We departed Sydney on Monday the 19th. Being a Monday morning, the airport was pretty busy, with quite a line at the check-in. But we made it through fine. Flying into the heart of Australia is a lot like flying over the Southwest U.S. Very dry and brown looking. But as we approached Ayers Rock Airport, I was surprised
to see lots of trees starting to appear across the desert. Getting off the plane, the air was warm, but not unlike a mild summer day in Sacramento, the high that day may have reached 90, and the humidity was low, a lot like California.
That first afternoon we wandered around the resort here, (Yulara is the name of the community); Our room was at the “Lost Camel”; Lonely Planet described these rooms as funky little rooms and they were, but they were comfortable, Shelly has started taking pictures of our rooms, so you can see for yourself!
We had dinner at another hotel’s outdoor cafe, and enjoyed our first “Aussie Burger”. A very good burger with cheese, lettuce, onion, but also pineapple and a huge slice of red beet! Really good and really big, we had to split one. The beer in Australia, however, has been a bit disappointing, generally light lagers. They do serve it very cold, though, so that’s a plus.
The next day we took the afternoon shuttle to Uluru, (formerly Ayers Rock), It was a little hotter today, but we decided to take the hike around the base. The rock is massive, and has many sacred spots that you aren’t supposed to take pictures of, I think most of our pictures are ok. The aboriginal people request that you not climb on the rock, yet there are facilities for doing just that! We chose not to, but some people were. It’s said that 1 or 2 people die each year trying to climb the thing, either from the heat or from the fall. It’s all steep rock, vey easy to slip on.
We finally finished our walk at the cultural center. There was a snack shop where I made a discovery; Ginger Beer! It’s kind of an unfiltered ginger ale. It’s a little creamier and very tasty.
The next day we took a motor coach to Alice Springs. It’s a rather long bus ride, actually. On this stretch we saw the most Australian wildlife of our entire trip, albeit dead. Road-kill kangaroos!
Our bus developed a problem with a fan belt which our driver tried to repair at our rest stop, about 1/3 of the way to Alice. His temporary fix lasted for about a hundred miles, then he had to stop again and replace the belt. The problem reoccurred just as we crossed Alice Springs city limits at about 7 pm. A replacement bus picked us up and shuttled us to our hotels. I have to say I am glad this is the only part of our trip which is on a motor-coach!
Alice Springs is the center of commerce for a very large area of the Australian Outback. It has one mall with many cafe and shops, also a Woolworths and a Coles, and a K-Mart. Woolworths is alive and well in Australia, the are grocery and department stores, kind of like a Wal-mart. Coles is a huge supermarket. The K-mart was pretty nice compared to Rocklin’s. They also have something called Target country, which seems to be related to our Target, but they are miserable little places.
Across from the dry Todd river, the is a the Olive Pink Botanic Garden. This garden is dedicated to the plants native to this arid region, and was an interesting side trip.
The next day we boarded the “Ghan” bound for Darwin. The Entire Ghan line connects Adelaide, on the south coast to Darwin on the north. It is celebrating it’s 80th anniversary. It’s pretty famous to Australians and to non Australian Railroad buffs.
We had a sleeper, a new experience for both of us. I enjoyed the trip. To socialize, you went to the diner car and hang out. If you wanted privacy, just get to your berth.
The food wasn’t too bad, I had the shepherd’s pie. It differs from my mom’s pie in that it has a pie crust, then the potato covering. It also uses more of a stew than whet mom used to put in hers. They went overboard on the potatoes; with the pie was served mashed potatoes on the side, and gravy and roast potatoes. Jeez!
Our sleeper had folding berths which formed bunk beds. They actually weren’t too bad, although I’m glad I brought earplugs, because the sound of a fan droned on all night.
At midday the next day, we stopped at Katherine. Katherine’s main claim to fame is that it has a river which actually contains water! All year! The town itself is kind of dreary and dirty, we were glad to leave it. The shuttle bus then took us to an old homestead which has become a sort of park. They don’t really try to describe the site much, just a few short posters, but it was a pleasant place. My favorite spot was down by the river, where we watched a few fish swimming about, and hoped to see some crocs, but no luck.
While driving out of the park we saw a couple of wallabies! These, and kangaroos are kind of like deer in our part of the world. They are most often seen around sunset.
Back on the Ghan, and on to Darwin. We started to notice large piles of dirt in the fields. Some were quite tall, over 6 feet. These are termite hills, the little beggars build these things all over the place in the bush.
The terrain was starting to get greener. We were getting into a more tropical region, for sure. Finally, at sunset, we pulled into Darwin!
All in all, the Ghan was a great experience. Training is a nice way to travel, if you don’t mind close quarters. A private berth is a good idea, but do spend some time in the diner to meet the folks!
Cheers!
