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Published: October 31st 2008
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Back to Alice Springs
October 29, 2008
Goodbye to Uluru and our cozy cabin. We had an uneventful drive back to Alice Springs with the exception of a doozy of a dust storm that lasted about 30 minutes. In Alice we stopped for 15 minutes at our hotel to drop off the luggage and to fix a quick sandwich from the stuff in our “Cool Bag” and we were off again.
This time we headed 25 miles west from Alice Springs into the MacDonnell Range (MacDonnell National Park.) This area looks a lot like parts of Utah and Arizona, if you ignore the Eucalyptus trees and ferns. We hiked in two areas and both rewarded Joe with new birds. The second place, Simpson’s Gap, was a rockin’ good time as we were entertained by cute rock wallabies scampering over the cliff rocks. An Aboriginal guide escorting an official looking group started walking with us and helped Joe identify a couple of birds. The group turned out to be the Australian Cultural Advisory Board out from Canberra and we had a good time visiting with them. They gave us some insider tips for the rest of our trip and seemed
genuinely interested in what we were doing. One of the women had worked at Mesa Verde in her youth and knew a lot about the U.S. parks.
I’m embarrassed to say we ate at McDonalds tonight. We were both anxious to get back to the hotel and didn’t want to bother with sitting in a restaurant. Also embarrassed to say the hamburger tasted pretty good.
Again, The Ghan
October 30, 2008
The morning was spent walking around more art galleries and talking to people in Alice, buying food for the train, and returning the rental car. The Ghan left for Adelaide around 1 PM. We tried to upgrade to a sleeper car, but none were available. This car seems better than the last one, it’s newer, cleaner, and the seats seem more comfortable. Maybe we’ll get some sleep tonight. We lose an hour, the time zones here are crazy.
Here’s what we saw out the window today: red dirt, red sand, scrubby little shrubs, a few trees, some wild horses, a few cattle, some distant hills and mesas, some old fences, one wallaby, some big rocks, some little rocks, one small house and pretty clouds. We
Rock Wallabies
Can you count five rock wallabies in this photo? went over a big bridge that spanned a dry riverbed, but because the track is straight, we saw nothing of the bridge. We saw no people or vehicles. We stopped several times to switch tracks when meeting other trains. The big event of the trip was a monument, of sorts, to the one-millionth concrete railroad tie on the route. Everybody on the train cheered when we saw it. We had a nice dinner of olives, cheese, coleslaw, cashews, chocolate, and rum punch. What can I say… it hit the spot and beats anything they have in the dining car.
I have the only reading lamp in the entire car that doesn’t work so I will probably go back to the dining car to read when the dinner seatings are over. Again, there is a shower on this car and I feel like leading a couple of people to it. Luckily, we aren’t sitting near them, but when they walk by…oh, man…my eyes start to water and I very discreetly cover my nose with my sleeve.
Joe has been in the back of the car for an hour now swapping stories with two Australian couples. Sounds like they’re having
Simpson's Gap
We hiked up this dry river bed. a good time, so guess I’ll go join them.
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Connie
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The pictures are wonderful, but I'm not sure I'd eat the kangaroo meat. They look cute in your pics and at the zoo...maybe if I knew they were mean like chickens- Jim was in Utah for his birthday- Mutual of Omaha is buying more loans, and thinking about expanding. He came home Wed night, and left yesterday to bond with the hunters in Hays/Palco. He was a little torn about going- he'll miss Halloween, his favorite holiday- he goes handing out candy and seeing the kids. Mocha and I will fill in tonight. This part of your trip is what I picture when thin king about Australia- but maybe it is only a small part? And the dingo warning sign: did you see any? And why the warning? Curious minds want to know:)