The Red Centre & Queensland

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Tuesday 6th November

I don’t know how so much time passed in between now and the last entry because we’ve been very relaxed here in Palm Cove - the trouble is I can’t usually get a look in on the PC because Mick’s busy downloading photos or checking his e-mails!

The Red Centre, as they call it, was awesome but I was ready to leave when we did. Initially it was a lot cooler than Darwin and a dry heat, so easier to cope with, but once we got down to Ayers Rock, it was back up to 32 and 33 degrees and very windy some of the time. We stopped for lunch one day and it was like getting out of the car into the full blast of a very hot, powerful hairdryer blowing dust at you - unbelievable! We had to eat lunch squashed up in the car.

Anyway - I’d better begin at the beginning. We started off not thinking much to Alice Springs, but ended up quite liking it. We were in a bed and breakfast for 4 nights and the lady there was very friendly and chatty - her son lives in Ipswich so they go over at least once a year to visit him and their grandchildren. Lynne and her hubby lived in the house next door and for 2 of the nights there was only the two of us staying so we had the run of the place to ourselves. They also have a big friendly cat with a foot fetish - he loved rubbing his head round Mick’s toes!

Alice is a relatively small town, with a very small town feel to it. It was the first place where we noticed lots of Aboriginal people just sort of hanging around. The reason they are as they are is a long story and would take too long to explain here, but you get an awful lot of Aboriginal culture in the Red Centre. We travelled on the early flight from Darwin so got there around 9 in the morning and had a ‘day at leisure’ as they say. We were strongly recommended to go to the Alice Springs Desert Park so, with the whole day to kill, we reluctantly did, thinking it would be a bit touristy. It was absolutely fantastic - really, really well done and very informative. We ended up spending 5 hours there and leaving absolutely worn out. It was done in 3 regions, with all the plants, animals, birds, lizards etc. you would be likely to see in the 3 types of vegetation you get in the middle of Australia. They even had a ‘nocturnal house’ where you could go and see the animals that only come out at night (if you could make them out in the very dim lighting), and they did a display of birds of prey that was so slick you’d think they’d got the birds to rehearse flying in on cue.

The next day was our first trip out, to a place called Palm Valley. We thought we were on a small 4-wheel drive type tour like in Darwin, but ended up on a small rickety coach for this one, with about a dozen other people. How the coach got to where we were going continues to amaze us - wait till you see the picture of the road, or rather river bed, that we travelled down! The scenery was absolutely stunning and not like anything we’ve ever seen before so hard to explain - lots of red rock. It was a great day, but not what we’d expected in terms of transport so Mick had a view words with the travel company when we got back. The next day we got a big corporate type car just for us with our very own driver/guide called Tiny, who was actually the size of the side of a house. We had another great day though, and Tiny was really good company. It was the McDonnell Ranges, which meant quite a few stops at various gorges, all stunning, but fortunately not too much walking. The temperature at this stage though was really good - about 27 degrees - so walking wasn’t too much of a trial and you could really enjoy it. Because there was just the 2 of us, we were able to take time out and do a helicopter flight out over the McDonnell Ranges in one of those little bubble-type helicopters, so nothing in the way of the view!

We then had another day of rest, so didn’t do too much, but we did go to the Royal Flying Doctor Station, which was really interesting. Time to move on again then and say goodbye to our chatty landlady. This time it was a 4-wheel drive, like in Kakadu, this time with a driver called Murray and another English couple, this time from Manchester and it was Peter’s 70th birthday on the last day of our tour!

We had a long day’s travelling that first day, down to King’s Canyon. The conversation between the blokes in the car was mainly cars and sport and there was an awful lot of nothing much out of the window so I must admit I slept a lot of the way. That didn’t stop me feeling absolutely drained by the time we got to our hotel and feeling as if I’d had enough. Our room was the real saving grace - we were staying at the Kings Canyon Resort, which is literally in the middle of nowhere and supposed to be relatively eco-friendly and all that. We had a ‘spa room’ with a spa overlooking a little red rock escarpment and while Mick went off to take some sunset photos of Kings Canyon in the distance - I decided to wallow in the spa to soak all the red dust off and the cream on the cake was the family of dingoes messing about on the rocks! One of those moments!

Up very early next morning for the walk round the rim of Kings Canyon. Again absolutely spectacular but you’d need to see the photos - difficult to explain and again different to anywhere else we’ve ever been. It was a very long, hot walk beginning with a very steep climb, but at least we got that over with before the sun was up too high. It was worth it but I think we were all just about at the end of our tether by the time we got back down and we’d all run out of water, which didn’t help. After tea and cake while we recovered, we then began another longish drive down to Ayers Rock, and this was the day that the wind got up and sandblasted you every time you got out of the car. We arrived at the Ayers Rock resort about half 2 and had 2 hours in our rooms before going out to do the sunset thing at the Rock itself. Mick went for a swim but I just hid in the air-conditioning in our very nice room and had a very long cool shower.

The rest did us all good and we all seemed ready to go when Murray picked us up again at 4. Ayers Rock is Ayers Rock, obviously nowhere like it anywhere else in the world and every bit as imposing as you would imagine. We drove all the way round and stopped for one or two short walks to get the feel of the place. I do feel it’s a bit over sold though. It’s stunning in it’s own right, just sticking up out of all that flat bushland, but the magical sunset thing that they go on about I reckon only happens now and then rather than being a regular occurrence. It was certainly under-whelming for us and we met an Italian couple in the B&B in Alice Springs and their experience had been the same. Nevertheless, it was great to be there and the champagne and nibbles provided by the travel company for the occasion certainly went down very well. Not to be missed.

Up even earlier the next day to watch the sunrise over The Olgas - again hard to explain, but a sort of group of minor Ayers Rocks type huge boulders that are supposed to do the same magical things at sunrise/sunset. It was again a bit of a disappointment and flipping cold at that time in the morning! Once the sun was up it was tea and cakes again, and then off to The Olgas up close. We had a choice of 2 walks and I think it took us all about a second to decide on the shorter, easier one - I for one still had sore feet from the Kings Canyon marathon and we all felt a bit stiff and slow. The shorter walk also had the advantage of being less popular, so there were only the 5 of us there, so in the end it was a really good option. Kings Canyon had ended up being quite busy as tour group after tour group made their way up there - this was much better.

By about half 10 we were all done and back at the hotel and all going our own separate ways. The resort in itself was unbelievable in the middle of nowhere, but again you’ll get a better idea from the photos. We had a leisurely lunch and sat round the pool reading before our 4 o’clock flight out.

Palm Cove has been everything we hoped it would be and we’ve had a really good rest here. The apartment is small but really nice and it’s quiet here so we often get the pool to ourselves. Sandy and Steve, who manage the place are really chatty and friendly so it feels so much more relaxing than a big informal hotel.

North Queensland is absolutely stunning, it really is, though still a bit hot and humid for my taste. Mick reckons it’s the perfect temperature. It’s permanently at around 30 degrees and the sea temperature around 25 to 27 and it’s all mountains and lush rainforest. You absolutely never have to worry about taking your cardi here! We’ve been up into the mountains on a scenic railway and back down on a 7.5 km cable car ride and we’ve driven up as far as you can go on a proper road to where Captain Cook struck the reef and holed his ship. The rainforest up there is supposed to be the oldest untouched forest in the world and the scenery on the drive is spectacular - sometimes right next to the sea, sometimes winding up and down the mountains. Yesterday we went out to the Great Barrier Reef and had absolutely perfect conditions - next to no wind and really good visibility in the water. They take you out on a big fast catamaran to a big platform that’s moored out there permanently so once you’re there, you can then do everything in your own time and you’ve got loads of space to sit around rather than being cooped up on a boat. Mick snorkled almost all day but I just couldn’t get over my panic once I’d put the mask on, so I only had a minor foray and swam the rest of the time. However, they had a boat that they classed as a semi-submersible, where you went down into the bottom, so underwater, where there were had big glass windows. They then took you out round the reef in that so you got to see all the coral and fish that way - absolutely fantastic. Would you believe there was a lady from Cruse in Derby on the same trip - I don’t think either of us could believe our eyes. Talk about a small world!

We’re now enjoying our final 2 days rest here before heading off to Sydney and the next stage!

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