Outback and beyond

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The last 2 weeks I have spent in The Northern Territory travelling from Alice Springs in the centre of Australia up to Darwin on the Northern Coast. I have to admit that this part of the trip was a bit of an afterthought as my main priority was to surf along the East Coast, but I can now look back and say that I am really pleased I experienced it, and it is one heck of an experience. When I arrived in Alice Springs the temperature was a feisty 41 C and it was going to get hotter as we ventured outback.

Highlights of this part of the journey have to be Uluru (was Ayers Rock), The Olgas, quad biking around an outback cattle station, sleeping under the stars, hiking up and around Kings Canyon, and outback towns with only 1 pub and very ‘charismatic’ locals (real Crocodile Dundee stuff, ha ha). The main thing I will remember about the first part of the journey in the outback was the extreme heat and in some of the locations the immense number of flies, even the locals said they were pretty bad, so much so that while hiking Olga gorge all but the locals were wearing fly nets and although I had one in my backpack I left it off as I had to encounter it for myself. I must admit though the experience of having hundreds of flies around you trying to get in your; mouth, ears, nose, and even behind your sunglasses to get to your eyes is probably one occurrence I will not look forward to reliving, apparently they are attracted by moisture, but you know what they say about attracting flies.

Oh yes, I must also mention the Uluru (Ayers Rock) experience and how we caught it for the changing colours at both sunrise and sunset, although as our guides decided that we should dress up for a champagne dinner at sunset you will not be surprised to know that as many of us were already slightly dehydrated and combined with a couple of bottles of cheap sparkling plonk the result is that I don’t have a lot of pictures of the changing colours of Uluru, although what I do have however is a vast amount of pictures of a group of very merry people on the lash in the middle of the outback. Class.

After the outback experience it was onward and upward through the Northern Territory and as we hit the tropical zone of the Northern Territory the experience changed from very hot and very dry to very hot and very very humid - no wonder the people out here are regarded as being tough.

Highlights on this part of the journey were checking out the aboriginal rock art around Katherin Gorge and Kakadu National Park (apparently dated over 10,000 years ago), swimming in the natural thermal pools and also the freshwater lakes supplied by amazing waterfalls, and the stunning scenery. Talking of swimming in the lakes, I found out afterwards that there were crocodiles in the lakes but apparently they were only freshwater crocs which don’t attack you and not its saltwater cousin which does - I’m pleased they told me after the swim !

Until next time,

Crocodile Heeney.

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Photos

The Olgas
The Olgas plus additional rock formations

Sunset at Uluru
Me and the boys having a drink..... oh yeah, and there is a big rock in the background.