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Published: September 24th 2007
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We had an epic journey to Darwin from Singapore. Unfortunatley the direct flights where really expensive so we had to go via Sydney. All in all a 17 hour trip!
Extremley tired we arrived in Darwin and despite our grotty hostel we where looking forward to picking up the campervan the next day which would be our home for 2 months. We had opted for the cheapest model, a 5 year old campervan which had a fridge, seat/bed, grill and two gas hobs. It was a bit gruby but after a good clean and some food shopping done to fill the cupboards we where up and running.
We spent the next couple of days exploring Darwin which to be quite honest is a bit of a hole! but is saved by having a beautiful coastline. Here in the Northern Territory it is seriously hot generally reaching 30 degrees by 10 o'clock and not really getting cool until the early hours of the morning. When you are in a little van trying to sleep it feels a whole lot hotter. Also there are a major number of flies which are a real pain so while we where cooking about a
million bugs would join is in the van, not much fun! After 2 nights of very little sleep we came up with a plan B, a better camper. We upgraded to the next model which includes aircon and automatically comes with a loo and shower (bonus), no more 3am trips in the dark to the toilets!
We finally set out on our road trip a couple of days later than planned but a whole lot cooler. We planned to drive to Alice Springs via Kakadu National Park.
The park is beautiful and is a World Heritage sight for it's natural and cultural importance. We walked through the bush to see traditional Aboriginal Art Work which was drawn on the caves and rocks more than 20,000 years ago and depicts hunting scenes, animals and everyday life. Some are exceptional and really clear while with others it takes a while to figure out what it is and also where it is on the rock. We climbed to the top of a large rock formation for a stunning view of the land which looked like the planes of Africa. You could see the billabong (watering hole) and loads of birds of
prey. The view was a mixture of dry rocky land and a huge water plain that during the wet season will be totally submerged by the floods.
We also did a morning river cruise where we saw loads of crocodiles and learnt alot about the traditional way of living in the bush, about the wildlife and plantlife. The guilde was very good and funny and showed us how to throw spears to catch anything from fish to Kangaroo.
From Kakadu we drove to Katherine and then Tennant Creek stopping over night at each place. On the way we stopped for a drink in Daly Waters Pub which has had a liquor license since 1893. The walls are covered with foreign currency, T-shirts, Beer holders, farming equiptment and underwear!! It seemed that everyone who had stayed there left something which was just stuck up on the wall, it gave the place a great atmostphere.
Just past Tennant Creek we stopped to see the Devils Marbles which where a collection of large red round rocks in the middle of the bush. They were formed whne a huge granite rock was exposed to wind and rain and began to break
up. The reason they (and most of central Australia) are red is due to rust!!
1725km later we arrived in Alice Springs, a stunning town built between the huge MacDonnell Ranges. The first day we chilled out and restocked the van after the slog through the desert with no radio (the signal doesn't reach beyond about 10km from each town). We decided to get a radio/ipod hook up so we would have some music from now on. I tried to keep Vicky entertained with eye-spy but it's a bit tricky in the desert!!
Alice Springs is a nice town that has grown at a ridiculous rate, 20 years ago only 500 people lived here now it is 25000!! The main reason being as with most places - tourism. There are so many companies here offering trips to X, Y and Z so we are glad to be able to ignore them all and go by ourselves!! We have spent some time just exploring the town, taking in the views from Meyers Hill over the town and wandering the towns streets were they are currently having the Alice Springs Desert festival, cue awful music on a small stage and
loads of kiddy activities!!
We also visited the School of the Air. A fantastic place that began in the early 50's as a way of providing an education to all the children in the Outback. The kids are a mixture of aboriginal communties and children who live on the many cattle stations 100's of km from anywhere. It began with twice a week radio broadcasts and has grown to a system of satellite link ups with 5 classes a week for all the kids and several other one-on-one lessons for them as well. We donated a book to the kids library which supplies all their reading materials. So many people are involved with the delivery of materials, marking of work and visits to the children and they are covering an area of 1million sq km!!
We then had a wildlife day where we visited the Alice Springs Desert Park and the Reptile Centre. The Park was a great lesson in the Outback, it taught us so much about how people and animals survive in the harsh conditions. We also got the oportunity to see some Kangaroos, Emus and various birds of prey in action. At the reptile centre
we had a wander around looking at the various things which might bite us on our travels!! There was a huge crocodile (a bit boring after we had seen them wild near our boat) there along with many snakes and lizaerds. The highlight of the trip though was a talk given by one of the centres staff in which we learnt about the defence mechanisms of certain animals and their eating habits in a very hands on way!! (see pictures!!).
Our final port of call in Alice was the reason the place is there - the Telegraph Station. It is one of only 4 original telegraph stations left in the Northern Territory and is a very interesting place to visit. I would be here for a long time trying to explain the history of the place so you will have to look it up yourself! A very short version is that it was one of the larger stations built on the original telegraph line form Adelaide to Darwin to enable communication between Australia and London in a matter of hours rather than months. It took a long time to build the line and many people died doing it. A
very nice Australian showed us round and reeled off story after story for us.
From here we will be heading down to Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta and the Kings Canyon before returning to Alice and continueing Eastwards.
Note - the pictures below of wildlife - some are wild spots on our travels and some are at the Park and reptile house. I will put a W in brackets next to the wild ones all others will be captive.
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Karen
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You certainly have become a twitcher Jason! Maybe the hairiness is your attempt at camoflage?!?! Want more photos of your "home" - how do they fit a toilet and shower into that?! Also how are you blogging from the campervan? Do you have a laptop?