Blogs from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 61

Sorry we haven't been in touch with Travelblog lately, but we've been roughing it in the Outback and just got back to civilization (meaning our beautiful ship!) yesterday. We have covered a LOT of territory. Australia is roughly the same size and shape as the US. Our tour guide compared our travels the last 4 days to starting in NY, flying to Colorado, then taking a hop up to Michigan, and ending up in Canada. Some more interesting facts: the population of the US is about 280 million. The population of Australia is 20 million, with 85% living in or near Sydney, the largest city. Most of the rest live in several large cities around the coast. The rest - a mere handful - live in the enormous interior. In Alice Springs, one of the largest ... read more

As the day began four of us left Alice towards the west McDonnel ranges, in quite decent weather. I did a few walks but primarily satisfied myslef by finally doing the tourist kind of things. But well by the time we were back in the late afternoon, temperature was soaring in early 40 celcius, which wasn't that pleasant after all :( Dropped into Glen Helen, Ormiston gorge, Ochre Pits, Ellery creek, Standley chasm and Simpson's gap. Amidst the touristy stuff, all excited about spotting my first Psuedomyrmicine ant in Oz which was on the the Larapinta drive. Well first ant..is first ant. ... read more

it's hot, Hot, HOT! it must have been about 37C when our plane landed just before noon. from the sky the whole area looked dry. it's almost a desert but a large part have vegetation. there was another backpacker in my flight who was staying at Annie's Place as well. we were picked up by Shawn from the hostel. Annie's is a happening place in the middle of the desert - well, more like a bush land really, it's in a hot and dry area but to me a desert should look like that of the Sahara where it's just sand everywhere. it's only 15 minutes drive from the airport. i will be staying in Alice Springs for two nights only - tonight and on the 18th. in between, i will be with the Mulga's Adventure ... read more

FLIES!! FLIES, FLIES, FLIES!!!!! I've discovered the real reason that nobody really lives in the outback. Forget about the lack of water and the extreme heat - the flies are enough to drive anyone completely insane! At least I have luggage. Jesse doesn't. Virgin Blue left his in Sydney. They didn't accidentally put it on the wrong place (which I could understand as mistakes happen); they didn't put it on ANY plane! Anyway, yeah it's really hot here. After walking around all day I feel pretty ill. Hopefully I'll be okay for the three day Uluru tour we're doing tomorrow. There will be a lot of hiking.... read more

I'm sitting outside I cafe waiting for my mugaccino realisng that the pen is to thick in ink or that my hand writnging is crap. Its my day off work. So far so good. Not making a fortune but hopefully will. This girl doen't know how much chocolate should go on a cino. Theres more on the f-ing plate. I haven't done a lot in Alice. I intend on working before sight seeing plus its to hot. Red Dog Cafe = NO!!! Coffee is too week. Not the same as cairns. My bloody towel was stolen by two japaneese bastards. Oh well, shit happens plus they will find it hard to use it at the same time! 5/3/04 I've been working for the past two weeks now. I'm starting to take food orders and the work ... read more