6100 km in 10 days - Alice Springs and Back!

Hey All!

So this blog is solely about the 10 day road trip I took with Maxine, Tiffany, Caitlin and Matt to Alice Springs over our mid-semester break! We drove 6100 km in 10 days, which means LOTS of road time and a new place every night. We left in a hurry. With Mid-terms we hadn't even had a chance to sit down and figure out food and money and overnight stops so although we had a general outline of what we wanted to do, lots of the specifics were just left alone and in the end everything worked out brilliantly!

Day One -Our first stop was Torquay, just a few hours west of Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. The Rip Curl Surfing Contest was being held at Bells Beach and although there were no waves when we got there, soon after the surf started up and the under 15 contest was held. We spent most of the day on the beach, just enjoying the atmosphere and hilariously random Australia running commentary over the loudspeakers. After stopping at the Rip Curl store in Torquay we continued on to Lorne, where we'd been on our orientation trip before school started. We were lucky and found a free campsite to set up for the night.

On Day 2 we left Lorne with the intention of making it to Adelaide for the night. Until we found out that it was about 5 hours further than we had supposed. So we changed plans and made for Narcoorte. On the way we stopped at the Otway Tree Top Walk where there are walkways among the trees built high up in the air. Along the Great Ocean Road we stopped for our first wild koala sighting! We then continued on to Narcoorte in the evening, it was a beautiful drive where I navigated for Caitlin. We got in late at night and set up in the dark for what would the first of many times. Our van only sleeps 2, 3 if you don't mind a squishy set up so we also had a 2 person tent. By the end of the trip we were extremely efficient at setting up and taking down our nighttime set ups.

Day 3 we drove from Narcoorte to Adelaide, which was one of our shorter drives. We got into Adelaide in the early afternoon and found a beautiful beach to spend a few lovely hours on. It was Easter Sunday and we spent it hunting for shells, suntanning and relaxing along the ocean. We drove around and ended up on Rundle Street, which had shops and many restaurants. Tiffany and I went for Thai - the weather was lovely and the food VERY spicy but delicious. Maxine had a friend of a friend in Adelaide so she called him up and we met Mike just down the street. We didn't have a place to stay that night and Mike was lovely enough to offer his living room floor and spare bedroom for the night. So we bought him a slab of beer as a thankyou gift and met him at the lovely little house he shares with flatmate Bridgette. We spent the night watching hilarious Japanese animated movies and episodes of The Mighty Boosh.

Day 4 we travelled from Adelaide to Flinders Ranges. The drive took us through our first real "outback" scenery and it was so captivating. Mid-afternoon we randomly pulled over at Wilsons Stationmaster Residence, built in 1880 when the area was first being surveyed. It turned out to be one of the best random stops we made, with gorgeous scenery, a picturesque dilapidated brick house and the clouds leaving shadows on the nearby hills. Arriving at Flinders we found self-check in campsites and probably the worst map ever. But the sunset and Ranges were so gorgeous, and kangaroos kept turning up along the road so the extended drive ended up being a good time. That night we set up blankets on the ground in our campsite so we could all lay back and admire the night sky hours from any city lights.

On Day 5 we woke up early to go on a short hike before hitting the road. We went to a lookout point and I think the view may be on of the most beautiful things I may ever see, it was unbelievably gorgeous and expansive, and being only people around made it even more special. From Flinders we chose to take the Oodnadatta Track north to Coober Pedy so that Maxine could see Lake Eyre, which she had heard had filled with water for the first time in a dozen years. Well the track was literally just a track so it was slowgoing but so, so worth it. The road was empty, I don't know if we passed 20 cars in 9 hours of driving. The landscape was empty and went on forever. Lake Eyre as it turned out was not filled with water although we all thought it was as we drove up because of desert mirages.

We also discovered the joy of FLIES on the Oodnadatta Track. Lots and lots and lots of flies out in the desert, flies that seem to love me more than I love them. We stopped at Williams Creek (population 2, the couple who run the pub) with their famous (ish) pub which has walls layered in the personal belongings of years and years of people passing through. Everyone leaves something - a buisness card, old id, sticker, hat, postcard - until evenutally the whole place looks like a strange patchwork quilt. I was heading back to the van to grab something to add when everyone gestured wildly for me to get in. I looked left and saw that the far off and fascinating duststorm was now a fast approaching, threatening looking duststorm. So we sped off down the track, narrowly missing the outskirts of the storm and continuing on to Coober Pedy.

Coober Pedy is an opal mining town, and one of the least appealing places I've been in awhile. We went into town for dinner but the highlight of our short time there was the fact that we camped underground. Because it gets so ridiculously hot in the outback, some of the residents of Coober Pedy live in underground houses and run accommodation from there. Although slightly creepy and feeling like the beginning of a bad horror film, it was very fun and probably the only time I will ever sleep in a nook in a cave.

Day 6 We drove from Coober Pedy to Yulara, which was 733 km in one very long day. To make that kind of time we'd already begun to get up at 6 am every day. We passed through both Marla and Erldunda, essentially 3 houses, a motel and gas station on the side of the road. Yulara in contrast was a resort community in the middle of the desert. We drove out to see the giant monolith rock Uluru at sunset, but it was cloudy and slightly anti-climactic, although still beautiful.

Day 7 We got up before 6 to make it to Uluru for sunrise. Again clouds, again anti-climactic. After Flinders and such a long drive just for Uluru it'd be hard to meet our expectations I'm sure. We drove back through Erldunda and went north to Alice Springs, a full city in the desert center of Australia. We then got a boost of group moral at an electronics store where we purchased a cable so we could play our ipods on the long drive home, seeing as the 10 cds we had were getting ridiculously repetative. We knew songs from each others cds word for word, we knew what songs were on what randomly labelled cds - with a 2,500 km drive back things were looking grim but an 8$ cable saved us! We then drove out to the MacDonnell Ranges only 20 minutes from our campsite outside town which was another unexpectedly beautiful place. We found Corrobborree Rock which I think of as our own personal Uluru, only with no 25$ park fee, 3 hours of driving or thousands of other tourists! That night I slept in a sleeping bag outside so that there was more room in the van, which was something I've never actually done before, literally slept outside all night. The weather was beautiful and the sky clear so I loved it.

Day 8 We began the journey back and drove 10 hours, from Alice Springs through Erldunda (for the third time) through Marla, down through Coober Pedy and stopping at Woomera for the night. I sat in the front studying Canadian Politics for my exam the day after we got back so I had fun doing "the wave" at passing drivers. This was one of my favorite things about the outback - there are so few cars on the road that for the entire Stuart Highway, almost all drivers take the time to wave as you pass them. After so many days of road however, a simple wave from the driver is not enough. So we threw in synchronized waves, waves out the window and stiff shouldered salutes. The only time I drove on the trip was for the hour and a half into Woomera and it was great to be back behind the wheel after not having driven for so long. I didn't even notice the whole other side of the road part after a little bit and the sunset that day was beautiful.
But of course, out of the hours and hours and HOURS of driving we did, it was during the short time I was behind the wheel that an Australian cow decided to cross the highway. There were signs all over the outback saying watch out for wandering cattle and kangaroos since the roads go through peoples land, but other than a few kangaroos hopping across in the distance we hadn't actually encountered any problems. I just remember saying "Is that a COW?!" and braking, from 100 to 20 in time to stare at the cow, slowly making it's way to the other side. So that was fun... but not...

Day 9 we accidentally got up at 5 am. Australia has many different time zones and we'd lost track of which hour and half hour zone we were in, so by 6 am we'd packed up and left Woomena for the Grampians. Again I sat in the front seat studying, so I set the route we took through South Australia into Victoria, completely avoiding the confusing streets of Adelaide. We stopped at signs and played in a park, saw lots of small town Australia and beautiful fruit orchards. After stopping at a terrifying Giant Koala, we arrived at the Grampians late at night.

Day 10 we drove to Hall's Gap which reminded me of Banff, being extremely touristy and set amongst the trees. From there we eventually found our way to a hike Caitlin had found. It was 4.2 km to the pinnacle and back. Bbeing scared of heights I almost turned back 10 minutes in, but I just told myself that I'd climbed a glacier and I could do this. Good thing it worked because there was nothing that really scared me after that and the view and trek was worth it. After our hike we had a picnic lunch and began the drive back to Melbourne via Ballarat. We got back to our place by dinner and spent the evening at Kingfisher conducting an elaborate photoswap.

I had my politics exam yesterday and have two papers due by the end of this week. I officially move into Kingfisher on Friday and am going into the city in the evening to see an Australian comedian with Maxine. On Saturday Caitlin, Tiffany and I are making a day of the city before dinner on Lygon Street and going to see the comedian Danny Bhoy. So basically back to school and the city and iHouse. I've officially been away from home for 3 months and have only 2 and a half left, it's going by fast and at the same time it feels like I've been away for so long. I now have my computer and therefore SKYPE! With skype I can video chat for free, which beats 10$ for 40 minutes of phone time in my books so feel free to email/message/facebook me for my skype name. I've already talked to Chris, Dani, Danna and Auntie Jen and it's brilliant to see everyone again!
This blog is for you all but also so I remember everything I've seen and done so once again I'm sorry for the length!
Love you all, Ayla

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