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Well we are now in Adelaide and have done quite a few bus hours in the process of getting here!
we set off from Darwin on the 21st april on the greyhound bus going to Alice Springs. We were greatfull to be moving on again as we had recovered and were ready for another adventure. Before we left we booked onto a tour to go and see the 'Rock' as it sounded as though it would be hard work to see it on our own without our own car!! For our 4000km greyhound pass and the tour it cost us the same as one months budget in Asia which came as a shock but we are now getting used to spending that bit more again and making sure we enjoy ourselves.
It was a 21hour journey from darwin to Alice but we had harry potter to keep us from getting too bored! we arrived in alice about 8am and found a hostel to stay in. the following day we were picked up at 6.15am and our 'rock tour' began!!our first port of call was a camel farm about an hours drive, this was also a breakfast stop but as we
had feasted on scrambled eggs, beans o toast ealrier we gave that a miss. We also gave the camel ride a miss but enjoyed having a bit of a laugh at some other people do it!
On the way to the campsite we had to stop an collect firewood for the evening!(i was a little over enthusiastic and ended up bouncing back onto my arse much to pauls amusment ) then we set off to Uluru itself. Its a pretty impressive site! There was a choice of climbing up it or walking around the base, we opted for the later as there are lots of request for you not to do the climb. It felt quite a peacefull place but it would have been nice to not have had time restraints as we felt we didnt appreciate it to its full potential.
Once we had completed the walk we went over to the sunset viewing area where there were loads of people some on tours where they got wine or champaigne. The sunset however wasn't a spectacular one and the rock didn't show its true colours, its was still amazing though!! After dinner there was socialising round a fire before
reflections
perfect reflections in the garden of eden (Kings Canyon) settling down in swags (bivvi bags with a mattress!)for the night. The following day we were up before the sun and made our way to the sunrise viewing area, again there were a lot of people there but it was awesome if not somewhat cold! After a visit to the cultural centre we were on the road again heading to the olgas (many heads) where we wnet on a 3 hour walk around the rock domes. There was some ochre on the ground that used to be used for body painting when mixed with animal fat! a four hour drive took us to our next campsite where after dinner we were shown how to prepare and cook a kangaroos tail the traditional way!! An interesting experience but it tasted pretty good!!
The last day was filled by a walk around Kings canyon, impresesive sandstone gorge with still pools in the bottom with almost imaculate refections, some very beautiful and impressive scenery.
on the way bak we lost 3 swags off the trailer so had to go back and look for them but luckily there werent too far back.
We were dropped back at our hostels around 7.30pm and were to
The Bluff
Victor harbour, we saw lots of dolphins playing here! meet again for a celebratory meal at 8.15 so everyone dashed into the showers and made themselve a little more respectable!
We spent a day relaxing in Alice before doing the next monster bus journey to Adelaide! Another 20hour trip with us arriving in Adelaide at 6am.
We spent a couple of days in the city, our first impressions of being in the city centre was that it was incredibly like nottingham or derby but with parrots!!! We went and met the Outdoor Ed teacher from Westminster school with whom we were going to be working with the following week on their yr 8camp, this went well and we had 5 days before that started so we decided to hire a car and head off to Kangaroo island!!
On our way we went to Victor harbour where at ther right time of year you can see whales unfortunately it wasn't the right time of year but we did get to see dolphins playing in the waves and as we were sat eating our lunch on some rocks a seal came and did some rolly pollies maybe only 6 foot infront of us which was cool! Then it was off
to catch the ferry across to the island. It was quite hard driving as it was dusk by the time we got off the ferry the other side and you have to be really carefull you dont hit any Roos. we eventually reached our campsite around 8pm but we had see our first koala on the way and paul had seen a possom. It was somewhat colder than we expected so not the best nights sleep we'd had but inthe morning we went fo a walk along the coast as the sun made its journey upwards and warmed us up. Then we headed to Seal bay where there were lots of seals,some surfing in the waves, others chasing eachother and pups suckeling from their mums.
We then headed towards Flinders Chase where we were intending to camp but found the campsite closed due to bush fires over the summer. We had to backtrack a little wat to the nearest campsite where we went on a short koala walk and saw a couple of koalas, a echida (a bit like a hedgehog but eats ants!) and some wollabies! We were up before daylight and set off to remarkable rocks and
admirals arch for sunrise. This meant that i had to be extremely care full driving, we must have met 6 roos and wollabies on the road some of them are soo stupid they just stay in the middle of the road and hop along the central line rather than going to noe side or the other!!!!! Anyway we made it without hitting anything. The rock were remarkable!!!!! they are quite artistic in shape and especially when thesun creates shaddows on them. it was a very peacefull place and we were lucky enough to have it to ourselves until we were about to leave!!
Admirals arch was out on a limp a bit and the waves were spectacular, there were lots of New zealand fur seals spralled out on the rocks and playing in the waves!
we moved up to a campsite on the north coast, a nice spot tucked away in a quite cove where a river met the sea.it was a nice spot to spend a relaxing afternoon. There was a very friendly possan there that night that almost came and sat on my lap but then decided its search for food was much more important. We spent the
nex day visiting a few other beaches and taking it easy whilst making our way back to the ferry.
We had a full day back in adelaide to do some much needed clothes washing and prepare for the camp.
We headed to the school for 8.30 monday morning to meet up with gordon and head into the adelaide hills. It didn't take too long to get to the campsite, and once there we set up camp, sorted all the food and set up that afternoons activities. The kids arrived at 1ish and we helped them set up camp before the afternoons activities. It was a really good camp and as always the vast majority of kids were brilliant and accepted us as part of the staff. We did a high ropes course (which included a 400m flying fox),orienteering, initiative activities, games and the true highlight BUSH DANCING which was hilarious and much like barn dancing with an aussie twang!
We're now taking a few well earned rest days before heading to ballarat grammar school where we are going to be staying onsite for a week before heading out on a 4 day bush/rock journey with their yr 9.
hope
shiny!!
One has to make sure one doesn't clash!! everyone is well and its always nice to hear from you,photos to come!
all the best
Paul n Hellyxxxxxxxxxxxx
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