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Published: April 9th 2007
Bushies
Back: Me, Singrid (Holland), Huw (Wales), Hugh (Oz), Linda (Holland), Kate (UK)
Front: Maike (Holland),Inge (Holland), Cristina (Switzerland), Tara (Ireland), Ditte (Denmark) I just had the most unbelievable 10 days of my life!! The Outback trip was more then I ever imagined it would be. I could probably write 5 pages on this trip, but I think I will save my stories for when I see you in person.
I left Adelaide on the 29th of March to embark on the best 10 days of my trip to Australia thus far. On tour there were 11 of us including our Guide, Hugh. I was a little worried when I saw who my travel companions were - nine girls and one boy (not including our guide) and I can’t forget Spike the dog. I thought uh oh this is going to be a lot of estrogen!! We all got along so well and became really great friends, my bush companions.
We crammed ourselves into the back of the 4WD and got to know each other very quickly. The first roads were very easy going, all pavement, but once we got on the other side of the Flinders Ranges it was all dirt roads from there. When I say dirt roads I don't mean gravel, I mean dirt - sand, mud, a
track in the middle of nothingness! You would look out the window and see flat land, sand, and the occasional kangaroo hopping around. We travelled over 3,400 kms in the 10 days and I must have buns of steal after bumping around in the back of the truck for that long.
Hugh was awesome, we couldn’t have asked for a better guide. He took us places that no one else goes to or can find, Hugh's special places. Places where we had to rake our tracks after so no one could see that we were there or find them. You are in the middle of nowhere, no one around you, no services for miles around, you are nowhere, but somewhere. It was hot and dry, and the flies!!!!! There were flies and flies and flies and more flies.
There were kangaroos everywhere for the first 3 days of our trip, but once we got into the really remote areas you didn't see very much wildlife. There were a few cattle stations so we did see quite a few cows. Even had some stand offs with a few cows that wouldn’t move off the track. Some of the Outback
life I did see were: eagles, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, camels, lizards, spiders, oh and did I mention the flies???
If you had to go pee, it was squatting and if you had to do other business, you had to “take the shovel for a walk” and dig your own hole.
We slept under the stars in swags, sort of like a one-person tent. I loved my swag and I wish I could sleep in one every night. Every night I would lie there and look up at the stars before falling asleep, I have had the best sleeps since leaving home. We were no longer tourists we were full on Bushies.
We did go to and through the “must sees” on our trip, Flinders Ranges, Painted Desert, Simpson Desert, Kings Canyon, Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Olgas, MacDonnall Ranges. They were cool and glad I went there, but honestly those places don't really matter to me in the end. It was the great friends that we all became, the viewing of the sunsets, the conversations around the campfire every night, sleeping under the stars, the bouncing around the back of a 4WD everyday for hours on end, this
Bedtime!
A pic of the swags we slept in. is what I am going to remember.
I slept in my first bed the last two nights since I started the tour and all I want to do was grab my swag and head back into the bush. It was tuff yesterday coming back to civilization.
I ventured into the Outback and survived, I am a Bushy, not a Pussy!
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Christina C
non-member comment
Kick Ass!!
Wow from what you've told me that sounds like a kick ass trip. I'm jealous. So glad you are having fun and exploring. By the way your hair is looking long, don't cut it off, you've been saying you wanted it long for a while. No cutty cutty. Love you *hugs* C :-)