Category: Travel (Page 2 of 12)

I forgot to show you this photo yesterday! This is the sad sight that greeted me when we emerged from the dining car on The Ghan after dinner. It was 9:15. Not a soul to be seen.

This is what you get when you go for a train ride with old people. They go to bed at a sensible hour…

This night’s sleep was a lot better than my first on the Ghan. The next morning, the consensus was the same. We were breakfasted and dressed early, because at 9 AM, the train stopped at the famous Katherine Gorge.
There were around 5 activities on offer, and I had chosen the boat ride and rock art tour.

I didn’t realise how much rock art I was going to see in Kakadu. I should probably have chosen a slightly different tour. But a boat trip down the gorge is practically mandatory for first time visitors here, so I was happy.

There are actually 13 gorges, one right after the other. They were formed when, during the massive tectonic collision that was going on in Central Australia a few million years ago “ on a Wednesday afternoon at 4o’clock”, a split formed.

Katherine Gorge is that split.

Over the aeons, water collected in the sandstone and then voila! Here we are.

We’ve entered into crocodile country.
Absolutely no swimming in the river. No putting hands, feet ( or any other appendages, presumably) over the boat’s edge into the water.
Freshwater crocodiles are dangerous.
Saltwater crocs make the freshies look cute and cuddly. Everywhere I went on the rest of this trip, the Salties were spoken of with the greatest respect. No one wants to mess with them.

This little red float is a tool the rangers use to check for Salties in the area. Saltwater crocodiles are much bigger than the Freshies and are also very curious. Red and yellow are also their favourite colours. They’ll swim along, see this and bite it.
when the rangers see the bite marks, they know there’s a Saltie in the system. This is s freshwater system and the Salties bugger things up for the Freshies, so the rangers will put traps out for the Saltie, and relocate it once it’s caught.

Here’s the gap of the gorge. Our boat only travelled through the first gorge, because it was here that we jumped off to see the rock art.

This silvery leafed tree is used for many things out here.

Paperbark bedding, using the bark to wrap food in, to cook meat with the leaves because the oils in the leaves make the meat taste better. The leaves are also antiseptic, like Vics Vapour Rub. Making a smoky fire with the leaves also discourages mozzies.

Also, there’s some rock art on the wall behind it.

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Just to prove that I’m actually here.

By the way, remember that care package the tour company sent? I haven’t used the towel yet, but the hat and drink bottle? I’m using them every day.

This red painting is around 10,000 years old.
It shows a Mimi spirit. Colin told us about them at Uluru. They are shape shifters and can shrink to the size of a person, or get as big as a mountain. They are unpredictable, and can be either good or bad.

Our guide said, “We know it’s a Mimi spirit because it has 7 fingers and toes and his ears pointing down.”

The paintings in an area are usually there to show other people what resources are in the area for them to eat. So there’s a Rock Wallaby Joey, and an extinct animal.

The two stick figures right at the top are a man and a woman. The fainter one is a woman carrying a dilly bag. The brighter one is the man, carrying a Woomera ( spear thrower.)

The oldest rock paintings are red. Later another 3 colours came in, as people learned their craft.

This is the same painting, but this time, look at the yellow down to the bottom right. This is of a European man.

Next, we moved across to a cave. It has quite a bit of art on the rocks outside. The horizontal lines painting is a dugout canoe. Clearly, there are trees in the area which are good for this.

Unless a painting is of a creation spirit – which are left untouched out of respect – it was perfectly ok to draw over previous paintings. I suppose it makes sense to keep the information about an area current, especially if it’s about survival.

“Our styles have the pre-period which is 6000 to 20,000+ years old, said our guide. “You find a lot of paintings of large spirit and large animals. Back down there, the big Mimi spirit and big rock Wallaroo is 10,000 years old. Next period is 6000 to 2000 years old. This is where the x-ray style comes in, so if you go up in the Kakadu National Park, there’s a lot of paintings of like fish and stuff, and they have all the skeleton of it, all the guts and stuff. The x-ray style first came in around 6,000 to 2,000 years ago.”

“Obviously, the contact period which is 300 to 50 years old. We have paintings of ships, horses, guns, men, smoking cigars and wearing wide brim hats, things like that. After this, the people learned to paint on paper.”

“You also get a lot of paintings of handprints. Around here there are handprints all over the shop. The earliest handprints style as you would make the paint, put your hand in the paint and then place it on the rock, “ our guide said. “That was the first style. The second style was that you would get the paint, put your hand on the rock and then blow the paint out around it. Here in the National Park you’ll find a lot of handprints like that.”

Underneath the cave lip, there’s a streak of Orange. Do you see it?

It’s a Rainbow Snake. This is a creation spirit and has never been painted over.

The Rainbow Serpent is the protector of the land, its people, and the source of all life. However, the Rainbow Serpent can also be a destructive force if it is not properly respected. In times of anger or rage it causes storms and floods to act as punishment against those who disobey the laws.

As the story of the Rainbow Snake was being told, I looked back across where we’d come.
It was so beautiful.

You can see the layers of sediment where the ground was pushed up. They say that initially, these mountains were as tall as the Himalayas. But millions of years of erosion have worn them right down.

This is a crocodile trap. Crocodiles are most active at night, so before dusk, the rangers will put a feral pig or buffalo here. By morning, hopefully the Saltie has taken the bait and can be rehomed.

The Leichhardt tree has larger leaves than most and so is easy to spot. They have great timber for dugout canoes.

The Pandanas trees are very useful. The indigenous people strip the leaves for their tough fibres that can be made into string. They are fairly shallow-rooted, so whenever you see one, you know that water is around.Dig a metre or two straight down and you’ll find it.

I left with a profound respect for how people were able to make their lives for over 60,000 years in such a tough environment. I’ve only scratched the surface of what our guide told us about the art and how they are able to use the plants and animals around them for so many different things.

Then it was back to The Ghan for the final leg of my journey. This is the view from the window once we pulled out of Katherine.

I may have had a couple of gin and tonics with lunch. I got back to my room and the bed had been put back in the wall and the seats and table were back.

So I grabbed a pillow, curled myself into an ‘L’ shape with my feet up on the wall, and slept for a couple of hours.

Once we arrived in Darwin, I checked in, then had dinner here at the Irish pub. Love the name!

Tomorrow is the Kakadu and Arnhem Land leg of the trip.

(Send Jeffrey good vibes. I’m a few days ahead of this post. Last night I got back into internet range and found that Jeff isn’t doing very well.)

Dad Joke of the day:

I asked my Mexican neighbor why he pushed his wife in front of a train

He said “Tequila”. 

lt turns out that we had almost a whole day free in Alice before we had to hop back on the Ghan. When I was at the School of the Air, they told me to get to the Desert Park if I possibly could. David Attenborough has it on his top 5 parks of its type in the world and has been there twice:

The “of its type “ worried me slightly, but I took their advice, got there at 7;30 as soon as it opened and for an hour, at least, I had the park to myself.

I ended up staying for over 5 hours. It was fantastic.

There were 2 dingoes on display, a brother and sister pair. The park doesn’t want any more in the pack, because each pack has an alpha male and female that the pack get very defensive of, so more animals would mean much more danger for the keepers.

The park has just taken possession of another pair of dingo pups. They won’t run the two groups together, but will alternate between the pairs.

Every zoo I go to, I see one of these hanging around. My grandparents used to have a semi-tame one at Inverlock. He’d visit them every day.

The park isn’t just for animals. All of the plant life is from the local desert.

This is Stuart’s Desert Pea, the state symbol for South Australia. Funnily enough, I’ve never seen it in SA, only here in the Northern Territory.

Pretty, isn’t it?

A typical pathway.
.

I decided to fill in time before the dingo talk with a visit to the big aviary. OH MY LORD! It was the best aviary I’ve ever been in.

As soon as I walked through the door, this cheeky little man flew over and perched on my head.

A view of the whole aviary.

Tons of Zebra Finches.

This guy was eyeing me suspiciously.

There were two black cockatoos and they were hard to miss. They were flying from one side of the aviary to the other.

It’s the same colour orange as the sand dune near the salt lake!

l tried so hard to get a picture of the budgies, but the light was never correct.
budgies are curious little folk. They stayed well out of reach, but they were chattering away between themselves the whole time I was there.

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At the dingo lecture, she showed us a photo of the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger.

The dingoes drove them out of mainland Australia, and then the European settlers drove them to extinction in Tasmania.

I’ve probably taken this from the wrong angle, but the cliffs above are supposed to be a Thylacine, with the long muzzle, and the stripes along the back. One day, the Thylacine will rise up and start walking around. Until then, it’s lying there, keeping an eye open.

THIS thing! This aviary was one of those glass-fronted ones. When I walked in, the weirdest noise came out of this bird.

It’s called a Bustard.

Never heard of them before.

At around 10 o’clock, I could feel the heat starting to rise. I walked along the paths, hearing the sound of the gravel under my feet and the finches peeping around me. Occasionally, I’d look up and see a hawk floating silently above.

A small lizard skittered out of the bushes to my right and ran across the path, almost under my feet, to the other side, scared the living daylight out of me! I tried to look for it, but it was either too well camouflaged, or it was long gone.

This little guy is a Thorny Devil.

I wandered around the reptile house.

I raced off to see the Bird Show, and got there before the huge queue formed behind me.
it was good, but I’ve seen the ones at Healesville and Tooronga zoos and this was very similar.

It’s always spectacular to see hawks swoop in and fly right above your head, though.

Here he is, coming in for a landing.

This next bird was a little different to the usual hawks and owls that are the usual stars of these shows.

This is a Bush Stone Curlew, also known as the Murder Bird,. They got this name because of they sound like someone screaming. These poor things are ground dwellers and stand stock-still when in danger. This is effective with native predators, but of course it’s disastrous with feral cats, dogs and foxes.

And all the while, there was a tawny frogmouth perched high above us!

Then it was a gentle wander over to where the kangaroo talk was.

I learned that the quickest way to get a fire started is to use dry kangaroo dung, because it’s 75% grass.

Good to know.

When I felt I’d had enough, I bought a Christmas tree decoration on my way out, grabbed lunch and took a taxi back to the hotel to wait for my Ghan pick up.

While I was there, I wandered into a shop in the hotel foyer and they had some quilting fabric. At some stage in the future, I’ll be making myself a Central Australia quilt.

once back on the train, I was lucky enough to find another good group of people. The dining staff surprised me with a little birthday cake and the dining car sang “ Happy Birthday “. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that my birthday was DAYS ago.

Tomorrow is a quick visit to the famous Katherine Gorge and then Darwin,

Dad Joke of the day:

A book fell on me when I was working at my desk.

I only have my shelf to blame.

(Mount Connor, as it looks from the lookout by the naked eye.)

My bus-buddy Eve, along with Janet, Jill and a couple of others, left the bus this morning to fly home. We had a late(ish) departure time of 9 AM, and they all arrived at the front of the resort to wave us off. 

“I think they want to make sure we’re ready leaving,” said Tracey as we pulled away.

Today is pretty much a driving day back to Alice Springs. We stopped at a lookout for Mt Connor, which also had a view of a salt lake.

(Mt Connor, close-up.)

“It’s over the sand dune across the road,” said Tracey. “ I warn you… there’s been a bit of rain so it might be muddy. Your shoes will never be the same.”

Damn. My trusty travel boots. I said a last goodbye to the way they used to look, and then I launched my way upwards.

Look, Dingo tracks.

The view of the salt lake was stunning.

Remember when I harvested some salt from the Pink Lake on the way back from Kangaroo Island? It’s lovely how the more I travel, the more intertwined some memories become.

Anne is an artist and she’s set herself the task of painting a picture a day of this trip. I was lucky enough to see what she’s done so far, and they’re wonderful. She’s doing watercolours of the landscapes and flowers in a book, which is obviously going to be the most beautiful keepsake. (Almost as good as a blog! Haha!)

Here she is doing a preliminary sketch, getting the major features in place. I airdropped my photos, including this one, hoping they’d help with colours later on.

Back at the bus for morning tea,I noticed the (misspelled) graffiti on the shelter. Zoom in on the roof.
It’s referring to the cattle station we had lunch at yesterday.

There are two sides to every situation…

Oh! I took some photos of the public toilets for you. It occurred to me that some of you might not have experienced a “long drop” toilet before. As you can see, it looks like a normal toilet, but it’s missing a flush button.

You can’t believe how tightly I was holding my phone while taking this shot! 

The toilet is over a deep hole in the ground. It would be a terrible mistake to drop anything except human waste in there. Tracey said that there was a coach driver who left his keys in his pocket and they fell in. He had to do the dive to retrieve them with people holding onto his ankles.

We’re travelling along the Lassiter Highway, named after Harold Bell Lassiter, who in 1889 claimed to discover a massive reef of gold out in the desert. He marked the area with a marker, which in this case was a big post. He was worried that “ the blacks” would remove the marker because it was near a sacred site. He was insistent that the reef of gold was there, but there were many inconsistencies in his story. 

In 1930, during the depression, he raised the possibility of finding the reef again. He raised several thousand pounds to make an expedition. They even had an aeroplane, a prelude to the Tigermoth, as well as a couple of heavy trucks. 

On the second takeoff, the plane crashed. The trucks bogged. Lassiter soon showed that he was a very poor bushman, so the people on the expedition lost a lot of confidence in him. 

The crew broke away from Lassiter and went back to Melbourne, while Lassiter and a few camels wandered on. 

He reportedly died.

He wrote the coordinates of the reef in lemon juice on a piece of paper, which is basically invisible ink, but the coordinates meant nothing.

To this day, no one has ever found the fabulous reef of gold.

We stopped for lunch at the centre point of Australia! 

Erldunda!

They have emus here.

They also have very understanding customers, so it seems.

We passed by an airfield right beside the highway. These are dotted all over the countryside, both for mail delivery and for the Flying Doctors. This gives the doctors greater flexibility, as they can fly to the closest site to an emergency, the pastoralists will meet them at the airstrip and drive them to where they need to go.

The speed limit along this highway is 130 km/hour. It used to be unlimited, but then a movie was released in the early 1980s called The Cannonball Run, starring Burt Reynolds. The plot involved people racing from one side of America to the other, avoiding the police.

A few years later, the Northern Territory government decided to boost tourism by hosting its own Cannonball Run, right up the middle of the territory. Anyone in the world who owned a fast car was able to enter.

What could possibly go wrong?

On the second day, a Japanese guy in a Ferrari lost control of his car and drove headlong towards a check point. The marshals and the two people in the Ferrari were killed.

(The photo is of a memorial, written in both Japanese and English, taken from the bus as we went speeding by. Apologies for the excitingly blurred look.)

After this, there was an outcry about the unlimited speed limit. The government lowered it in line with the rest of the country to 100, but road fatalities increased. They worked out that it was driver fatigue that was causing this, so they upped the speed limit to 130. This decreased the amount of time drivers were on the road, and the faster speed keeps the drivers more alert.

By the middle of the afternoon we were pulling up outside the Alice Springs Hilton.

And so the first half of the trip is over. If you’re looking for a holiday, I can recommend this company. Colin and Tracey were fantastic and the bus was extremely comfortable. We saw a lot in a short space of time.

And if you want to have some down time, just do what Janet did. She’s staying back at Yulara for a couple of days of R & R.

Tonight, I’m here at the Hilton, listening to piano music as I dine.
Tomorrow afternoon I hop back on The Ghan to go up to Darwin.
The adventure continues!

Dad Joke of the Day:

I  went along to the local Kleptomaniacs Anonymous meeting but all the seats were taken.

Today was a huge day! 

The alarm went off at 4:30 AM. I was going to do some blogging before we had to leave for the sunrise, and this is when I discovered that my laptop was broken. The keys weren’t registering on the screen, so I couldn’t even get my password on to get in.

Devastated. Fortunately, I have my iPad, but I have to remember how to blog on it. It’s been a year since I was using it to blog when I was in the UK and Ireland. The laptop is SO much easier.

I moped my way out to the bus and we got to the viewing platform early, which gave us the advantage of securing our spots. we had just under an hour before sunrise.

The place filled up. I couldn’t help thinking about the school trips our school does here every year, with two or three coaches full of year 10 or 11 students. I thanked my lucky stars that we weren’t here during school holidays!

When the light started to appear, Uluru looked like this.

As the sunrise approached, it changed.

As you can see, we didn’t get the brilliant orange that sometimes happens, probably because there were some clouds in the sky that diffused the sun’s rays a bit, but we saw the Rock change colour regardless. 

I was getting a little bored with just standing there, so I zoomed in on some spots that looked like faces. This one has lost an eye.

This one is hanging upside down.

I snapped a few more on the way back to the bus.

Then we were back to the resort for breakfast. We had an hour’s turnaround before we were off to cover as much ground as possible in our one full day at Yulara.

First stop was The Olgas, or Kata Tjuṯa as they’re now called. The official name change happened in 1977, but Uluru has been adopted much more readily than Kata Tjuṯa, probably because it’s easier to say. The indigenous name means “many heads”, which makes sense as there are 36 identifiable domes.

To be honest, I have never given The Olgas much thought, but they were stunning.

We stopped for an hour to do a walk at Walpa Gorge.

The rock formations have their own microclimates, “so if it’s windy at Uluru, it’ll be blowing a gale there!” said Tracey. She wasn’t lying. There was a breeze blowing, but it helped to take the edge off the heat.

I enjoyed this walk. It was all across the natural rocks, with a few little bridges across difficult spots, but the rocks were very stable, so it was a far easier climb than the Rim Walk at King’s Canyon.

The rocks rose high above us on either side. It was a little awe-inspiring to see the evidence of how massive the forces of nature can be. These cliffs were pushed upwards far higher than they are now. Erosion is slowly working on them.

There were trees to my left, where I could hear a huge flock of finches “peeping” away at each other. A budgerigar flew past in a glint of iridescent green.

The waterhole at the end was a pleasant place to stop and have a rest before finishing the rest of the walk.

It looks like an extraterrestrial planet, doesn’t it?

This is a selfie, by the way.

The end point.

Like in the cathedrals of Europe, look up!

After the walk, we drove around to the other side to see The Olgas in their entirety. 

Sadly, my photos don’t show the details of how amazing they looked.

Though I did manage to snap this lovely one of the grasses as I made my way up the hill.

They certainly make you earn your way to the sights in this country! It seems like there’s always a hill to climb from the car park before you see what you came there to see.

Uluru was way over there, but that was our next stop. Lunch in the car park of the Cultural Centre! We had wraps, which are always a winner in my book.

While Colin and Tracey assembled lunch, we wandered through the Cultural Centre, learning about the stories and legends of the Arrernte people.

We weren’t allowed to take photos here.

Luckily for me, there was a gift shop, where I saw a painting that just had to come home with me. I wasn’t intending to buy another painting, but the movement in this one called to me. It turns out that the traditional paintings don’t really do much for me, but when the artist uses the elements in a different way, it grabs me.

This painting has depth. It moves.
Now, this second painting is rolled up in a huge tube, which is going to be a pain to drag around with me. I hope that this will deter me from buying any more art. I only have so many walls, and I’ve planned many more trips!

Next was the drive around Uluru, where we were able to get up close and personal with the Rock.

The lone tree up high, surrounded by rock, caught my eye.

Painting. “Only” around 500 years old.
This is in a cave where the men used to take the boys when it was time to learn Men’s Business. Unlike our culture, getting adult privileges isn’t a birthright. You had to prove that you were worthy to receive the knowledge.

At the bottom of the boys’ cave was this circular hole.
“I can imagine the boys peeping through this hole, watching the men going about their secret business,” said Colin.

The first stop was at a natural waterhole, where there was a rock cave with 5,000 year old paintings. Very unfortunately, a week ago an orange-robed man painted one of his religious mantras right across the paintings. Can you imagine? These paintings are still undergoing restoration a week later.

Imagine how delicate the work would have to be? To remove the graffiti without removing the ancient painting underneath. Some people deserve to be strung up and horse whipped.

Here’s the waterfall. Isn’t it beautiful?

The texture of the rock is so lovely, almost like bark on a tree trunk.

As we moved from place to place, Colin told the stories of Uluru. Some stories are not shared with anyone outside their community, but the stories Colin told, illustrated by the markings and features on the Rock, were fascinating.

See the rock in the foreground? It’s on a gentle incline and is Oh So Tempting for idiots to climb up to get their Instagram moment. There were heavy boughs laid across the bottom.

Colin said, “This is an indigenous signal that this cannot be passed. If you ever break down in the Outback and have to leave your car, lay a big branch across the bonnet and it won’t be touched. Some people desert their cars and so it gets stripped. But if this signal is there, you’re telling them you’re intending to come back. Your car won’t be touched.”

This cave was used for the women to cook and grind down seeds to make their version of flatbreads.

Here’s the stains from thousands of years of being used for this purpose.

The Elders who were killed by a spirit dingo in one of the legends Colin told can be seen on the cave walls.
Every now and then, there were signs asking for people not to take photos, as we were in front of a sacred men’s or women’s site. Of course, we respected this, even though some of the rock formations were fantastic. There were plenty of amazing photos to be taken everywhere else!

Cave paintings.

Look at us all bending down to see them.
Here’s some more:

Towards the end of the tour, the heavens opened and rain poured down. We were soaked! Colin said that this was very good luck. “We love rain, here,” he said.

I’ll take it as a good omen that the rest of the tour will be terrific.

There used to be little wallabies called Marla Wallabies that lived all around here. After Europeans arrived, they were hunted almost to extinction, mainly due to the feral cats and dogs that were introduced. When the remaining animals were gathered up m there were only 29 left. Now, after being placed in an enclosure where they’re protected from predators, there are now 400. The hope is that if they can get the feral animals under control, the Marla Wallabies can be released back into the wild.

Here is the place where tourists used to climb to the top of Uluru. Three of my kids have done this when they went there on the school camps I talked about earlier.

They’ve taken away the metal fences and chains, and filled up the holes that were left with small pieces of Uluru that were posted back by people who stole them, then experienced bad luck after they got home. They send back the rocks they stole in an effort to escape all the bad things that are happening to them.

The holes are filled, though there’s still a white mark left that the locals call “The  Scar.”

I can’t believe the kids climbed so high!

I’m sorry it’s not the clearest shot, but I was running for the bus to avoid getting too wet.

As we drove away, this is what the people on the right side of the bus saw.

God, I love Airdrop!

A quick drive back to the resort, a 45 minute Power Nap and a fruitless phone call to Georgia to see if there was anything I could do to fix the laptop, then we were off to see the famous Field of Lights.

Don’t mind if I do!

We were on top of a sand dune, being fed canapés and drinks, looking out towards Uluru and waiting for the sun to set to see the Field of Lights come to life.

This is a light installation by the same artist who did the ridiculous synesthesia thing. This one sounded more in tune with the environment, being meant to represent the wildflowers coming to bloom after the rains fall. 

Appropriate, considering the rainfall we had today.

Can you see the white in front of Uluru? That’s not spinifex. That’s the solar lights that we came to see.

I love the light on the tree.

After a while, when it got really dark, we were invited to walk down the sand dune and wander among the lights.

Here’s what the individual lights look like.

Did I like it?

I mean, I guess it was pretty…

But ultimately it was boring. Eve, Janet and I decided to take the short way through the field, along with everyone else on the bus, and we were back for a late dinner at the resort before falling into bed.

Tomorrow we travel back to Alice Springs and this part of the holiday will be done and dusted.

I have plans for my free morning in Alice Springs, though.

Dad Joke of the Day:

I looked up opaque in the dictionary, but the meaning was unclear.

Here it is!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. This was later in the day.

We had to make an unexpected stop first thing in the morning. One of our guys, Lou, has an artificial foot and he’d developed a blister on his stump. Pretty painful stuff. We stopped in at the medical centre to borrow a pair of crutches for him. He was so relieved when he came back to the bus.

We set off again on our way to Kathleen Springs.

Ten minutes later an ambulance passed us and flashed its lights to make us stop. This photo is of the screen showing what’s going on in front of the bus. Because Lou hadn’t been examined by a nurse, they were taking the crutches back. Seriously, the man limps in with a prosthetic leg and the bureaucracy still isn’t satisfied. Poor Lou had to wait until Uluru to get his crutches.

Kathleen Springs is a short drive from Kings Canyon Resort. Like Alice Springs, it’s misnamed as they’re not springs at all, but rather natural puddles that form when the sandstone underneath is saturated with water and so the surplus water rises to the surface.

It’s an easy walk, thank goodness. When I first stepped boldly out, my right knee gave a twang, but after that I was ok.
I think I hurt something when I nearly rolled my ankle yesterday straight after the Rim Walk.

The water lies at the end of a canyon. Towering cliffs lay on either side as we walked.

On the way in, I walked with Janet and Toni, stopping to take the odd photo and then catching up with them again. The cliffs were so pretty and you can see where the layers of sediment have been pushed up from the ground millions of years ago “on a Friday afternoon at 4o’clock”, as Tracey would say.

The indigenous hunters would use this place to lie in wait. As the kangaroos, emus or whatever would go in to drink, they’d lie in wait for them to come out.

When the animals emerged, the hunters would let most of them go past unscathed, but then they’d kill the stragglers. This served two purposes: they only ever killed enough for their needs, plus if they’d killed the front runners, every animal in that herd would forever after associate that place with danger and would never go back again.

Clever.

The water is surrounded by cliffs at the back and sides and reeds growing at the front. It’s a lovely little spot.

Colin was telling us about the hunting and also about why the snow gums had hessian wrapped around their branches.
“Sometimes idiots come along and carve their initials into the tree. They don’t realise, or don’t care, that this damages the tree’s protective layer and can eventually kill it. The rangers wrap fresh bark over the wound and cover it with hessian, hoping that when it rains, the hessian will keep some moisture in for longer. Over time, the hope is that the tree will recover.”

I walked back by myself, happily looking around and enjoying the scenery. A magical moment happened.

Birds started singing. First, some whip birds, then finches. I kept walking, surrounded by birdsong. I was swept back in time to when I was walking through the streets of Pyongyang in North Korea during the marathon in 2018. It was quiet, and off in the distance I could hear the sound of the crowd cheering at a soccer match at the stadium. It was the same feeling.

Off to my left, I saw a small black and white bird on the ground. It flew up, then circled right around me and flew off.

What a beautiful birthday present!

Yes, this is why I’m away at the moment. Last year I made a vow to myself that I will always be away for my birthday. 

My 60th was spent in the middle of London with Scott and Corinna. This year, I’m going somewhere that’s the complete opposite. 

(Next year, I’ll be on a ship on the way to Greenland.)

We spent morning tea at a camel farm, which had a fabulous gift shop.

I bought a travel bag, subtly coloured as you can see, along with a fold up bag to keep in my handbag. 
Feral camels are a huge problem up here. Camels were brought in when they were building the overland telegraph back in the late 1800’s. When the work was completed,the cameleers were told to shoot their camels. Of course, after working with their camels for so long, the cameleers had become fond of them, so many of them simply let them go, probably assuming that they’d die off naturally and that would be that.

Who would have thought that a desert animal would thrive in a desert? Now we have millions of them and they do a lot of damage to the environment.

Out here, if you catch a camel, it’s yours. This farm has a one-way gate that leads to water. The camels wander in to grab a drink, then can’t get out of the yard. When they have enough camels, they load them into a truck and off they go.

Australian camels are in big demand overseas for racing, food and, strangely, for camel beauty contests. The prize money can reach ridiculously high, with contestants being disqualified for having Botox injections to make their lips droopy. 

We drove towards a cattle station called Curtin Springs. As we were driving, we saw this.

No, it’s not Uluru. It’s called Mt Connor. It’s almost as tall as Uluru, but it’s longer. It’s on Curtin Springs’ land. The owners used to allow people to visit it, until their Mum’s grave, at the base of Mt Connor, was desecrated by tourists. After that, they fenced it off, obviously deciding that enough is enough.

Now, thanks to those idiots, we can only view it from a distance.

The owners of Curtin Springs served us lunch and gave a talk about what it’s like to live and work on a farm like this. The short answer is – it’s hard. See the structure we’re under. This served as the house – with no walls – for 3 years while the current owner’s parents were working to establish the cattle station.
They’ve been able to survive by diversifying from just cattle and diving into tourism (accommodation, meals) and paper making.

I know that sounds weird, but they make beautiful paper from the native grasses. The gift shop has bookmarks, jewellery, magnets, notebooks… everything you can possibly think of. People were shopping up a storm. 

I really wanted to buy something to support them, but I’ve made a rule NOT to buy anything unless I fall in love with it. Nothing there leapt out and grabbed me.

The paper was beautiful, but I couldn’t see how I would use it. The lesson in how she makes the paper, as well as seeing how her daughter makes jewellery from it, was interesting though.

Shielas and Blokes.

What I particularly liked was that they were originally painted with apostrophes, but then someone has come along and discreetly painted over them. It was probably an English teacher on holidays. It’s a pity they didn’t spell Sheila correctly.

As we drove along, we saw The Olgas, otherwise known as Kata Tjuṯa. Look at the shape!
I’m suddenly very interested in seeing them tomorrow.

Soon after, we saw Uluru, as you saw at the top of this post. It was such a deep satisfaction to see the heart of Australia with my own eyes.

We had a couple of hours at the resort before we had to assemble to be taken to “The Sound of Silence” show, where we’d be watching the sun set at Uluru.

I raced into town to try and find some artwork. As I did in England last year, I found a framed picture and wrapped it up well so I could bring it back in my carryon. It looks a bit like a quilt, doesn’t it? I’ll probably hang it in my sewing room.

Happy birthday to me!

The Sounds of Silence was good. We were dropped off at a big sand dune, fed canapés and lots of alcohol while we watched the sunset.

Afterwards, we walked around to where there was a space where we had a gourmet 3 course dinner as night fell around us. A didgeridoo player welcomed us as we arrived. You know you’re in Australia when you hear a didgeridoo!

All in all, not a bad birthday. I’ve seen Uluru, which makes me feel like a REAL Australian.

Tomorrow we get to go close up and personal with Kata Tjuṯa and Uluru. It’s going to be a long day, starting at sunrise at the Rock.

The Moon and Venus. Just perfect.

Dad Joke of the Day:

Did you hear about the lumberjack who cut down too many trees ?

He saw too much.    

I got up before the alarm at 5:15 AM. I knew I wanted to be first there for breakfast at 6, so that I could have time to get myself ready for this walk. We were leaving at 6:45 – no waiting for any stragglers! The sun was rising as we set off for King’s Canyon, all of us carrying at least 2 litres of water with us.

I know I try a lot of things when I’m on holidays, but this one wasn’t a slam dunk by any means. This is a walk that is definitely an achievement, almost a badge of honour for having completed it. It’s marked as VERY DIFFICULT on lists of walks, so I wasn’t sure if I could do it.

The main area of difficulty is the first 500 steps. They’re practically vertical up a cliff face and they’re not man-made. They’re made from the natural rocks, so they are all differents sizes, depths and heights. You have to concentrate on every step. Not just with the first 500 steps, but with EVERY step you make on this 4 hour walk. It’s intense.

This is an action shot of Colin on the right, saying, “See that horizontal ridge? That’s the first 200 steps. We’ll stop there and make sure everyone is right to go on. Remember, once you take that 201st step, you’re committed. There’s no going back.”

The next 200 steps were near the top of the hill, with the final 100 steps curving around to the back. I don’t know about you, but that ridge looked. long way up…

When we got closer, we saw the steps. Zoom in on them. There’s no way anyone can mindlessly do this walk. You have to be conscious of where you place your feet every single step.

And yes. Heart Attack Hill was BRUTAL.

I took my time and let people pass me, pretending to be polite when really, I was trying to catch my breath. I had to take it slow and steady because the cardio is insane.

At the 200 steps, all of us elected to continue and we all made it to the top. Fabulous view!

Personally, I was proud that I made it to the top without needing the emergency defibrillator.

At the top of the canyon, there’s space for a helicopter to land if they need to evac someone out. There’s also a big store of medical gear here too.

It’s not just heart attacks. People have fallen from here, broken bones or sprained ankles etc. There are 4 defibrillators along the track, along with two-way radios to let the park rangers know if there’s an emergency.

After we had a drink – small sips only to let your body absorb the water! Lots of small sips along the way! – we started making our way along the top of the canyon.

Here’s Colin telling us about this narrow pass.

“You’ve all heard of the movie ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? Well, when they were filming out here they brought the cast and crew here for a tour. For some reason, they named this ‘Priscilla’s Crack’ and it’s a thing on Instagram for the kids to stand, one foot on either side, hold their arms up and shout, “I’m in Priscilla’s Crack!”‘

Can’t let the kids have all the fun…

I’m pretty sure that the white you can see is the car park with all the buses.

Zoom in on this one and you’ll see that the cliffs on the left look as if they’ve been sliced by a knife, like a slice of cheesecake.

We saw ghost gums in the most precarious of places. The sandstone cliffs act like a big sponge, absorbing any rain that falls. The trees’ roots can slide between the rocks and the tree happily grows.

Look at these rocks. They prove that all of this was once under the sea, just like the lines we see on the beach in the sand. Incredible.

At last! The first sign that we were getting near The Garden of Eden.

Man-made steps, too. Fancy!

This is the first view of The Garden of Eden that I saw. I was a little disappointed, to be honest. Then, once I was down the bottom of the stairs, I turned around and saw this:

Look at the clarity of the reflection! This was a wonderful spot.

We sat here for a while, eating a snack and taking more small sips of the water.

This is almost at the mid point of the walk.

Erosion is weird sometimes.

This is where our group split up. One woman had an elevated heart beat or something, so Colin went back to check on her and give her some hydrolytes. Some of us decided to push on. It was about 10 AM by then and the sun was getting hotter. Most of the walk is in full sun, so we wanted to get while the going was good.

Frank is in the green shirt. I followed behind him like a little duckling for the rest of the walk.

Funnily enough, we were back on flat land at the car park and I almost rolled my ankle. After doing that whole walk!

Speaking of doing the walk, would I do it again?

No. I was getting over it fo the last third and I was starting to fantasise about there being a secret lift down, that everyone who takes the walk signs a vow od silence so that all newcomers don’t know about it until they reach it.

Yeah. That didn’t happen.

I NEVER want to do the 500 steps again. It was hard. Even Frank said that this was the hardest walk he’s ever done,and he willingly goes on walks all around the world.

But I’m extremely glad I chose to do it. I’m proud of the achievement that a tubby, stubborn woman from Melbourne can do.

Tomorrow we leave for Uluru. And it’ll be my birthday!

(Funny thing – Mum left a voicemail TODAY, wishing me a happy birthday. It was only her and I there at the time… you’d think she’d remember the date!! Haha.)

Dad joke of the Day:

Look at the colours of the rocks up above Standley Gorge. This was my first hint that I might be going to see something special.

First off – crisis averted! My bus buddy is Eve, a lovely woman from Canberra. She’s had an interesting life, having done farming, truck driving (she can back up a semi!) and all sorts of other jobs. I’m so relieved I won’t be stuck 24/7 making awkward conversations with Jill.

Anyway, let’s get back to Standley Gorge. When I went on the camel ride, Isabella from Brazil came here to the chasm. It was in the afternoon, so maybe that was why she wasn’t all that thrilled with it when she came back. So I hopped off the bus this morning with LOW expectations.

(You know, sometimes that’s the best thing, isn’t it? You sometimes get an amazing surprise, which is what I received.)

I should have felt in my waters that it would be good because Standley Chasm is named for a teacher – Ida Standley (1869 – 1948).

She was the first teacher in Alice Springs, and she was ahead of her time in suggesting that maybe it would be good if the black and white kids all sat in the same classrooms at the same time, instead of white kids being taught in the morning and the Indigenous kids in the afternoon.

It didn’t happen, of course, the White Australia policy being what it was.

But she was greatly loved in the area and so this place was named in her honour.

The rocks look like the bark of the trees. This was down by the path in the shade.

The cliffs on the right side of the path were a pale apricot colour like this. Absolutely beautiful, but the light wasn’t right to capture how they looked. The left side of the path was catching the morning sun.

Like this. Isn’t it incredible?

It was so quiet. I could hear a bird chirping and eventually I found it. It was some sort of honey eater. I stood for a while and watched it fly from blossom to blossom.

I haven’t used any colour enhancements. The rocks are exactly like this when the sun hits them. It’s just amazing. The oranges and yellows are intense.

The Chasm itself has a flat, easy track which winds its way along a creek until the end. Unlike most of the rivers we’ve seen here, which are upside down, this one actually has water in some places that you can see.

The group spead out along the walk, so no one was in anyone else’s face. It was quiet and calm, which made it easy to stroll along and soak in the beauty.

Here’s the entrance to the Chasm itself.

I was halfway in, looking back the way I’d come.

Here’s the end. The water in this pool is very cold, as no sunlight touches it. Merrilyn put her hand in it, then a few minutes later put her fingers against my cheek. They were still icy cold.

Turning back towards the path back to the bus, where morning tea awaited us.

I absolutely loved this place.

On the way to Ormiston Gorge, some of us were lucky enough to see a small flock of budgerigars keeping pace beside the bus for a few moments before they swooped away. They were iridescent green and it was so exciting. My brother used to breed them in a large aviary in the backyard when we were kids and now I’ve seen them in the wild.

I have Eve to thank for pointing out the windw for me to see them. I was looking in the wrong direction.

I also have Eve to thank for giving me a lot of very practical advice about my trip wending my way down to the Snowy Mountains after I drop the Ligas off in November. As I mentioned, at one stage Eve was a truckie and she drove along these roads up in the Top End.

She seems to have no doubt that I can do this – which gives me a lot of confidence – and she knows where I should stay and how I can make the car and me safer as we’re travelling. We had a really interesting conversation as the bus drove along.

We also saw BRUMBIES! Ever snce I read ‘The Silver Brumby’ and the rest of the series as a child, I wanted to see one. Today was certainly the day for catching up with childhood things.

Ormiston Gorge was ok, but it was the walk up the cliffs that was the most important part.

“If you’re considering doing the Rim Walk at King’s Canyon tomorrow, then this walk will be a good test to see if you can make it,” said Colin.

Hmmm… I was thinking about tackling this, but because I’m fat and unfit, I wasn’t sure if I could make it. I decided to give Ormiston Gorge a crack.

As you can see, I made it. I found that if I stopped when I started to get out of breath and let my heart rate and breathing calm down, then I was good to go. The first little bit of the walk was steep, but in what seemed like no time, I was up on the lookout with the rest of the group.

I’d brought a towel and my bathers, but I decided not to go swimming. The water was cold and only the Tasmanians said that it was ok. I climbed a mountain today. Let that be enough!

We stayed up there for a fair while. Tracey, the bus driver, climbed up to join us, while Colin was back at the bus putting together lunch.

I spotted the first fly net of the trip! You can either wear them over or under your hat. I’ve noticed that tourists from other countries are wearing them most. Honestly, for Aussies, the flies so far have been pretty good. You have to do the occasional ‘Aussie Salute’ but so far, I’ve been happy to keep my Ghan fly net in reserve.

After lunch Eve, Janet and I walked down to the waterhole to take a closer look. Janet is the other solo traveller and she’d great value. Very positive and upbeat all the time. The three of us climbed down the hill together before lunch and although she has a dicky knee, she worked around it and kept up the pace while carrying on a lively conversation.

The wattles are starting to bloom. We used to have one in our back yard when we were kids and when they bloom, you know that spring is here.

Here’s what we found. It actually has a sandy beach, though the water looked a bit murky, to be honest.

Here’s Eve, communing with nature. It is a very beautiful spot. I can imagine that when the weather gets very intense, this would be a fabulous place to spend the day and cool off.

On the way back to the bus, I heard a ‘peep peep’ sound. I instantly knew what it was. There were wild Zebra Finches hanging around near a tap, taking a drink. Along with the budgies, my brother also had Zebra Finches. They make a sound that is unforgettable.

Not-so-fun fact: You can’t keep Budgies and Zebra Finches in the same aviary. The Budgies don’t like them and they bite their legs off. We didn’t experience this back in the day. Simon was told that when he wanted to get the finches, so Dad built a new aviary for them. Thank god we avoided that trauma!

On our journey to the King’s Canyon resort, we passed by Gosses Bluff. This is the remnants of a meteor impact, which took place millions of years ago, “on Wednesday afternoon at 4 o’clock,” said Tracey.

The interesting thing about this is that the scientific and indiginous explanations are very similar.

Scientifically, a meteor composed of ice and gas crashed into the Earth, raising up this huge crater from the ground with the impact. The meteor was absorbed by the earth that it hit.

The Indiginous story is that the North and South stars had a baby, and it fell from the sky into a huge cradle. The baby disppeared under the earth an when we see the North and South stars, they’re looking for their baby.

Pictured from above, it looks very much like a cradle, doesn’t it?

Before we got here, Tracey gave a talk painting the King’s Canyon Rim Walk as being extremely challenging. Lots of scrambling around on hands and knees to get over cliff faces etc. I began to feel that maybe I was ging to attempt something that was too hard for me, especially when I heard that ‘Heart Attack Hill’ right at the start isn’t 300 steps as I thought … it’s 500. Yikes.

I had a quiet chart with Colin at Gosses Bluff and he asked if I had any knee or hip problems.

“No,” I said. “I’m just fat and unfit.”

We decided that I should give it a go. They take people up the first 200 steps and if they realise that it’s too much for them, they go down and join the rest of the group for an easy creek walk a couple of days later. That seemed fair and reasonable to me.

Though once I start something, I like to finish it…

When we arrived at the resort, we checked in. My room has two queen beds, so I have OPTIONS. (Or as James from Ireland would probably say… “Notions.”)

We had a great night. There are enough lovely people here to dilute the one who irritates me, so I’ll just do the dance of avoidance.

Tomorrow is the Rim Walk. We have to ge up before the crack of dawn to get there in time to get most of it done before the sun gets too hot.

Wish me luck!

Dad joke of the Day:

After I finished yesterday’s post, I decided to go and visit the School of the Air.

The School of the Air was started in the 50’s, bringing education to the children living on far-flung properties across the Northern Territory. The woman who started it was a teacher and she realised that if the mothers on these cattle stations didn’t give their kids an education, then they simply didn’t get one.

We all found out during the COVID lockdowns how rare it is to find a parent eager to take on their children’s education! It was the same back then.

I found this tour fascinating. I was the only one there, so I suppose I had a very personalised experience, which is fine by me!

When it started, the classes were all done by radio. The first classes were done by a teacher talking into a microphone and broadcasting to a particular cattle station or roadhouse. She had no way of knowing if the kids were fighting, listening, or if they were even there!

(The following photos are all “quilts.” They give the kids a theme, and the kids make their patch at home and bring it with them when they come into Alice Springs for one of their social weeks. They put the “quilt together as a group. )

When the two-way radio came in, things became a lot better. One of the women I was talking to was a teacher during this time. She said that if she couldn’t hear a particular student, she’d ask the other kids if they could hear him. If someone said yes, then they’d relay what the teacher said, and if the ‘silent’ kid had a question, he’d ask his mate and he’d relay the question to the teacher and the answer to the student.

Nowadays, it’s all run by satellite, which is subsidised by the NT government. It’s much more flexible, meaning that if the parents want to dig a bore, for example, they’ll take the kids and tutor with them. When it’s time for the face-to-face lesson, the kid will log on, have the lesson, then go back and help the parents and do the schoolwork when they get home.

Kids living on trucks or travelling around Australia also benefit from the flexibility.

(This ‘quilt ‘ was made from metal. The kids had to design a patch showing what their home produced.)

Each family has to have a tutor. Sometimes it’s one of the parents, but most families hire one. Each child has half an hour face-to-face with their teacher each day. The rest of the time, they’re working through material that is mailed to them every two weeks.

The socialisation of these kids is looked after as best they can. Four times a year they all come together in Alice Springs. The kids get to see their friends in real life and interact with them. They get taught swimming, they perform plays and generally have a good time. Most of them won’t go to a “regular” school until year 10 when they’ll board in Alice Springs or interstate.

(I liked this one the best. It’s the kids from a local police station, and they’ve put handcuffs on it!)

Having taught through the first two lockdowns in 2020, I know how hard the teachers must work to make the classes interesting and engaging. It sounds like an easy gig, but it certainly wouldn’t be.

As we were talking, I mentioned that after I drop the Ligas off at Uluru on their Crazy Road Trip, I was thinking that maybe I’ll come up to stay in Alice Springs for a couple of days.

The woman I was talking to lit up. She’s now sold me on the idea of going to the Alice Springs Desert Park. David Attenborough rates it as one of the 5 best parks of its type and he’s visited it twice. I’m thinking I could do some walks, see the Park, then go home.

This is where my life may have changed. This woman suggested that I drive up to Tennant Creek, then turn right, head across for a bit, go down through Dubbo and instead of going home, go straight to my Snowy Mountains holiday.

Hmmm….

At 3 PM, we all met up for the beginning of the Red Centre part of the tour. Unfortunately, we’re a full bus of around 20 people, so I’m going to have to share my seat with someone else. There are 4 solo women travelling, so we’ll work it out.

We were taken to see John Flynn’s grave. His ashes are buried under this rock.

John Flynn began the Royal Flying Doctor Service and by doing so, he saved countless lives in the Northern Territory and beyond. He had the idea for ages, but was spurred on by the story of what happened to a guy called Jim Darcy in 1917.

Jim was an aboriginal stockman who was thrown by his horse when there was a cattle stampede. He was badly trampled. His mates took him to the nearest house and they radioed Perth for help. 2 doctors were servicing the whole of Western Australia at that time, and both were busy. Not surprising… have a look at the map of Australia and see how big WA is.

His mates suspected that he had internal injuries such as a ruptured bladder, so they decided to operate.

The local postmaster did the honours, with his mates holding him down, because there was no anaesthetic. The postman sewed up what he could, and they waited for the doctor to come. This only prolonged the inevitable, and Jim Darcy died 2 weeks later, a day before the doctor finally arrived.

Can you imagine??

The School of the Air used the same tech as the Flying Doctors. Both services changed life in the Outback from then on. People were no longer quite so isolated.

When Flynn died in 1951, he requested to be buried in the Outback. People went to the Devils Marbles to grab a rock. Later, when Land Rights started to become a thing, there was a huge stink kicked up because the Devils Marbles is a sacred site and so the rock might be sacred. There was a lot of argy-bargy, but in the end, sanity prevailed. They took the rock back, went outside the sacred site and chose another one that looked identical. This is the rock we see today.

Flynn is on the $20 bill, not that we see too much “real” money nowadays.

After a swing by Anzac Hill, which I saw yesterday, we went back to the hotel. The people on the tour seem nice, so I’m optimistic about the fun we’ll have. Tomorrow is a WALKING DAY, with Stanley Gorge and Ormiston Something-Or-Other, so my time in the walking group with Blogless Sandy will come in handy.

Guess what Tracey the bus driver said to us?

In a climate like this, if you’re walking you should be drinking a LITRE of water an HOUR.

omg

Also, just over one of the ranges is Pine Gap, the US Intelligence base. The tour guide, Colin, said “It’s a very well-maintained base. Whenever you meet someone from there, they’re always a gardener or a janitor or something like that. No one ever seems to have a job that actually involves army intelligence!”

***

I thought I was finished for today, but I’ve just come back from dinner.

OH MY GOD HELP ME NOW!

There are 4 solo women. I had dinner at a table with one of them, while the other two were at another table.

Jill is the most vapid, boring woman I’ve come across in a month of Sundays.

Stupid, too. She was talking about all sorts of racist stuff about her Chinese Great Grandfather WHILE WE WERE SHARING A TABLE WITH TWO THAI/AMERICANS. For goodness sake – read the room, lady!

Kill Me Now. The other two women looked like they were bonding beautifully.

My problem is that the bus is full, so the 4 single ladies will have to sit next to someone. If I have to sit next to Jill for the next 6 days, I won’t be a happy camper. My only hope is that I suggest that we rotate sharing seats, so I only have to deal 1:1 with her for a couple of days, not the whole trip.

Ugh. Just venting. It was awful. The only good thing was that she went to bed early, so we three had a great talk after she left. They’re a father and son – the wife/mother died 6 months ago so they’re travelling together to give the Dad something to do that’s positive. I love that they’re doing a father/son experience. It should be a THING, like a rite of passage. They clearly love each other – it was good to see.

But I think it won’t be too long before I’ll be actively avoiding Jill.

Dad joke of the Day:

Just me and my mate having a laugh.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. I had to publish the last post before the day was finished because we were getting to NO INTERNET places.

I had a fantastic time on the Ghan and it was all down to the people I met there. Let’s face it, there’s not a lot to look at outside, This next shot was taken from my cupboard cabin during the day:

… so it was what was happening inside the train which made all the difference. To prove this, there was a couple I met from Platinum Class who felt unwelcome there, so they came down to Gold Class with us and were having a fine old time.

When I got back to my cabin after dinner and drinks, this was what awaited me:

The bed was comfy enough, but I didn’t have the best night’s sleep. The train’s movements were erratic and being in a car where there were shared toilets and bathrooms, every. time someone went to the loo in the middle of the night and let the door bang… annoying.

I don’t know if I’m the only one who does this, but when I know I have to wake up early for something, I tend to wake up every hour or so to check the time. Even though the girl looking after our carriage promised she’d knock on the door at 5:45, my brain still made me check.

So why the early start? We were getting up to watch an Outback sunrise.

When the time came, we got off the train and made our way to where the coffee was being served. There weren’t as many people there as I would have thought, considering the number of passengers on the train.

Here you can see Marla siding, with people queueing for coffee and standing around one of the fires.

Before we got off the train, we saw a fire engine go past. Safety first!

So this was what we started with.

Some people ask others to take photos for them. I, as you know, usually take selfies.

Remember how Rhoda from the Canada trip taught me how to take panorama shots? Can’t waste that knowledge.

Once the sunrise was over, I went back to my cabin. I’d been coffeed and fed with a bacon and egg slider, and I wanted to see if I could get some sleep before the train started up again. As it was, I slept for two solid hours and woke up feeling great!

It was a bit of a thrill to pass across the border into the Northern Territory. I’ve never been here before. (Only one more state to go… WA.)

Isabella from Brazil was over the corridor from me. The poor thing. She’s only 31 and had hopped on a train full of geriatrics! She is a doctor and is living in Sydney for a year to get a bit more experience in her field. Her plan was to leave the Ghan at Alice Springs and make her way to Uluru for a few days.

Our trips will overlap, so we’re hoping to catch up at the Rock. I’m hoping for her sake that she finds a younger crowd at Uluru so she can have more fun.

I tell you what The Ghan has SERVICE. I tried to find a fly net for my hat in Melbourne and couldn’t get one for love or money. Here? I mentioned it and Kylie pulled one out from behind the bar.

“Here, take it,” she said.

I was so happy.

Camel ride time!

Naturally, as an inexperienced horse and camel rider, I was placed on the biggest and widest camel. All you have are stirrups for your feet and a metal arch to hold on to.

For the first ten minutes, I was hanging on like grim death. The guy in front of me was hands-free, merrily taking videos and drinking from his water bottle like a big show-off, while I was stuck, thighs gripping the camel and my hands gripping onto the arch.

Then I realised that my phone was slipping out of my pocket. That distracted me. I grabbed it, then took a few quick photos of my surroundings.

Haha!

When I said they were quick, I meant it. Look at the angle. I was still too nervous to let go and properly feel the rhythm of the camel.

I got better as we went along, though.

It was a harch place in some ways, but when the Welsh woman on the camel behind us stopped yapping about how calm and peaceful it was… well, then it was.

At the halfway point we stopped and the woman leading the camels took photos for us, using our phones. We ambled our way back to the camel farm, where we had refreshments and then we were driven back to town.

On the way, we were taken to Anzac Hill, the highest point in Alice Springs.

Here’s a panorama shot of Alice Springs. The town is built inside a bowl, with two mountain ranges pretty much enclosing it. All of this was once under the sea. Now it’s in the middle of a continent. Isn’t it incredible?

When I got back to the hotel, I walked into my room and got a hell of a surprise:

I wasn’t expecting anything to be on my bed, so when I first saw this out of the corner of my eye, I let out an involuntary “Ahhh!”

Upon closer inspection, it looked like a wedding cake. Was I in the right room? The last time I was in a bridal suite was 37 years ago!

Then I found this on the table.

How nice! My birthday isn’t for another 4 days, but hey. I’m not complaining. Let the birthday celebrations begin!

While I was eating my fruit platter and chocolates, I messaged Georgia. Apparently, Melbourne had cyclone-strength winds and the power has been out for hours.

I guess Fortunate Frogdancer strikes again. I’m at the Hilton.

Now that I’ve finished this, I’m off to take a look at Alice Springs.

Dad joke of the day:

This is just before I set off to the station. I’m saying goodbye to two VERY unimpressed dogs. I’m experimenting by using a backpack instead of my leather satchel bag as my everyday bag. (So far, I’m not loving it…)

I took a room in the Novotel at Tullamarine because my flight to Adelaide left at 6:30 AM. Even with doing this, I underestimated the time it would take to get from the hotel room to the plane. By the time I’d walked the length of the airport and got through security, time was a’ticking.

I looked at the board and my flight was marked as LAST CALL. Now I’m no athlete, but I RAN to the gate. I got there just before the gate was closed. omg. If I missed that flight, I would have probably missed the train.

Lesson learned. From now on, I’m flying over the night before.

It’s almost 5 PM in Juneau Alaska, where Megan and I were only a couple of months ago, so it’s perfectly fine to have a glass of bubbles at 10 AM here in Adelaide.

So far, I’ve only seen one young person here. She looks like she’s travelling with her grandmother. Everyone else who has black or brown hair is using hair dye. This is NOT a cheap trip.

Naturally, when I got to the terminus for the Ghan, I was 3 hours early and the first one here. They welcome everyone with music, bubbly and good cheer. They make it a celebration.

The Ghan is 648 m long and the trip from Adelaide to Darwin is 2900 and something kilometres. It’s an iconic trip to take in Australia, being on many people’s bucket lists. No wonder they welcome people with open arms – it’s very special.

The single cabins are located on the last two carriages on the train. I laughed when I opened the door to my “cupboard.” It looks like Harry Potter’s room under the stairs. I took one step when I had my back pressed up against the table and I was in the hall. It’s tiny.

Behind the door is a little basin, with individual toiletries. I was so happy! I love bringing home those little soaps and shampoos and they’re hardly to be found in Australia anymore.

I have to share toilets and showers with the rest of the carriage. Not ideal, but it’s only for a couple of nights. Most of the time I’m staying in hotels with 5 star luxury.

This is the lounge car, where people go to socialise. I met a lovely girl from Brazil in the cabin opposite mine. She’s 31 and is a doctor. She’s using her holidays from a hospital in Sydney to travel to Alice Springs in the Ghan, before splitting off and heading to Uluru. We headed off here to have a drink and a chat.

While we were there, we met Beverley and Janine, who live very near me, as it turns out. Small world and all that.

Here’s one for the foodies. We’re not going to starve.

Isabella and I shared a table at lunch with Marissa and Suresh, all four of us solo travellers. Suresh and I stayed back after lunch for a long chat, which was nice as the salt bush plains swept past us outside.

We talked about Financial Independence and our plans for inheritances for our kids. He’s got a far bigger pot than I do, but we both had similar ideas on what we plan to do.

He originally comes from Kenya and when I said I was going there next year, he mentioned that there are flamingos there.

Imagine!

Flamingos!

The pressed tin in the dining room was a nice little nod to the past.

So far, I’m having a good time. The people here are very warm and friendly and are perfectly ready to have a chat, unlike the people on the Irish tour. I met two couples from Tassie while we were waiting to board, and they’ve taken the same long trip that I have, so I’ll be bumping into them again. They’re in the Platinum part of the train, so we probably won’t mingle until tomorrow night when our tour splits from the train and we head off to the resort in Alice Springs.

I’m using my phone to hotspot this and I’ll post while we still have internet.

Tonight during dinner, the staff will turn this sitting room into a bedroom. The bed is pulled down from the wall. I’m looking forward to being rocked to sleep by the train’s motion tonight. It’ll remind me of the ship to Antarctica.

Dad joke of the day:

I should have saved this one for next September when I’ll be there!