Adelaide to Alice

The outback crept up on us quicker than we had expected. The drive between the last settlements of civilisation, Adelaide and Port Augusta, are seperated by open, sparse land, just like in the centre.

The roads are so straight all you see in the distance is a mirage of the sun on the bitumen. You can see cars coming from 10km's away, making overtaking road trains (lorries with 3 or 4 tankers in tow) which take around 1km to pass safely, easy. The landscape varies wildly, and we have been surprised at just how much foliage can survive in such a dry climate. The earth changes from a dusty yellow-orange to a harsh cracked reddy-brown, and in some lights looks black, almost as if the sun itself has burnt the very floor of the desert. Trees and scrub vary from thinly needle covered branches, to black, burnt coral like structures standing alone following bush fires.

With three of us driving, the 7 hour trips have been considerably easier. Our interpretation of the word long has changed alot! Petrol has been widely extortionate to more expensive than bullion! $1.50-$1.80 l compared to that of $1.09-$1.30 of the coastal drives, and are we using a lot! We are now half way through the outback leg of our journey and about to explore Alice Springs today.

We visited Kings Canyon first, along the same road to Uluru, a short detour, 300km-ish round trip, off the highway. It was not quite so outstanding as it's American park by the same name, but we enjoyed a monring walk through the dry crrek bed to a viewing platform up the canyon wall. We had arrived just before the sun was overhead and flooded the canyon with light, but on the way back, enjoyed the hottest day we've had so far- 17oC!

We drove on to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and on to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), stopping at a few view points to photograph it against the sun. When we arrived at the trailhead, we hadn't got long to walk around the magnificent heads of rock, before returning to the van to catch Uluru at sunset.

We returned again in the morning to watch sunrise over the rock. It is supposed to be most red in the first and last light of the day. We huddled amoung many other tourists, happily snapping the same pictures. After the sun came up, we drove the circumference of the rock, taking it in from every angle.

We ate breakfast and visited the visitor and cultural centre. The climb was closed due to high winds, but after reading all the Aboriginal information, I suppose in the long run, it was more respectful not to tramp all over their sacred icon.

Hopefully Alice won't be too busy. There's Oz vs USA camel racing, and finding a campsite last night proved to be immensely difficult!

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