Kings Canyon

If you're making the 500km drive from Alice Springs to Uluru, then you may as well take a 300km return detour out to the breath taking Kings Canyon. Like Uluru, there's not a whole lot on the way to see, but keep your eyes peeled for wild camels - they're everywhere and interestingly Kings Canyon Station, a roadhouse/caravan park 30km from Kings Canyon is the biggest exporter of camels and camel meat in Australia! Check out this guy that we saw sitting in the bush on the side of the road!

Kings Canyon Resort is the only other place to stay out here because there's no camping in the National Park. It's a good park but they have a pretty bad problemo with dingos at the moment - these cheeky pups trek around looking for food or shoes or camping chairs or pretty much anything they can wrap their mouths around that's left out over night, so buckle down!

There are a few great walks through Kings Canyon at Watarrka National Park. There's a short walk into the middle of the canyon, which gives you a great view of the towering vertical walls and pockets of 'lush' vegetation protected in sheltered gullies amidst the vast and harsh desert that surrounds the Park. But most people take on the canyon rim walk. The sign says this 6.6km walk will take about 3-4 hours (which scared the hell out of Luke and I - we had set our bush walking limit at 2 hours max!). But whether we have somehow managed to become super-humanly fit by sitting on our backsides in the kombi for so many days on end or the information sign was being a tad lenient, either way, Luke and I were back at the carpark, walk completed in an hour and 20 minutes! All those 5 o'clock beers must be giving us extra energy or something?!

It's a beautiful walk and there is so much to see. The contrast between the red earth, the blue sky and the lush greenery is beautiful. Well worth the trip!

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

Some Pretty Impressive Rocks

We took a pretty big detour back down the middle of Australia, to see some rock that a couple of other million people seem to think is worth the trip. But as we drove along the highway and saw this on the horizon, Luke and I both said to each other, "Gee, that doesn't look like the rock printed on tea towels in all the souvenirs shops...".

And that was because it wasn't the same rock printed on all those tea towels. This was actually Mount Connor, another massive rock formation that tricks hundreds of tourists just like us on the drive to Uluru or Ayres Rock. The two formations are about 100km apart and obviously poor ol' Mount Connor is the black sheep of the family and has received far less publicity.

When we finally did make it to the famous Australian icon, we couldn't help but be impressed. Uluru was just as huge, just as red and just as... well... Australian.

The only place where you can stay at near the rock is Yulara, a man made resort town that has it's own supermarket, bunch of restaurants, cafes, newsagents, tour booking office and of course, range of accommodation, from deluxe five star penthouse suites to $33 a night powered sites. We'll take it! Camping amongst the red sand dunes, with the odd dingo sneaking around and the shape of Uluru in the distance is amazing. We'd finally made it to the real red centre!

Exploring Uluru can take a while as well - there are plenty of walks that you can do around the base, and every corner reveals a new face of Uluru that's just as interesting as the last. There's caves, crevasses, waterholes, rock art and sacred Aboriginal sites - it's all very interesting.

Oh and you can climb the rock as well, of course, but the Aboriginal owners discourage tourists from doing so, as a way to respect their land. Plus it's pretty dangerous, with some 35 people dying either by falling from the rock, or from a heart attack or similar condition after pushing themselves to get to the top. We chose to watch the hundreds of ant-like tourists from the bottom, as they skimmed over the warning signs and started the upward trek anyway.

But Uluru is just one of the wonders in the central Australian desert. While you're here, you have to drive the extra 37 kilometres to see the beautiful Kata Tjuta (or Olgas). This collection of rock formations is different again from Uluru and there's some great short walks that will take you in amongst the huge structures.

Oh and if you do nothing else, don't miss a sunrise or sunset at either of these rock sites - even if the desert temperatures will make you want to sleep in until noon!

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

Alice, Alice, Where the #$%^ is Alice?

Our arrival in Alice Springs wasn't quite how we planned it. We actually ran out of petrol about 1km from the nearest petrol station on the edge of town, after only filling up what we thought was the exact amount of petrol we needed to get us to Alice at the last Roadhouse (C'mon! It was $2.12 a litre!).

Never the less, after an initial stumble, we found Alice Springs to be a nice little country town, with plenty of great Aboriginal art galleries, a bunch of coffee shops (Gloria Jeans, too!!), a few shopping centres and a cinema, where I dragged Luke to the Sex and the City movie (You can take the girl out of Sydney, but you can't... arh, you know the rest!). Oh and it had one of the best caravan parks that we have stayed at - the MacDonald Ranges Big 4. In the shadow of the MacDonald Ranges, it had a cool games room, roomy and grassy camping sites, great facilities and a free pancake breakfast on Sundays (even though we had to wear a daggy name badge and line up like school kids for our supper), this place was camping heaven.

The local markets are on every second weekend and are really worth a look. There's a mix of fresh food, crafts and a lot of the local Aboriginal artists sell their works directly to the public. It's in the Todd Mall, which is a paved pedestrian strip with a bunch of cafes and restaurants and shops that spill onto the sidewalk.

But my favourite place in the whole of Alice Springs was the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. Founded in 1956 by Miss Olive Pink, an amazing woman who is still remembered in Alice for her community work. The Botanic Gardens aren't that big and contain a lot of desert plants, so they look a little bare and arid, but we were lucky enough to visit after a local outdoor sculpture exhibition had just opened, and it was fantastic! The artworks were all made out of recycled products and were so interesting. Such a highlight!

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

Kakadu to Alice

We had another family stop over on our way down South to Alice Springs - seeing people you know and sitting on a real lounge while you watch TV never feels as good as when you've been travelling for a while. Here are the other highlights from this 1000km trek to make it to Alice Springs.

1. Mataranka

This place looks like heaven in the brochures and the thermal springs in Elsey National Park are lovely, but we were a little disappointed by our visit to Mataranka. First up, the caravan park that is really close to the springs (the Mataranka Homestead) had the most filthy toilets and showers that we had seen on our entire trip so far. Not good considering we have stayed at... oh, around 1000 caravan parks in the last few weeks! Also a dip in the thermal springs was more like a visit to the local swimming pool in a suburb of Sydney on a really hot day. In other words, it was packed and the warm 34 degree waters was playing on my mind with all these bodies crammed together. Ewww.

2. The Stuart Highway

Long, straight with red sand on either side. There's not a whole lot to keep you entertained while driving in these parts - except trying to spot abandoned car wrecks in the bush, cows thinking about crossing the busy highway and counting down until the next roadhouse. Plus our Navman is a little sick at present and won't recharge it's own batteries, so we can't even see how many hundred kilometres we have to go. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

3. The Devils Marbles

These aren't just rocks in the middle of nowhere. They're really cool rocks... in the middle of nowhere. Well, not totally, just south of Tennant Creek actually. You can walk on them, go for bush walks around them and take some pretty fun photos.

4. Wild Dogs

There are a bunch of road houses along the way between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs and we decided to stop at the bigger one called Ti Tree for lunch. We'd barely opened the door of the kombi to make our sandwiches, when we became surrounded by dogs. And not just any dogs. These poor pups were skin and bone and a little on the wild side and definitely not what you'd call 'pure breeds.' They kept looking up at us with these sad hungry eyes and Luke was so scared of them licking their lips that he wouldn't even get out of the van, in fear that they may latch onto his leg and not let go! At one point there were 12 dogs outside our van. Yikes! The poor dogs had come from the nearby Aboriginal community where there were too many pups to count. And then after we left, the dogs simply moved on to the next car.

Yours a tad sick of 7 hour days in the car,

Odette

Kakadu Dreaming

The crocs of Kakadu are pretty impressive but those big bitey reptiles aren't the only attraction in this beautiful National Park. One tourist hot spot, just 35km from the small town of Jabiru (by the way, there's not a whole lot in the town of Jabiru - just a tiny supermarket, a petrol station, a bakery and a bunch of different types of accommodation) is Ubirr - and it really is worth joining the rest of the visitors and checking this amazing site out.

Ubirr is a group of rock outcrops in the Northeast of the Park, where you can walk to the top and see Arnhem Land in the distance. Not only is the amazing view over the lush floodplains a magnificent sight, the area is seeping in Aboriginal history. There are tons large rock overhangs that provided excellent shelter to Aboriginal people over thousands of years. Plus Ubirr is really close to the East Alligator River which means that food would have been abundant and this is reflected in much of the rock art here. These ancient artworks are some of the best I've seen across Australia.

There are also images of the Rainbow Serpent said to have created much of the landscape as well as mischievous Mimi spirits and the story of the Namarrgarn Sisters. You could spend a couple of hours here, reading the stories behind the art and trying to imagine the Aboriginal people standing in the same place all those years ago.

Yellow Water Billabong is another great place to see the beauty of Kakadu up close. You can take a tour on the waterways and see a huge range of water birds, flowers and of course, the famous salt water crocs all living in harmony. Just beautiful.

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

Kakadu Crocs

What can you get for $25 these days? A couple of pizzas, a bottle of wine, five litres of petrol... But $25 big ones at Kakadu is going to buy you a brush with death, some heart starting fun and the chance to see a bunch of prehistoric creatures so close you can almost feel them breathing on your leg. Yes, $25 well spent is an adult ticket on the Adelaide River Croc Jumping Cruise, just off the highway, on your way into Kakadu National Park.

About two minutes after our boat pulled away from the jetty, we saw huge saltwater crocodiles sliding into the muddy waters, swimming towards our boat like a dog to a bone. And it was a big hunk of pig that these guys were after (although I swear one of the crocs had his sly, 360degree rotating eyes on me).

After the tour guide revs up his freshest boat load of tourists with his story of not needing a life vest if the boat sinks because you won't last five minutes in these infested waters, the fun begins. Our guide ties a big chuck of meat to his bamboo fishing rod contraption and dangles it in front of his first subject, a croc called Butch, who doesn't appreciate being teased and made to jump for his supper.

When the croc grabs his lunch, he disappears under the water and we continue to cruise up the river looking for our next victim. When we spot big boy Agro, a six metre male crocodile who's tail was as thick as a tree trunk, I can't believe how close the tour guide is positioning our boat to the mud flats and consequently Agro himself. Yikes! The meat comes out and here he comes!

What I want to know is, how can old mate Agro decipher between a nice piece of pork and the tender pink flesh of a tourist's arm holding out a camera?

After seeing these big animals in action, the only croc I want to stumble over in the next few days in Kakadu are of the plastic kind.

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

Darwin Kombi Mechanic

After travelling another 6,000km, the first thing we did after arriving in Darwin, was check Jefro the kombi into the mechanic for a checkup. After searching around on the net for a VW guy in the Territory's top end, it turns out that the only kombi mechanic in Darwin servicing older model VWs is MBN Automotive. So that's where we took our van.

Don't bother looking for a sign at this place - there isn't one - Just a heap of old kombis and beetles to let you know you're at the right place. Owner/ mechanic Myron Nettuch was a top bloke - one of the friendliest VW mechanics we've met (and they can be a strange bunch...). He was full of helpful advice and knowledge about the old buses and didn't burn a hole in our wallets for his time either. He had a couple of old split screen kombis for sale that Luke wanted to get his hands on, but unfortunately with petrol prices hitting $2bucks a litre in parts up here, getting them home would have sent us bankrupt (plus I don't think his parents would have been too happy with the extra addition to their garage - along with all our other stuff!).

We totally recommend these guys - they had Jefro purring like the lion he is!

Check the deets:
MBN Automotive
VW Specialist
08 8947 2111
Shed 7, 370 Stuart Highway
PO Box 39992, Winnellie,
NT 0821

Yours in the great outdoors,
Odette