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Published: September 10th 2008
On 9/7 we spent the day around Cairns. We took a drive and walk to see some waterfalls, wandered through some shops downtown, blew $2 in a casino (Kirsten’s first unsuccessful attempt at gambling since the legal age here is 18), and spent some time at the pools at the RV park.
On 9/8 we returned the RV and headed to the airport for our flight to Alice Springs. We went from hot and humid to hot and dry in two short hours. Alice Springs is in the desert in the center of Australia. We picked up a rental car and drove about four hours through the authentic Outback to Uluru and Ayers Rock Resort.
This is remote country. It was not uncommon to go thirty minutes without seeing a car either direction. We passed the time by counting dead kangaroos along the road, stopping the count only when we finally saw another live kangaroo go bounding away from us. This was our first kangaroo sighting since we left the Australia Zoo more than a week ago and our first wild kangaroo sighting in about two weeks.
In the two central states in Australia (Northern Territory and South Australia), the time
Gnarlly Tree
Feeling a little artsy in the Outback.zone is on the half hour. We have gotten used to counting back 17 hours to think about what folks are doing in the Pacific Daylight Time zone at home. Now we have to make that 16.5 hours, which seems really odd to us. We will be in this half hour time warp for about a week.
On 9/9 we got up early to watch the spectacular sunrise near Uluru (aka Ayers Rock). We later went out to Uluru and hiked about 6 miles around it. The walk and the rock itself were amazing. We were pretty hot and pooped by the end. After lunch, we headed back out to the Olgas for another hike to see more amazing rock formations. Finally, in the evening we went back out to watch the sunset on Uluru. While tiring, this was a great day of seeing classic Outback sites and getting some great photos.
On 9/10 Dean got up early to watch the sunrise back out at Uluru. It was another spectacular exhibition of colors in the desert. We then drove back to Alice Springs, stopping at a camel farm along the way. We bought some opal unleaded fuel at one of
Three Mustketeers at Uluru
Self-portrait of the hikers. the very few waystations along the way paying $7.33 per gallon. In Alice Springs, we visited the Royal Doctors Flying Service museum and visitor center to learn how all Australians in the Outback are provided medical care by radio and air. We then visited the School of the Air and learned about a classroom more than twice the size of Texas in which 114 students (ages 6 to 15) learn from remote cattle stations and other distant places in the Outback from teachers in Alice Springs using satellite internet for live communication. It is quite an amazing system to make sure education is provided to all students regardless of the remoteness of their location. We were quite impressed with the entire system.
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