Trip to the Red Centre - Day 4
Elena and I woke up around 5:30am to start our long trek up Kings Canyon. By the time we got there around 6:00am it was quite windy and there were already 2 tour groups that were ahead of us consisting of about 10 people each.
The start of the 9km walk was the initial climb up the side of the canyon which was quite difficult, even though there is a rugged staircase made from rocks. It goes straight up the side and is quite steep. The staircase in the photo only shows the first part of the climb, once you reach that top it goes in a bit and then there are 3 more staircases about the same length after that.
The "Rim Walk" as it's called takes you up the side of the canyon and around its "rim" (hence Rim Walk), and then back down the other side.
Once at the top you are rewarded with a beautiful view of the desert and this sign:
Though I have to say, the sign isn't exactly accurate in that it says, "The next part of the Rim Walk is more leisurely"; it isn't. Well... ok, I suppose it's MORE leisurely, but I don't think I would have used the word "leisurely" since it's a bit misleading. The terrain was quite rocky and can be dangerous if you're not careful since there aren't really any railings to keep you from falling over the cliff if you get too close to the edge.
Yes, that's me sitting on the edge of a cliff, there's a close up version in my Flickr Album. About half-way through the walk we went down into the valley to the "Garden of Eden" which lies in the middle of the canyon. It must have been a great relief to the first explorers to find water and lush greenery in the middle of a fairly barren canyon. It was there that we took a rest and at apples in the Garden of Eden, very poetic. We were then back up the canyon about 15 minutes later to continue our journey around the rim.
This is a view looking down into the Garden of Eden, the black part of the photo is water. According to the history of the canyon it apparently used to be covered with ocean which is why at the top you can sometimes see fossils of trilobytes and jellyfish. There's also white sand at the very top that you'd normally expect to find on the white sandy beaches of
Whitsundays.
In total, the walk took us about 3.5 hours (estimated walking time was 3 - 4 hours). And we got back to the resort around 10:00 to refuel the car and pick up the others. We were then on our way back to Alice Springs.
Because we were lucky enough to have a 4WD we were able to take the "unsealed" road back instead of having to re-trace our route back to the Stuart Hwy. This gave us the unique opportunity to do some sightseeing which included walking to the famous Henbury Meteorite Craters. For those of you who aren't familiar with these craters they were used by NASA as a training ground for various things.
Back on the road to Alice Springs we saw wild camels grazing by the side of the road. So we parked the car, rolled down the window and took a few photos. From what I hear, Australia is the only country in the world that has wild camels.
We arrived back in Alice Springs around 3:00pm, checked into the youth hostel and Elena and I went to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station. Unfortuately by the time we got there it was closed, but we were able to see the real Alice Spring, though it's all dried out now what with being in the desert and all.
We finished off the day with dinner at Red Rooster and then back to the hostel where we met Maria and Casey who had just arrived in Alice Springs and were travelling to Kings Canyon and Ayers Rock the very next day.
Tomorrow I fly back to Brisbane, it's been a great 4 days, my only regret is that there isn't something similar to Kings Canyon in Brisbane. It was so much fun, I want to do it again!
Trip to the Red Centre - Day 3
We woke up around 5:30am this morning to see the sunrise over Ayers Rock, unfortunately it was quite cloudy as it was the day before so we didn't get to see the lovely reds and oranges you normally see at Uluru. When we drove to the designated sunrise site we saw the famous kangaroo crossing sign that's actually featured on the cover of the "Let's Go" travel guide of Australia.
After a rather uneventful sunrise we filled up the car and were off again.
The gas prices weren't as bad as I thought they would be.This time we were off to The Olgas which is a mass of mountains that are described to be faces that change their mood as you walk around them.
In between them is a place called the "Valley of Wind" which I must say lives up to its name, it was VERY WINDY. Thankfully I had a hat which had a strap attached to it so that it stayed on my head. Other than that the walk was fantastic and on top of that there were no flies!
We weren't able to climb the rocks, since the domes are again considered sacred by the aboriginal people. Walking into the valley was a bit rocky but it was quite nice, the views were very nice and you could see the mountains towering above you. We didn't go the whole way down since we had to be in Kings Canyon by afternoon.
On the way to Kings Canyon we stopped on the side of the road to take some photos of Mt. Connor. It's quite rectangular and I'm sure gets mistaken for Uluru quite often.
Once we got to Kings Canyon Resort we unloaded our stuff in our 4 person private room. Elena and I decided to take a swim in the pool before we drove to Kings Canyon and took the short 1km walk along the base of the canyon.
The sun was starting to set by the time we got back to the resort and we wanted to see the sunset from the special lookout place that was in the resort. We walked along the raised path to a spot underneath a tree which overlooked a small mountain range, it was quite nice. We also met a nice couple from Australia who were taking some photos along with the rest of us.
That night we realized that the kitchen wasn't equiped with pots and pans like the other hostels were but we were lucky enough to meet the couple from the sunset spot who lent us a pan and their utensils so we could make dinner (Thanks!). We chatted with them for a little bit and it turns out that they're from the
Townsville (Yes Powerpuff fans, that's right, the City of Townsville, it actually exists!). It turns out that the couple will be travelling to Kings Canyon to do the 9km walk like we're going to do, so we might see them again.
After dinner Elena and I took a flashlight each and walked out to the sunset area to see the stars. The night sky was so clear yet you could still hear the singing from the bar down by the resort. It was nice to have the music and the clear night sky with all the stars.
Trip to the Red Centre - Day 2
We woke up around 5:00am to drive 500km to Uluru (Ayers Rock). The drive there was pretty uneventful, although we did notice that the desert is quite green this time of year and in some places more closely resembles the African Savannah with a few mountains in the background than a desert.
Eventually we arrived at Uluru, it looks exactly like the photos you see of it in books from a distance but driving up close to it is nothing short of incredible. You don't realize how large the rock really is until you're standing at the base of it looking up. It's quite an anomaly in that the landscape is fairly flat all around it and then there's this rock that soars upwards in the middle of it all.
The weather was cloudy the whole time that we were there which actually offered a quite unique experience in viewing the Rock since during this time of the year the skies are usually cloudless and blue.
Most photos you'll find of Uluru show that it looks fairly smooth when you look at it from far away but when you see it up close you can see that it actually has a lot of caves and crevices.Each year there are hundreds of people who climb Uluru, this is actually quite upsetting to the native people who consider the Rock sacred, as it is a part of some of their religious rituals. In fact, there are signs posted everywhere asking people not to climb. It's also quite dangerous since the rock is very smooth at the climbing spot and there's nothing to hang onto. In fact, when it rains the path is closed off completely as the Rock becomes very slippery.
After spending some time walking around the Rock we went to the Cultural Centre. There we saw an exhibit showing all sorts of aboriginal art as well as a brief history of the people. Unfortunately we were not able to take any photographs of the exhibit.
We stayed at the Ayers Rock Resort where there is a YHA youth hostel. The Ayers Rock Resort is actually a small community with an assortment of accomodations, everything from the cheap youth hostel $23/night to expensive hotels. They had a bar, an Internet cafe, a pool and even a cafe that served everything from burgers and kangaroo steaks to popcicles and fresh fruit. We stayed in the girls dormitory that had 16 other girls in it, and at night you could hear singing from the bar as the band played on. This hostel, like the last, also had kitchen facilities but we didn't bother to cook since the food was relatively cheap ($7.50 for a meal).
Trip to the Red Centre - Day 1
We left for the Red Centre around 4am this morning Elena, Liandra, Angela and I. And after a short stopover in Adelaide we arrived in Alice Springs around 11:30am (11:00am Brisbane time - there's a 30 minute time change).
The flies are crazy here, they're everywhere and they like to fly at your face constantly especially if you're sweating; thankfully they're merely annoying and don't bite. Upon arrival at the airport we took a taxi into Alice Springs and checked into the YHA Youth Hostel where we'd stay for the night.
Because there were 4 of us we were able to get a family room so we didn't have to share the room with people we didn't know. The place came complete with a pool, and a fully functional kitchen complete with pots and pans. They even had community shelves where people would leave things like bags of sugar, cooking oil and salt for others to use since it would be too heavy to bring on the trip. There was also an Internet Cafe where you could surf at a rate of $2.00/15 mins.
In the main common room/eating area there was a large old movie camera for decoration.It's a fairly small city
Alice Springs, with a population of about 28,000, however, there are lots of shops and grocery stores to help accomodate all the tourists that come through every year.
We used the rest of the day to get groceries, browse the shops and go to a few of the museums that were around town. Elena and I went to the Australian Women's museum that is a tribute to a multitude of Australian women who were teachers, doctors, homemakers and scientists who had achieved great things in "the bush". They had all sorts of things in the museum including a butter churn, iron and even a piano; all of which were donations to the museum.
Elena and I also went to a few of the shops. Because Alice Springs is host to many tourists from many different countries a lot of the brochures they have are translated into several different langauges including Spanish (Elena's home tounge).
We found this at the shop and had a good laugh about it. As you can see, the English says, "Play & Enjoy" on the left, on the right it translates to, "Touch & Enjoy" which has a double meaning. The first is a direct translation of the English, the second refers to touching a woman's breasts, and well... you get the idea.At around 5:00pm Elena and I picked up the car, we were originally supposed to get a Toyota Corolla (yay :p) but were lucky enough to be upgraded to a
Nissan X-Trail 4WD.
A little later in the day we climbed Anzac hill to see the sunset, we also found a
war monument that was up there. Anzac hill offered a great view of the city and overlooked the McDonnells, a range of mountains that line the edge of the city.
Tomorrow we will drive 500km to Uluru (Ayers Rock) just in time for the sunset.
Lunch at a Chinese Restaurant
I think the sign translates into Maple something which would kind of be ironic coming from Canada.
On Saturday I went to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people who are also going with me on the trip to Outback next week as well as a few others. Our group consisted of an Australian family (mother from Australia and father from New Zealand) that runs University Park (similar to ISV) and the rest of us girls were from... Taiwan (don't remember her name), Sabrina from Malaysia, Elena from Spain, Angela from Shanghai, Maria from Russia and me. I posted a few photos in my
Flickr album but there will hopefully be more later IF everyone else e-mails them to me. Lunch was the standard affair with waiters and waitresses walking around with carts of food and you just chose what you wanted. It looked EXACTLY like the restaurants they have in Toronto, no difference whatsoever.
The only complaint I had about the food is that practically every dish that came by was shrimp. :p So not a lot of variety, it was good, just not diverse in choices.
As I said before, next week I'll be in the Outback with a bunch of other people, I know of at least 10 people that are going, 3 of which are coming with me the rest are getting there by other means. My itinerary will be as follows:
Friday 23Alice Springs
Saturday 24Uluru - Ayers Rock
Sunday 25King's Canyon
Monday 26Back to Alice Springs
Tuesday 27Back to Brisbane
I'll write more about these places upon my return. In the meantime feel free to peruse my
Flickr photo album, I put in a few new photos that weren't really talked about in my blog including Toohey Forest which has a path that I use to walk home from school sometimes.
River Festival 2005
Today I went to the Brisbane River Festival to see Riverfire 2005 which is a firework show that is put on every hear by the Brisbane river. Along the way there was a pagoda that was there for tourists I think since it wasn't very big inside.
The website for Riverfire describes it as:
If it's your first time at Riverfire or you're a veteran, a big welcome to the opening free event of Riverfestival 2005. Riverfire keeps getting better and this year will be unforgettable with a breathtaking 30 minutes of choreographed fireworks. There's great music too, so tune into Triple M 104.5FM, or watch Channel Nine's special broadcast from 6.30 pm, hosted by National Nine News presenters Bruce Paige and Heather Foord. After the fireworks, hang on for a festival favourite, The RAAF F1-11 strike jet sweeping low over the City and South Bank performing their dazzling "dump and burn" display. So get settled on your deck or go early to South Bank to enjoy the river and the Australian Defence Force Open Day at Suncorp Piazza.
RAFF Roulette stunt flying team flew over the river around 4:30pm, they're like the Australia equivalent to the Snowbirds. They did a barrel roll while in formation which was pretty cool and ended off doing some attack maneuver where they swooped low over the river one by one as the announcer introduced their names.
The actual fireworks started at exactly 7:00pm with a blazing RAFF F1-11 strike jet swooping down over the river that had it's rear burners flaming so the whole back of the plane had huge flames burning out the back.
So far, this was the best fireworks display that I've ever seen. The whole show lasted about 30 mins and included the usual fireworks and these green fireworks that skittered about the sky like fireflies. The fireworks were set off from 4 different places, 2 from the bridges that flanked the main viewing area, 1 set from boats that were in the river and 1 set from the tops of the buildings that lined the edge of the river.
I sat on the beach to watch the fireworks which turned out to be the perfect place because the sand was soft to sit on, it was in the centre of all the action and it was far enough back from the river so you could see the fireworks coming off the buildings without having to strain your neck too much. There are more photos of the fireworks in my
Flickr album.
After the firework show a bunch of us went for dinner down on Queen St. at an outdoor restaurant called Milano. These types of open restaurants are quite common and line the centre of Queen St. It's basically a smallish building with a bunch of tables set up out in front of it and a little canopy for a roof to keep the sun off. The Milano in particular specializes in Italian food, as you may have guessed, including pasta, bread salad and pizza.
River Festival events will be going on all week starting tomorrow with the charity duck races in which people can bid on a duck and bid money goes to some environmental society. If your duck wins you win a brand new car. There are also many other types of events going on, some free and some not including concerts, art displays and wine and cheese tastings.
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