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Published: February 19th 2007
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Pete went spider hunting...
...and found this pretty one with a red back and some eggs in the men's toilets - it is only the third most venomous spider on the planet. Camping Lesson #1 - Always Check Toilets for Spiders
Flew into Alice Springs and straight away hit by the heat and flies. Soon found our hostel and met up with Faye and Ian who were to be our travelling buddies/happy campers for the next few days.
Let the Road Trip Begin
With the kids in the back of our family car we set off into the outback. We drove into the West Macdonnell Ranges and stopped at Simpson's Gap, Elery Rockhole and Ormiston Gorge. The boys really enjoyed a swim in the rock hole - very refreshing in the 45 degree heat as the water was freezing cold.
We were feeling a little apprehensive/guilty about our suggestion of camping as Faye had never camped before and the outback may not be the best introduction to outside toilet/shower blocks, bush cooking and midnight toilet runs. The first campsite we chose did not let us down. On arrival Faye and I decided that the boys didn't need our help putting up the tents - the heat was the least of our worries, it was the flies which really put us off. This campsite seemed quite nice to
Simpson's Gap
Lovely geology, slightly dry river start with, especially its inviting pool. The campsite had no cooking facilities but it offered us a 7.30 slot in their evening dinner. As the sun set we headed to the restaurant and started to realise what spending too long in the Outback can do to you. Our waiter was extremely, extremely wierd though quite good at Scrabble. For the entire length of the dinner he was performing a one-man show, calling everyone else "Trevor" (apparently everyone else was in on this
joke), cracking corny jokes and sitting on women's laps. We found it remotely amusing at times but a few big aussie blokes had very pi***d off expressions on their faces. I don't think he got much of a tip that night.
Leaving the restaurant we looked up at the sky and were amazed by the stars - it was the clearest night we have ever seen, if only we knew our constellations.
The best surprise of the campsite was when Ian said he had spotted a redback spider. Pete added that he had taken a picture of a spider's nest with pingpong ball eggs around it. Upon closer inspection it was evident this was the red-back's
Best Camping Accessory
The kitchen was infested with cockroaches but during the day a pack of fat lizards came in to clear up lair that was just above where we had both been going to the loo!!!
Plan B
Annoyingly (and also luckily) when we were about to leave the Glen Helen Canyon we found out that the road we were intending to take was for 4WD only and our family saloon had little chance in making the journey let alone with our hire car liability costs intact. So plan B meant driving all the way back to Alice and taking the Stuart Highway towards Uluru and Kings Canyon. Only a couple of junctions away, but sadly a 400km round trip.
We reached the Kings Creek campsite and jumped straight into their pool to cool down before locating the free gas barbeque. For a large campsite the barbeque site was surprisingly empty (completely empty). Understandable when we saw the state of the BBQ. It was covered in the remains of several years of heavy duty cooking but we manage to cook some value burgers, which for the first time ever didn't shrink in size (though the BBQ did seem to become cleaner?!?).
Evening Entertainment Outback Style - Fly Rodeo
Pete and Ian devised a
BBQ Time
Not only was Ang having to fight the flies off, she also had to protect the burger from Pete new game which kept us all entertained for several hours into the night. After being in the outback for several days you don't have any warm feelings for any kind of bug, fly or moth. We had lit several citronella candles to try and keep them away but this seemed to attract more and more flies. With wax coated minature spears we set about hunting any insect that dared to land on our picnic bench and then sacrificing then into the candles causing a bizarre fizzing effect. The picture below shows the extent of the insect death toll. Each candle containing up to 30 bugs melted into the wax. One even contained two big grasshoppers. We haven't got anything against these guys, they voluntarily jumped straight into the flames - perhaps attracted by the sight of the little insects?
Sadly this killing spree had very little affect on the insect population of the camp and soon there were screams from the womens toilets as Ang and Faye discovered that a million or so insects have made the ladies powder room their home for the night. We watched as every minnute or so a new women would walk in and
Flamin' Galahs
These buggers woke us up at 6am every morning - mating season apparently!!! come running out screaming - highly amusing.
Kings Canyon
We were not early getting to Kings Canyon and by the time we reached the entrance it was 10am and the shaded thermometer read 41 degrees. Wisely we chose the shady Kings Creek walk rather than the 4 hour exposed cliff-top walk. We still managed to get good views of the 100m deep gorge.
Uluru and Kata Tjutas
Not too far to drive to the Ayres Rock (Uluru) campground, our last stop in the Red Centre. We waited until sunset to go and see Uluru, a popular tourist sight and really quite impressive. Despite Pete taking far too many pictures we deemed it necessary to also watch sunrise and again take far too many pictures.
After deciding that walking around a single big rock may not be too interesting we headed to the lesser known Kata Tjutas (The Olgas) and set off on the Valley of the Winds 7km walk. It was a really beautiful morning and setting off at 7.30am meant we were back to the air con car by 10am before the heat got ridiculous. The walk was closed after
Faye the Fly Queen
More than 15 flies made a home on her hat 11am anyway due to the high temperatures.
On the way back to the campground Pete offered Angela a salami sandwich which he had lovingly made earlier that morning. Fortunately she decided to look inside to see whether to add more mustard and found as extra-special ingredient had been added by Pete - a crunchy cockroach, yum yum. Pete denies he knew about it claiming it must have climbed into the ketchup bottle.
The rest of our time in Ayres Rock Resort was spent trying to stay cool, waiting for our flight to Melbourne. Once you've seen the two sights there is really little else to hang around for. We did buy a thermometer magnet for our fridge. We left it on the car in the middle of the day for about 30 seconds and when we took it off it had maxxed out at 50-degrees!
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Lizzy
non-member comment
Bushman
For one awful moment i thought that was hair all around Pete's face. Gave me a fright.