It's a while ago since my last update. But there is so much to see that there is hardly time left to update my blog. I have taken so many photos that I have to sort them out first and do get wireless internet access in campgrounds is mostly quite difficult. But at least you'll get some news about the last two weeks below. We are still fine and now in the north around Darwin where it is much warmer, sometimes almost too warm...
Friday 9.7.
After a night with very little sleep due to the heavy storm I got up early and spent some time in the internet, writing diary and blog. The storm didn’t want to calm and there were also a few but heavy showers. Nevertheless we decided to leave, hoping we would reach Perth by evening. We had to drive slowly because of the wind. Approaching Perth the rain got heavier, so we decided to miss Yanchep NP and steered directly towards another BIG 4 campground in Caversham near Perth. We used the early arrival to start preparing our baggage and wash our clothes in the laundry. To empty the fridge we made some leftover wraps for dinner and finally had an early night.
Saturday 10.7.
The weather was still unsettled with heavy rainshowers and only short sunny intervalls between. We got up early and at 9 AM we arrived already at Dianella where we stayed for a cup of tea. I had to fix another post packet with stuff to send home and we also had to pick up a few things we left there 2 weeks ago. We gave all our leftovers and especially our 70 litres of water to Jim and Evi what they appreciated very much. We also met Li, their new student from China. After a last goodbye, we headed to the city and gave Li a lift, as he had a BBQ at Phoenix Academy. When we arrived at the hotel, our room was already made and so we left all our luggage there before we went to clean our camper. We took it seriously and so it took us more than two hours. But it was clean afterwards, probably cleaner than before when we picked it up 2 weeks ago. We brought it back to the car rental and they just looked at it quickly, so we thought, we could have spent less time for cleaning. Then back to the hotel with the taxi, there starting to get our luggage ready, trying to reduce weight. Before we left for dinner, we had a drink at the hotel bar, as we had some vouchers from our last stay when the service wasn’t as we expected it to be. Before dinner we walked up to Kings Park to enjoy the view over the city by night. It was impressive and we were even lucky with the weather, because only a couple of minutes later when we sat in the bus, it was pouring. Todays dinner was at an Italian near the hotel. After a last drink at the hotel bar went to bed, quite tired from an intensive day.
Sunday 11.7.
In the morning we had to fix our baggage and soon a taxi took us to the domestic airport. The check-in was without any problems and they didn’t even charge us a few kilos excess luggage. The flight was slightly delayed and so we spent some time in the shop. The flight finally was comfortable and we could even get a first glimpse at Kata Tjuta and Uluru from air. Landed in Alice Springs, the weather was awful, thick fog and quite cool. At least our baggage was there and also our car, a white Mitsubishi, was ready to drive away. In town we had some difficulties to find our hotel, as we first had to organise a map and it was already dark. However, we got to the Lasseter casino hotel and soon had dinner in one of the hotels restaurants. We had some ( a bit boring ) company from an elder German who was sitting on our table. The more interesting part was then to play Black Jack in the casino. After being around 20 bucks on the winning side for a while I finally lost 10 dollars. But I played for quite a long time and that was fun. Because there is 1.5 hours time shift between Perth and Alice, it was soon late and almost midnight when we finally went to bed.
Monday 12.7.
Our first stop today was in town at Woolworths to stock up, especially drinks and snacks, before we left Alice with direction Uluru. We thought our car (an automatic one) was using a lot of fuel, so we called the car rental to ask whether there is sth. Wrong. But they assured as, that only the needle was fluctuating, and indeed, we seemed to have a normal use of fuel for the rest of our trip. We just stopped to fuel up at Erldunda and at Mt. Connor lookout we could already admire Ayers Rock, although we were still over 100 kilometres away. In the late afternoon we finally arrived at Yulara, the Ayers Rock resort. We checked out the resort and got some information about trips and what we could do during our stay. We decided to book a scenic flight, but we would wait for the definite booking as the weather wasn’t very stable. We had sunshine in the morning when we left Alice, later on our way there were a few heavy showers but a nice rainbow and later on the sun was shining again. At least it is warmer in Yulara than it was in Alice and Perth the days before. We finally drove into the Ulura Kata Tjuta NP and watched the sunset with droves of tourists. But to be there and watching the changing colours is a unique experience.
Tuesday 13.7.
We had an easy morning with some coffee and studying our brochures to find out what we could do in the area. We finally did the base walk around the whole rock. From near you can admire all its special features, little caves and paintings which you can’t see from far. There are also a few waterholes and rich vegetation in places. Unfortnately it’s not allowed to take photographs of the whole rock as certain spots are sacred places for the Aborigines. It took us about 3 hours for the 10.5 km. Back in the resort we got ready for our scenic flight. We got picked up at 5PM and were driven to the nearby airport. James, our Pilot was already waiting for us. A couple of minutes later we were in the air, enjoying this unique view on the Ayers Rock and also the Olgas. It was just amazing and I took a lot of photos. We were flying for about half an hour while the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon. It was a great birthday present from Sibylle which will last for a long time with all these beautiful impressions. Back in the resort we had dinner at an Italian restaurant and enjoyed both some delicious pasta.
Wednesday 14.7.
Today’s programme was the Olgas or Kata Tjuta which means “many heads”. It’s about half an hour drive from Uluru. On the way there we already took some first photos from a viewing platform on a dune. We decided to do a first walk into the Olga gorge, but completely in the shade it was quite chilly with the wind, so we soon made a turn and drove further to the valley of the winds walking track. We started, not knowing wheter we would do the whole track, as we didn’t have much time left. However, we were so fascinated by all these impressive rock formations, that we decided to complete the circle route after the second lookout. And it was the right decision, the view and the walk through the valley of the winds were just great. We saw also lots of birds and enjoyed the beautiful and warm weather. On our way back we stopped at the cultural centre in the park but soon had to leave the NP because today’s destination was the Kings Canyon resort. With the last sunrays we arrived at the resort, about 300 km from Uluru. We enjoyed our dinner at Carmichaels restaurant. It was a buffet sponsored by Mom and Dad (Thank you!). It was good, but not extraordinary, as they told us. However, we ate a lot and had a nice evening, until we got back to our room. As we wanted to go to bed, we discovered that the sheet was dirty, it was quite disgusting. So I called the reception and they moved us to another room. We had to move all our stuff, but for the inconvenience we got an upgrade to the luxury suite. It was worth to claim.
Thursday 15.7.
Since we got upgraded the evening before to a luxury room, we enjoyed our breakfast in the whirlpool of our room. After this relaxing start, we soon left the resort and stopped again at the car park of Kings Canyon. We decided to make the Rim Walk which started with a steep and strenuous climb from the car park up to the rim of the canyon. But it was worth the effort as the view was breathtaking. The rest of the walk was quite gentle, passing all these impressive rock formations with its different lookouts. There is also a kind of an oasis, called “The garden of Eden” in the upper part of the canyon with a rich vegetation and beautiful waterfalls and creeks. We took a rest there and enjoyed this beautiful landscape before we continued our walk. Roughly 3 hours later we were back at the car park and after a short stop to fuel up we continued our trip as we had to drive more than 400 km back to Alice Springs where we arrived just before sunset. We checked in at the Aurora hotel where we first did some laundry before we went to Mc Donald’s, having dinner and using the free internet.
Friday 16.7.
Today programme was a day trip to the West Mac Donnell Ranges NP. These ranges which build the southern border of Alice extend in total more than 400 km in east west direction. Our first stop was at Simpsons Gap. It’s one of the numerous small gorges which cut the ranges. It was quite chilly in the early morning, and so we just stopped for a few pictures a short walk into the gorge. A few minutes later we arrived at Standley Chasm. There are several walks available. We decided to do the easiest one, just straight along the creek to the chasm. There was quite a lot of water in the river bed, so we had often to climb around rocks to avoid wet feet. Finally arrived at the chasm there was a real crowd with dozens of tourists standing there. A it was noon, the sun was just above the narrow gorge, illuminating its steep walls. We had our lunch there and soon walked back, as there were still some more highlights to visit ahead. Some of the gorges we wanted to visit were not accessible as there were only bumpy roads turning off from the main road which we were not allowed to drive on with our camper. The recent heavy rainfall a couple of days ago has left its spurs, so there were several small creeks and rivers leading a lot of water and we had to cross some of them on the main road. The deepest was something between 20 and 30 cm deep (water over the road) and quite wide, so we stopped a bit scared in front of it. But there was another car, about the size of ours, passing the river in front of us, so we were sure it shouldn’t be a problem for us as well. About half an hour later we arrived at Ochre Pits. It’s a place were the Aboriginals used to get their ochre from for different purposes, such as painting or medicine. Finally we arrived at Glen Helen gorge, the last gorge in the NP still accessible with 2WD. It was an easy stroll to the entrance of the gorge with a cooling bath for our feet. The last stop today was at Ormiston Gorge, another beautiful spot with a waterhole for swimming. As it was already late afternoon, we just had time for the short walk to the waterhole, before we drove back to Alice Springs. We had to be there before 6PM to make a booking at the Red Ochre Grill to get 20% off the dinner. They had a special deal, called early birds, where you had to book before 6PM and to sit in before 7PM. The place in the backyard of our hotel was nice to sit, but the dinner itself was a bit disappointing. However, it was at least not too expensive.
Saturday 17.7.
As it was the day of our transfer to Darwin, we had to prepare our luggage and then had a nice breakfast in a café in the mall of Alice Springs. Later, we did some shopping in the local stores and stopped at Anzac Hill to enjoy the view over the town and the Mac Donnell Ranges before we went to the “School of the Air”. It’s a school for about 130 children living in the outback areas of the Northern Territory. The school lessons were initially broadcasted with radio, today it works basically over the internet where the students can chat with each other and the teacher. The lessons are taught from a studio with lots of cameras, so that the students can follow the lessons shown on the internet rather than being present in the classroom. After this impressive visit we left the town and drove to the airport. After returning our car and check-in we soon sat in the plane to Darwin where we arrived in the late evening. The taxis there seem to be extremely expensive, so we decided to take the much cheaper shuttle bus which took us to the Vibes hotel, just at the seaside. It was a very nice hotel and we took the opportunity of a refreshing swim in the hotel pool at 9 PM before going to bed.
Sunday 18.7.
After check-out we went to town a first time for breakfast and a short visit at the local tourist info. Later we took the bus to Winnellie to catch our camper. It was the same model we already had along the west coast, but unfortunately it was much older and partially in a bit poor condition. As we knew already about all its functions from the first time, we soon left the camper rental and went to Woolworths to stock up for the next couple of days. All our work done, we picked up our luggage at the hotel and then enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the wave lagoon, right next to our hotel. It’s a lovely swimming area with an artificial lagoon with waves from time to time. In the late afternoon we finally drove to Mindill Beach to visit the local famous market. There is a lot to see there, a huge variety of food corners, artists and of course lots of possibilities to buy souvenirs. I bought an Aboriginal painting and enjoyed delicious Chinese food. Between six and seven o’ clock we were sitting on the beach, eating our dinner and watching the sunset amongst hundreds of people. Considering the huge number of visitors on the beach there must have been an extraordinary event, but it was just a sunset. But it was a beautiful one. After a refreshing smoothie in the tropical heat, we drove a couple of km to our caravan park near the centre where we stayed for the first night.
Monday 19.7.
We left Darwin with direction Litchfield NP. After buying a few things we forgot the day before, we arrived in Batchelor at the entrance of Litchfield shortly after noon. The first thing we did was catching a campsite at a nearby campground. Having done that, we drove into the park and stopped at the Florence Falls. A short walking trail took us through tropical rainforest to the falls. Slightly disappointed we realised, that the spot was just overcrowded with over hundred people swimming and running around the plunge pool at the bottom of the falls. However, we found a nice spot after crossing the creek with some difficulties and finally enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with swimming and sunbathing. On the way back to our camper we took the short trail over almost 150 steps and a steep climb to a lookout before returning to the car park. Back on the campground we grilled some meat and enjoyed dining outside, as the temperature was still far above twenty degrees even in the evening. The only drawback was the presence of "some" mosquitos.
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