Day two of our trip up to Darwin did, as our guides had warned, contain a lot of time sitting in the bus watching the landscape slowly change from dry scrub into green tropical vegetation. Our first stop came mid morning when we arrived at Newcastle Waters, a huge but now deserted cattle station that used to be an important meeting point for drovers crossing the outback during the early settlement days. In the 1800 and early 1900s, farmers in Australia employed cattle drovers to take animals over vast distances to sell at market, deliver them to new owners or simply [View Full Entry]

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After a couple of days chilling out in Alice Springs we were picked up at ridiculously early o'clock by two ladies from Adventure Tours Australia (I can't remember their names - they were rather bland and mechanical) in a vehicle that was even more daunting looking that the bruck. Like the bruck it was essentially a four wheel drive bus but this held 22 instead of the measly 12 or so that the trusty bruck could seat. As we were first to be picked up (hence the very early start) we chose the best seats just behind the drivers and stared [View Full Entry]

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After packing up our swags for the last time we set off. Our first stop of the day was at Glen Helen Gorge where we sat in a cafe overlooking the dry creek bed and the sheer rock face towering above it. We stopped for about an hour, just about enough time to explore the area and do a short bush walk but once we saw the comfortable sofas we decided to sit in the cafe and enjoy some iced coffees and the view instead. After nine days in the bush we were so overawed with the sofas that it was [View Full Entry]

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We were woken early by a chorus of brightly coloured parrots in the trees around us and, after some breakfast, jumped in the bruck to explore Palm Valley. The road that took us further into the park could barely be described as such and we had to leave the trailer behind as we bumped over the large uneven rocks. We even had to jump out and watch Ian ease the bruck over some particularly bad patches and you can see a video I took of one of them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJEmrjcRHWI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHqazPs5Jw Eventually, and to much relief, we reached the car park [View Full Entry]

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Day eight started with another early morning so that we could get around King's Canyon before the sun became too intense. Ian had warned us that the beginning of the route was up a very steet 300m incline called heart attack hill that would take us to the top of the canyon wall and from where we could walk around the rim. When we arrived at the bottom, the air already stiflingly hot, we saw why we had been advised to bring a lot of water for the walk. Living up to it's name, heart attack hill was very intimidating. We [View Full Entry]

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Sleeping in swags in the bright red soft dust at the Yulara campsite was definitely our most comfortable night so it seemed cruel that it was also our earliest morning. At 4am we woke up and blearily threw some clothes on, rolled up our swags and climbed into the bruck for the drive to the viewing platform between Uluru and Kata Tjuta. We arrived as the sky was starting to get light and grabbed a spot to watch the sunrise over Uluru on our right hand side and Kata Tjuta on our left. Kata Tjuta, also known as The Olgas, is [View Full Entry]

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On day six we were up early as we had another day with lots of kilometres to cover. The morning was spent dozing in the bruck, stopping occasionally to refuel and stretch our legs before we stopped at a service station for some lunch. There was a nice patch of grass under some trees for us to sit while we munched away on our sandwiches. The service station was also home to a variety of bush animals that had been rescued from the wild after various accidents or misfortune. In an enclosure a orphaned and blind baby kangaroo shared his home [View Full Entry]

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Due to the fact that we had fallen a little behind schedule, our fifth day on tour was a day to make up lost ground. Most of the morning was spend on the road catching up on some sleep while the bruck ate up the kilometres. We made a couple of quick stops to refuel and stretch our legs, one of which was at the small town of Marla, the official end of the Oodnadatta track where we then joined the Stuart Highway, a much better maintained road. With tarmac! For lunch we pulled over at a rest stop where there [View Full Entry]

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In the morning we cooked some breakfast on the fire before packing up camp and finding our way back to the Oodnadatta track. We headed north for a while until we got to a very scenic lookout point over the main section of the lake. There were also some information boards that explained why the lake forms and that it is part of the Great Artesian Basin that covers quarter of Australia, making it the largest and deepest artesian water basin in the world. I had assumed that the lake would be devoid of life seeing as there is only occasionally [View Full Entry]

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Waking up somewhere as beautiful as Parachilna Gorge is never a hardship. The morning had a chill so we huddled around the fire toasting bread and heating water for coffee on the fire before rolling up our swags and packing up camp. Before we left we decided we should have a quick bushwalk around the area because even Ian had never been there before. One thing I that love about the Heading Bush company and it's attitude is that each tour is different and the itinerary is never set in stone. Obviously there is an outline but if something comes up [View Full Entry]

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