see them and we keep our eyes peeled all the time.

 

Palm Valley

When we arrived in Alice Springs it was cold and rainy……..coming from 39 degrees and sunny to 13 degrees and wet two days later was a bit of a shock.  Having lived in shorts and t-shirts or bathers for about 2 months we were a bit grumpy pulling out our jeans and hats and scarves!

Even though it was drizzling rain on our first day back in Alice we drove out to Palm Valley.  (Having seen the forecast for the next few days we had rightly suspected that the 4WD road would be closed so it was just as well we did).  There was already lots of water around and there was 36 waters crossings each way!  The rain eased whilst we were there and we walked up along the rim of the valley and to the lookout.  Although it was lovely I don’t think we got to see it at it’s best due to the weather.  And having been at the Bungle Bungles a few days before and doing the Mini Palms Walk in beautiful sunshine it was hard not to compare.  But it was still a great day and well worth the trip even just for the water crossings!!

View from the valley rim down to the carpark……anyone who has been to Palm Valley will know it is not usually like this!!

Slippery rocks!

But we got back to Alice Springs to find Grandma and Grandpa camped beside us which cheered us all up!

Tanami Track

After we’d collected our trailer at Halls Creek we went to the bakery for lunch, stocked up on some fresh fruit and veges at the supermarket and went for a swim at their amazing aquatic centre so it was about 4pm before we headed down the Tanami.  Our first stop was Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater where we missed sunset which had been our original intention but the camping ground was lovely and we got up early the next morning to see sunrise instead.  The road down to the turnoff was corrugated but OK, the road into the crater was pretty rough!

Next morning we met a lovely couple from Perth who were also travelling south and we decided to travel together ‘just in case’!  At first the road was in quite bad condition but it did improve as we went along.  Once we’d gotten to Rabbit Flat which is about half way it improved dramatically.  Because of the high rainfall this year the desert was green and there was an amazing number of birds and wildlife. (We saw 4 snakes along the way bringing our total for the trip to 14 so far………)

We camped the next night on the side of the road at Renahans Bore.  Next morning we drove on, stopping at Mt Doreen  ruins and then Yuendumu to visit the Art Centre.  We’d been warned not to go into Yuendumu as there was unrest there following a stabbing in Alice Springs the week before but it was fine.  We saw on the news when we arrived in Alice Springs though that there had been riots and explosions the following day!  (Although if you read this account it sounds like it wasn’t quite as bad as portrayed on TV!)  We made it to Alice Springs comfortably by mid-afternoon.

So……our trip down the Tanami was an easy one.  But we were lucky to get through when we did because the road was closed a couple of days later due to flooding.

Photos of Purnululu (Bungle Bungles)

Domes Walk

Cathedral Gorge

Mini Palms Walk

Echidna Chasm

Sunset