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Published: October 29th 2008
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The early morning call that I had booked hand me springing out of bed at 04:00. This was they day that I had been waiting for since I booked the trip. I checked out of the hotel at 04:50 and waited in the darkness with my fellow passengers for the bus to arrive. We were picked up at 05:00 and headed for 40 minutes towards Uluru (Ayres Rock) as the bus drove on the rock loomed in the distance, it was quite spectacular with the dawn breaking and the rock in silhouette in front of it. The bus pulled into the sunrise viewing area and everyone was in a mad dash to get the best pitch. Again I walked further along beyond the scrum and managed to get a lovely pitch with the best view of the rock. At 06:05 the sun rose and I started to snap like crazy trying to remember all that Stephen had taught me since July. My fellow passengers were extremely helpful and even offered to take a photo of me.
We then moved on to walk along the base of the rock to visit the watering holes and places where the rock paintings were.
It was lovely as it was still cook and there was a light breeze. We then returned to the coach where we walked along the non shady side of the rock to see more water holes and rock art. After walking the length of the rock at the base I was very glad to see the air-conditioned coach as the 45 degree heat was starting to kick in.
Everyone was given the option to return to the cultural centre or go back to the hotel, hot and bothered I decided to return to the hotel. As I had already checked out I walked to the open air bar/café area under the corrugated iron sun shield and had a vegetarian burger for lunch $7.20 for just the burger and $3.40 for one coke. Also I had bought a packet of crisps at $3. I decided to do some shopping and bought a hat with a brim made out of Kangaroo skin. I liked it so much I bought one for Dad and Stephen. (exchange rate is fantastic at the moment $0.43 to the pound)
The bus collected me for the return journey to Alice Springs we drove for about
one and a half hours to be honest I slept most of the way as I was so tired. We pulled up in the middle of nowhere only to find another coach waiting for us. I was transferred to this new coach where I met my fellow companions who had come from Kings Canyon and were also travelling direct to Alice Springs. About an hour in we stopped at a familiar stop Mt Ebenezer Cattle ranch for refreshment then pushed on to Alice where I was dropped at my hotel.
As we came into Alice the bus driver started to inform us about the history of Alice Spring it was originally called Stuart after the explorer who founded the route from Adelaide to Darwin. Today there is a population of 28 thousand and it is still the main centre for the outback. The northern territory has the population of 208,000 and you can fit the UK within it five and half times over. The distances are so vast the locals think nothing of driving between 500-700 km to drive to the nearest town.
When I came to Oz, I expected to see loads of Kangaroos but all I
seem to see is many “Wazaroo’s” on the highways around here as this is the term that the locals use for road kill.
Finally arrived at the hotel and touched base with the family to let them know that I was ok then went for a meal at the Thai restaurant in the hotel, it was there that I bumped into and talked to the local Opal shop owner and some of his dealers who were having a meal there. They asked me if I would not mind joining them and so I entered their discussions around local Opal mining in the nearby town of Cooper Peedy. They were very interested in hearing about my trip and reasons behind it, within the discussion I also mentioned my interest in classic cars and that I had written an article for Triumph World. They told me all about the classic cars that were used within Alice Springs during the setup of the outback. With that in mind I bade them farewell and returned to the room to call Stephen before retiring for the night.
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