I'll try to update the blog as soon as possible... ;-)
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| Great Ocean Walk |
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| Grampians |
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| Adelaide |
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| Flinders Ranges |
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| Coober Pedy |
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| Uluru and Kata Tjuta |
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| Kings Canyon |
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| West Macdonell Ranges |
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| East Macdonnell Ranges |
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| West Macdonnells - yet another trip |
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Some new pics on my picasaweb
I'm leaving Fremantle in couple of hours - flying to Melbourne and then to Hobart. Can't wait to see Tasmania! Although I've stayed here in Freo for almost 2 months, I haven't managed to update my blog unfortunately - it's been crazy wild time, lots of parties, concerts, I also worked on Chris' (a friend I stay at) website... But at least I managed to update my picasaweb albums a bit. So don't hesitate and take a look!
I'll try to update the blog as soon as possible... ;-)
I'll try to update the blog as soon as possible... ;-)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Alice Springs
There is something about it...
I stayed three nights at Daryl's place, recovering from my West Macdonell adventure. Daryl is an extremely laid-back and funny guy with great dry sense of humor. He used to live in India for 6 years, so he's got handful of stories from that time. And he likes to share them so we had some really interesting conversations.
I got in touch with another CouchSurfer, Sebastian. He's a musician - he plays the piano, didgeridoo and irish whistle - and he's an incredibly interesting and beautiful person. We found out we suit each other very well and quickly became close friends.
He took me to Ellery Creek Bighole. We camped just next to the lake, made a campfire, swam in the lake in the middle of the night, he played didg... Next day he started teaching me how to play it. It was just amazing!
Yesterday, he gave me a didgeridoo as a gift...
He lives with a young couple (Chris & Natasha) and their kid (Harper) and I've been staying at their house since we came back from Ellery. They're all really nice people, the whole house has such a peaceful, friendly atmoshpere - I've had a wonderful time here. Actually, it's been the best time since I'm in Australia. I've met lots of interesting people, got drunk almost every night, watched great aussie movie Priscilla, queen of the desert (highly recommended), watched Sebastian's piano gig, been practising plaing the didg...
Alice Springs itself is a nice little town. It lies between two cliffs, so it's got a beautiful skyline. There's something about this town - even though it's in the middle of desert, I really like it. Actually there must be something about the whole central australia - so many great things have happened to me since I'm here...
As for my further plans, I planned to go to Darwin, visit national parks around and then continue to the east. But unfortunately, the wet season is about to start in nothern (tropical) part of Australia, so I don't really feel like going there right now. I met this guy, Chris (another one), through Sebastian - he's a famous mosaic artist (http://www.mosaicart.com.au/) and he's going to build a mosaic here in the house for Chris and Tash. He's an extremely funny guy and also a big traveler and he's going to travel to Perth, where he lives, through desert (!) in a week or so. He offered me a seat in his car, so I'm gonna join him. I'm not quite sure where I'll go from Perth yet, but I'll figure out something. It's a great opportunity to avoid the wet season, even though it's a big change in my plans (not the first one though, hehe).
I just extended my tourist visa for another 3 months and want to do it once again (although it's awfuly expensive - $250 for each extension - bastards!), so that I have enough time for all the things I wanna see and do here (I'd like to do some volunteering work in an aboriginal community eventually and perhaps some wwoofing).
So I've got one week to explore the area better - I think I'm gonna visit some more places in West Macdonell Ranges and then perhaps go to East ranges too.
I stayed three nights at Daryl's place, recovering from my West Macdonell adventure. Daryl is an extremely laid-back and funny guy with great dry sense of humor. He used to live in India for 6 years, so he's got handful of stories from that time. And he likes to share them so we had some really interesting conversations.
I got in touch with another CouchSurfer, Sebastian. He's a musician - he plays the piano, didgeridoo and irish whistle - and he's an incredibly interesting and beautiful person. We found out we suit each other very well and quickly became close friends.
He took me to Ellery Creek Bighole. We camped just next to the lake, made a campfire, swam in the lake in the middle of the night, he played didg... Next day he started teaching me how to play it. It was just amazing!
Yesterday, he gave me a didgeridoo as a gift...
He lives with a young couple (Chris & Natasha) and their kid (Harper) and I've been staying at their house since we came back from Ellery. They're all really nice people, the whole house has such a peaceful, friendly atmoshpere - I've had a wonderful time here. Actually, it's been the best time since I'm in Australia. I've met lots of interesting people, got drunk almost every night, watched great aussie movie Priscilla, queen of the desert (highly recommended), watched Sebastian's piano gig, been practising plaing the didg...
Alice Springs itself is a nice little town. It lies between two cliffs, so it's got a beautiful skyline. There's something about this town - even though it's in the middle of desert, I really like it. Actually there must be something about the whole central australia - so many great things have happened to me since I'm here...
As for my further plans, I planned to go to Darwin, visit national parks around and then continue to the east. But unfortunately, the wet season is about to start in nothern (tropical) part of Australia, so I don't really feel like going there right now. I met this guy, Chris (another one), through Sebastian - he's a famous mosaic artist (http://www.mosaicart.com.au/) and he's going to build a mosaic here in the house for Chris and Tash. He's an extremely funny guy and also a big traveler and he's going to travel to Perth, where he lives, through desert (!) in a week or so. He offered me a seat in his car, so I'm gonna join him. I'm not quite sure where I'll go from Perth yet, but I'll figure out something. It's a great opportunity to avoid the wet season, even though it's a big change in my plans (not the first one though, hehe).
I just extended my tourist visa for another 3 months and want to do it once again (although it's awfuly expensive - $250 for each extension - bastards!), so that I have enough time for all the things I wanna see and do here (I'd like to do some volunteering work in an aboriginal community eventually and perhaps some wwoofing).
So I've got one week to explore the area better - I think I'm gonna visit some more places in West Macdonell Ranges and then perhaps go to East ranges too.
Friday, October 30, 2009
West Macdonell Ranges
Deadly beautiful!
Day one (Mon, 19/10/2009)
I started hitching very early next morning because I really didn't want to risk missing any single car. So at 6:30, I was already thumbing on the road. I had to wait more then an hour before the first car passed by and it didn't stop! Bastard! And then another one and a few more! I felt really desperate and thought I would get stuck in that shithole for another day which would force me to take the other way (via Stuart Highway) to get to the ranges but then suddenly a car stopped! After 3,5 hours! And guess who was inside! Claudio & Antonella! I was so happy!
They were really great company and even though the road was pretty bad, it was a nice and very interesting ride. I was happy I manged to get a lift in the middle of outback! On unsealed road! Woo hoo! The desert was really beautiful - it doesn't look like typical desert (sand dunes etc.) - there is actually a lot of vegetation - bushes, even trees, spinifex grass - and heaps of termite mounds.
We visited Gosse Bluff - a huge crater made by a comet 140 mil. years ago - pretty interesting place although it was too hot to fully appreciate its beauty. Then they dropped me off on Namatjira Road at the turnoff to Redbank Gorge. After just a few minutes, I got another lift - directly to the Gorge.
I studied the tracks and decided to go to the gorge (short - 20-mins walk) and then climb up Mount Sonder. I wanted to sleep on top of the mountain and next day climb down and continue along the Larapinta Trail for a few days - until I'm fed up with it. Larapinta Trail is a long (230 km), pretty hard trail going through whole West Macdonell Ranges. Apparently it's incredibly beautiful. After hiking, I planned to get a lift to Alice Springs.
I went to the gorge and I found out I had a hole in my water canyster and I was slowly losing all my water. Damn! Being without water in the middle of nowhere is really dangerous so I asked the people that gave me a lift for some water and some empty bottles, which I could use instead of my canyster. Fortunately they had some spare ones, so I was saved for a while.
The Redbank Gorge is absolutely beautiful! There is a chain of 6 small ponds at the bottom (I didn't know there were so many of them when I was there) and if you dare swimming across all of them, you reach the end of the gorge. I swam across the first one - it's quite big and the water is not that cold. I also swam across the second one - it's much narrower (perhaps only 2 m wide) and the water there is way colder. The water in the third one was really yucky, so I just climbed over it because I was really really curious what was at the end. But I just reached another one with even yuckier, colder and darker water and since I was there on my own I decided to return. Too bad.
I started my ascent to the Mount Sonder at 5 pm. The signs advised to allow 4 hours (for 8 km) but I was pretty confident I could make it in 2. And I did - I reached the summit just after dusk! I was really happy but really tired too. I quickly pitched my tent (at a very small and rocky place), ate my sandwiches and crashed down.
Day two
Next morning, I took hundreds of pictures of sunrise, wrote some bullshit to the visitor book (a Czech couple signed there too just 2 days ago) and ran down the mountain (1,5 hours) to the beginning of section 11 of Larapinta Trail (Redbank Gorge to Finke River). The section was gonna be 26 km long and they advised to allow 2 days. I thought I could make it in 6 - 7 hours.
I had 3,5 litres of water and there were some water sources (with untreated water - but I had a bottle of water desinfection on me) along the way so I thought I'd be safe.
I started walking full of energy and soon finished the first half of the route. The walk wasn't that interesting - it mostly went at the bottom of a dry creek, full of sand and rocks, where air was really hot. I stopped at a place called Rocky Bar Gap and refilled my bottles with fresh water. The water was untreated so I put some desinfection in it. Unfortunately, the instructions on the desinfection bottle weren't readable anymore, so I didn't know right amount and desinfecting time. So I just poured a little to the bottle and waited around 5 mins. Then I drank it.
There was a lookout on the track and I reached the bottom of its hill soon. I started climbing up the slope when I realized it was not gonna be easy. For some reason, I felt incredibly weak, I got totally exhausted after every couple of steps and I felt really sick. I thought I might have got a bit dehydrated because it was around noon and it was damn hot there and I was saving my water because it turned out that I absolutely hadn't taken enough of it. Now I think I got sick from the untreated water. Someone told me that it takes 2 hours after applying the desinfection before the water is safe.
I decided to continue but it was a real torture - every 10 or 15 minutes I had to crash down on my backpack and try to catch a breath again. Every time I was lying on my backpack, I also fell asleep for a little while - totally exhausted. The problem also was that there were no shady places along the path because it was on a slope, so I was on direct midday sun all the time. I finally reached the top of the hill and looked forward to descend for a while - surprisingly enough, descending didn't exaust me at all. But I still had 10 km to go. I couldn't stop thinking of a big jug of beer.
After a good rest, I descended and continued towards Finke River. I thought it would be just a flat landscape but there was quite a lot of ascending too. Every time I saw a hill I wanted to cry - I was seriously afraid I wouldn't make it to the camp ground (water source). And if I hadn't made it, it would have been the end - I hadn't met anybody since I left Redbank Gorge and it was highly unlikely there would be anyone walking the trail. Most tourists just visit all the gorges accessible by car and that's it. Moreover I hadn't registered for the trail and nobody really knew where I was. I literally touched the bottom of my strenghts.
I eventually reached the campground (after I got a bit lost and almost missed the right way to it) with mouth and throat completely dry (I didn't have any water for the last 5 km). But I was sooooo happy! I knew I was safe - I reached the watersource, I had the desinfection and I knew that after a good rest I'd be able to move to civilization (which was only about 5 km away).
There was a big shelter with huge benches in the camp which I was really grateful for because I didn't have to pitch my tent. So I just desinfected enough water and prepared my mattress and sleeping bag, drank perhaps a litre of water, forced myself to eat a muesli bar (I wasn't hungry at all) to get some energy and fill up my stomach with something else than water and fell asleep.
I woke up when it was already dark. I drank more water and fell asleep again.
I woke up again, washed myself a bit (I was covered with a layer of salt from my sweat) and ate small dinner. Plus I drank more water - in total 3 liters that evening. I was still pretty sick and my muscles were sore but I already felt much better than when I arrived.
I went to sleep hoping I'd be ok next morning.
I must admit I totally underestimated hiking in Outback. Especially at the end of the season. It was incredibly valuable experience though! It's absolutely essential to take heaps of water and register at rangers rescue service (which is free of charge and you just have to tell your planned arrival date - if you don't arrive on time, they immediately start looking for you). It's also always better to walk with someone.
Pity I missed the season - it must be great to walk the whole Larapinta Trail in winter! It's reasonably challenging in beautiful, remote country and it can take up to 3 weeks. Maybe next time...
Day three
I got up feeling much better. I still felt a bit sick and weak - like with really low blood pressure but I decided to walk next section of Larapinta Trail - section 10 (Finke River to Ormiston Gorge). It was only 9 km and I was sure I could make it.
After a good breakfast and 1,5 liters of water I took off. It was a nice walk with yet another lookout and I even met 2 hikers walking in the opposite direction. I reached Ormiston Gorge after a couple of hours.
Ormiston Gorge is a beautiful big gorge with a big waterhole. There are a few great walks including a longer one that goes around Ormiston Pound. I just took Ghost Gum Walk - a short (but steep) walk to a wonderful lookout (I highly recommend it) and then went for a swim. It was lovely!
On the walk, I bumped into a french couple and started a conversation with them. After I found out they were heading to Alice Springs and wanted to visit a few more places along the way, I asked them for a lift. They were fine with that and I was really happy it all worked out so well - I was about to get to Alice soon and even see some more beautiful places! Awesome!
Funny enough, Francois and Virginie were on their honeymoon! I'm somehow lucky to be picked up with newly married couples, hehe. They were great company and I really enjoyed the time with them.
We visited Glen Helen Gorge, where I finally bought my beer. Delicious! The place was absolutely beautiful like all West Macdonell Ranges, again with a big waterhole and even a river! Unfortunately there was an accident that day - a young guy fell off a rock and hit himself to the head. He died a few hours later...
Next place we stopped by was Stanley Chasm. You have to pay $8 entrance fee but it's absolutely worth it! Interestingly enough, once you reach the end of the chasm, you can continue to the left, climb a bit, walk over a stairs-like tree and climb up through a hole and you'll end up in another gorge. It's a bit dangerous (rock and the tree are pretty slippery) and you shouldn't do it but there are no warning signs anywhere. Once you reach the next gorge, you can join Larapinta trail and walk back to the chasm along the trail, so you don't have to do the dangerous part again.
Our last stop was at Simpsons Gap - it's just a couple of kilometres far from Alice, so it's a pretty popular picnic spot for locals. Again, it's a beautiful gorge with a waterhole but unfortunately you can't swim there. Instead, you can enjoy observing rock walabies that are jumping on the slopes around.
Francois & Virginie dropped me off in the centre of Alice Springs, where I got picked up by my new CouchSurfing host, Daryl.
Day one (Mon, 19/10/2009)
I started hitching very early next morning because I really didn't want to risk missing any single car. So at 6:30, I was already thumbing on the road. I had to wait more then an hour before the first car passed by and it didn't stop! Bastard! And then another one and a few more! I felt really desperate and thought I would get stuck in that shithole for another day which would force me to take the other way (via Stuart Highway) to get to the ranges but then suddenly a car stopped! After 3,5 hours! And guess who was inside! Claudio & Antonella! I was so happy!
They were really great company and even though the road was pretty bad, it was a nice and very interesting ride. I was happy I manged to get a lift in the middle of outback! On unsealed road! Woo hoo! The desert was really beautiful - it doesn't look like typical desert (sand dunes etc.) - there is actually a lot of vegetation - bushes, even trees, spinifex grass - and heaps of termite mounds.
We visited Gosse Bluff - a huge crater made by a comet 140 mil. years ago - pretty interesting place although it was too hot to fully appreciate its beauty. Then they dropped me off on Namatjira Road at the turnoff to Redbank Gorge. After just a few minutes, I got another lift - directly to the Gorge.
I studied the tracks and decided to go to the gorge (short - 20-mins walk) and then climb up Mount Sonder. I wanted to sleep on top of the mountain and next day climb down and continue along the Larapinta Trail for a few days - until I'm fed up with it. Larapinta Trail is a long (230 km), pretty hard trail going through whole West Macdonell Ranges. Apparently it's incredibly beautiful. After hiking, I planned to get a lift to Alice Springs.
I went to the gorge and I found out I had a hole in my water canyster and I was slowly losing all my water. Damn! Being without water in the middle of nowhere is really dangerous so I asked the people that gave me a lift for some water and some empty bottles, which I could use instead of my canyster. Fortunately they had some spare ones, so I was saved for a while.
The Redbank Gorge is absolutely beautiful! There is a chain of 6 small ponds at the bottom (I didn't know there were so many of them when I was there) and if you dare swimming across all of them, you reach the end of the gorge. I swam across the first one - it's quite big and the water is not that cold. I also swam across the second one - it's much narrower (perhaps only 2 m wide) and the water there is way colder. The water in the third one was really yucky, so I just climbed over it because I was really really curious what was at the end. But I just reached another one with even yuckier, colder and darker water and since I was there on my own I decided to return. Too bad.
I started my ascent to the Mount Sonder at 5 pm. The signs advised to allow 4 hours (for 8 km) but I was pretty confident I could make it in 2. And I did - I reached the summit just after dusk! I was really happy but really tired too. I quickly pitched my tent (at a very small and rocky place), ate my sandwiches and crashed down.
Day two
Next morning, I took hundreds of pictures of sunrise, wrote some bullshit to the visitor book (a Czech couple signed there too just 2 days ago) and ran down the mountain (1,5 hours) to the beginning of section 11 of Larapinta Trail (Redbank Gorge to Finke River). The section was gonna be 26 km long and they advised to allow 2 days. I thought I could make it in 6 - 7 hours.
I had 3,5 litres of water and there were some water sources (with untreated water - but I had a bottle of water desinfection on me) along the way so I thought I'd be safe.
I started walking full of energy and soon finished the first half of the route. The walk wasn't that interesting - it mostly went at the bottom of a dry creek, full of sand and rocks, where air was really hot. I stopped at a place called Rocky Bar Gap and refilled my bottles with fresh water. The water was untreated so I put some desinfection in it. Unfortunately, the instructions on the desinfection bottle weren't readable anymore, so I didn't know right amount and desinfecting time. So I just poured a little to the bottle and waited around 5 mins. Then I drank it.
There was a lookout on the track and I reached the bottom of its hill soon. I started climbing up the slope when I realized it was not gonna be easy. For some reason, I felt incredibly weak, I got totally exhausted after every couple of steps and I felt really sick. I thought I might have got a bit dehydrated because it was around noon and it was damn hot there and I was saving my water because it turned out that I absolutely hadn't taken enough of it. Now I think I got sick from the untreated water. Someone told me that it takes 2 hours after applying the desinfection before the water is safe.
I decided to continue but it was a real torture - every 10 or 15 minutes I had to crash down on my backpack and try to catch a breath again. Every time I was lying on my backpack, I also fell asleep for a little while - totally exhausted. The problem also was that there were no shady places along the path because it was on a slope, so I was on direct midday sun all the time. I finally reached the top of the hill and looked forward to descend for a while - surprisingly enough, descending didn't exaust me at all. But I still had 10 km to go. I couldn't stop thinking of a big jug of beer.
After a good rest, I descended and continued towards Finke River. I thought it would be just a flat landscape but there was quite a lot of ascending too. Every time I saw a hill I wanted to cry - I was seriously afraid I wouldn't make it to the camp ground (water source). And if I hadn't made it, it would have been the end - I hadn't met anybody since I left Redbank Gorge and it was highly unlikely there would be anyone walking the trail. Most tourists just visit all the gorges accessible by car and that's it. Moreover I hadn't registered for the trail and nobody really knew where I was. I literally touched the bottom of my strenghts.
I eventually reached the campground (after I got a bit lost and almost missed the right way to it) with mouth and throat completely dry (I didn't have any water for the last 5 km). But I was sooooo happy! I knew I was safe - I reached the watersource, I had the desinfection and I knew that after a good rest I'd be able to move to civilization (which was only about 5 km away).
There was a big shelter with huge benches in the camp which I was really grateful for because I didn't have to pitch my tent. So I just desinfected enough water and prepared my mattress and sleeping bag, drank perhaps a litre of water, forced myself to eat a muesli bar (I wasn't hungry at all) to get some energy and fill up my stomach with something else than water and fell asleep.
I woke up when it was already dark. I drank more water and fell asleep again.
I woke up again, washed myself a bit (I was covered with a layer of salt from my sweat) and ate small dinner. Plus I drank more water - in total 3 liters that evening. I was still pretty sick and my muscles were sore but I already felt much better than when I arrived.
I went to sleep hoping I'd be ok next morning.
I must admit I totally underestimated hiking in Outback. Especially at the end of the season. It was incredibly valuable experience though! It's absolutely essential to take heaps of water and register at rangers rescue service (which is free of charge and you just have to tell your planned arrival date - if you don't arrive on time, they immediately start looking for you). It's also always better to walk with someone.
Pity I missed the season - it must be great to walk the whole Larapinta Trail in winter! It's reasonably challenging in beautiful, remote country and it can take up to 3 weeks. Maybe next time...
Day three
I got up feeling much better. I still felt a bit sick and weak - like with really low blood pressure but I decided to walk next section of Larapinta Trail - section 10 (Finke River to Ormiston Gorge). It was only 9 km and I was sure I could make it.
After a good breakfast and 1,5 liters of water I took off. It was a nice walk with yet another lookout and I even met 2 hikers walking in the opposite direction. I reached Ormiston Gorge after a couple of hours.
Ormiston Gorge is a beautiful big gorge with a big waterhole. There are a few great walks including a longer one that goes around Ormiston Pound. I just took Ghost Gum Walk - a short (but steep) walk to a wonderful lookout (I highly recommend it) and then went for a swim. It was lovely!
On the walk, I bumped into a french couple and started a conversation with them. After I found out they were heading to Alice Springs and wanted to visit a few more places along the way, I asked them for a lift. They were fine with that and I was really happy it all worked out so well - I was about to get to Alice soon and even see some more beautiful places! Awesome!
Funny enough, Francois and Virginie were on their honeymoon! I'm somehow lucky to be picked up with newly married couples, hehe. They were great company and I really enjoyed the time with them.
We visited Glen Helen Gorge, where I finally bought my beer. Delicious! The place was absolutely beautiful like all West Macdonell Ranges, again with a big waterhole and even a river! Unfortunately there was an accident that day - a young guy fell off a rock and hit himself to the head. He died a few hours later...
Next place we stopped by was Stanley Chasm. You have to pay $8 entrance fee but it's absolutely worth it! Interestingly enough, once you reach the end of the chasm, you can continue to the left, climb a bit, walk over a stairs-like tree and climb up through a hole and you'll end up in another gorge. It's a bit dangerous (rock and the tree are pretty slippery) and you shouldn't do it but there are no warning signs anywhere. Once you reach the next gorge, you can join Larapinta trail and walk back to the chasm along the trail, so you don't have to do the dangerous part again.
Our last stop was at Simpsons Gap - it's just a couple of kilometres far from Alice, so it's a pretty popular picnic spot for locals. Again, it's a beautiful gorge with a waterhole but unfortunately you can't swim there. Instead, you can enjoy observing rock walabies that are jumping on the slopes around.
Francois & Virginie dropped me off in the centre of Alice Springs, where I got picked up by my new CouchSurfing host, Daryl.
Kings Canyon
Romain didn't want to drive the whole way (around 300 km) to Kings Canyon, so we stopped about 120 km before our destination at a free camping ground to stay over night. It was pretty nice place between dunes and after dinner I convinced Romain to play frisbee with me (I'm not carrying it for nothing!)!
Next morning, we arrived to Kings Canyon. It's absolutely incredible place, definitely worth visiting - it's a huge canyon in red rock, with incredible rock formations, steep cliffs and a beautiful waterhole. There are 2 walks - one short that goes at the bottom of the canyon and one a bit longer that goes around - on top of the cliffs. We walked the long one and we also went to the Garden of Eden, where we took a rest in shade, on a bank of the waterhole. We were lucky again because there were almost no people entering the waterhole at that time. Sitting on the cliff, enjoying the view over the cliffs and listening to birds - just magical!
After the walk, we had to say goodbye to each other. I wanted to continue further north to the end of West Macdonell Ranges, do some hiking on a part of Larapinta Trail and end up in Alice Springs. The problem was that the connection between Kings Canyon and the end of West Macdonell Ranges is only an unsealed road, so Romain couldn't make it with his van. So he had to drive all the way back to Stuart Highway and then up north to Alice Springs.
I was seriously thinking of staying with him because I really enjoyed his company and I also knew that it would be hard to hitch on that unsealed road. It was nearly the end of season and there were not so many cars passing through. Especially in my direction - quite a few cars were going from north to south but not that many were heading from south to north, simply because a wet season was about starting in the north (tropical) part of Australia, so it was smarter to get out of there and enjoy the summer on the south.
But I decided to risk it and stick to my original plan. However I was quite sad leaving him - he's a very interesting and unique person - smart, calm and thoughtful. It also felt somehow safe traveling with him because I didn't have to worry about transportation.
He dropped me off at a crossroads where I could get a lift to the Kings Canyon Resort - the last piece of civilization before the beginning of the unsealed outback road. I didn't have to wait too long and I got a lift to the resort from a friendly italian couple - Claudio & Antonella, enjoying their honeymoon in Australia.
It was already around 3pm but I kept on hitchin at the end of the resort. I stayed there 2,5 hours before I gave up. There was no single car passing by in my direction. I felt pretty desperate and couldn't stop thinking that I should have stayed with Romain.
I stayed in the resort camping ground for the night but I didn't really like the place. It felt remote and unfriendly and there were a couple of dingoes wandering around. I pitched my tent and started eating my sandwiches on the ground next to my tent and one of the dingoes sat down just a few metres away. Dingoes are beatiful animals (indgenous) and they're not dangerous. They have big respect to humans.
I must have looked really miserable because one of the tourists walking around, a very friendly Austrian guy, gave me two beers. It was so nice! Unfortunately, I didn't have anybody to share the beers with. But it cheered me up anyway, hehe.
I must say that dingoes are not only beautiful but also incredibly smart animals. I finished my dinner and wanted to go to a toilet. So I put all the food to my backpack, closed it and put it into my tent. But I forgot one thing - to close my tent. Oh oh, a big mistake. I went to the toilet and even though I was back after not more than 2 minutes, one of the dingoes managed to get into my tent, move the backpack, open it somehow and take the bag of bread balls that was on the top. Then I must have distracted him because he didn't steal the whole bag - he just opened it and took one bread. I was amazed! But also pissed off because the bread was incredibly expensive and I was saving it for next two days. Oh well, at the end I could do nothing but laugh about it - such a smart bastard!
Uluru and Kata Tjuta
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
After I saw enough of Coober Pedy, I was ready for Uluru. I started hitching on wednesday (14/09/2009) morning but it turned out to be much harder than I'd imagined. Only few cars were passing by and drivers didn't want to pick me up. Finally after five and a half hours (my longest time so far) I got a lift by a guy named Kingsley, who was going to work at a titanium mine somewhere in the desert. We quickly found out we had lots of things in common so we spent the ride with great conversation. Unfortunately he dropped me off only about 80 km further at a place called Cadney Park (just a petrol station, motel and a campground).
It was already around 5pm but I still kept on hitching. Of course I was unsuccessful so I stayed at the campground. But it was great! I joined a friendly group of people that were on their trip from Victoria to Alice Springs on small red motorbikes! Very funny company! We had dinner together, I played some card games with kids...
There was a couple of cars supporting the bikers so I got a lift from them next morning. The only problem was that they were a bit too slow and they didn't go too far. So at the next stop, in Marla (just another station), I tried to find somebody else. And I bumped into one of the most interesting people I've ever met!
Jayle and Kayla, a young aboriginal couple on their way from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs. I first thought they were spanish - they really didn't look like typical aboriginals but after they made it clear and Jayle started talking about their culture I quickly realized that it was an exceptional opportunity to get to know a bit of the aboriginal culture from inside. I got pretty excited and asked all sorts of questions.
Maybe you are wondering - as well as I was - how aboriginal people live today (and whether there still are some tribes living in completely traditional way). Unfortunately, the aboriginals you can see most often are actually lying on the streets, drinking, yelling at each other, begging for money or cigarettes and making lots of troubles. You can see them rather in central and northern parts of Australia. The problem why this is happening is mostly because first, they can't deal with alcohol like white people - they were introduced to it only about 200 years ago and so they're not used to it; and second, aboriginal people are supported by government (sort of positive discrimination), so they get lots of money through wellfare. For me, it sounds a bit familiar - we've got similar kind of problems in Czech Republic with gypsies.
There are many aboriginals living in cities that accepted western life-style completely. They work in a city, often got married to white partners and most of the time you (as a tourist) can't really recognize that they are aboriginals.
And then there is a part of aboriginal population that lives in communities. They live in bush (in reservations) and to certain extent they live traditionaly. Well, there are no aboriginals traveling across the country, wearing no clothes and hunting with spears anymore. The people in communities live in houses, were clothes, travel by cars, buy food in supermarkets and hunt with rifles. But the interesting thing is that they still try to keep their traditions - they teach their children their legends, language, rituals, medicine, magic, hunting techniques and all the extensive knowledge of nature they've got. There is also a lot of white people working or volunteering for them but for a tourist, it's pretty hard to get to a community. And that's good, I think...
I felt very comfortable and happy in the car and I wanted to share a bit of european culture as well. So when I found out I can connect my phone to their radio, I played them Gogol Bordello and some Czech and French music.
Jayle kept on talking about his culture and the aboriginal life. One of many interesting things he told me was that he was a witch-doctor, a shaman, and he'd been taught traditional healing techniques. I was really excited about that and wanted to know as much as possible but unfortunately aboriginal people have very strict rules about who can know certain information. Even within their community. And since I'm just a white-fella, he couldn't give me much details. But it was extremely interesting anyway and I felt very happy being around them.
Finally we arrived to Erlunda where they had to drop me off. I was really sad I couldn't stay longer with them. Before I left the car, Jayle really surprised me - he took a wooden fight-stick from beneith his seat and explained me that it's a traditional weapon and that he'd made it by himself. Then he gave it to me. I was shocked! I wasn't able to say more than "Thank you". It was such a strong moment! One of the moments that always convince me how interesting and exciting hitching (and traveling alone in general) can be!
I got a lift by two dutch women, Corry and Rian, all the way to Yulara, which is a tourist resort just about 20 km far from Uluru. They even promised to take me to Uluru next morning, which I was really happy for because the whole place is very touristic (400 000 visitors every year) and really expensive. If I didn't get the ride, I would have had to take a bus ($45 return!) or rent a bike ($20/day).
There is a few tour operators located in the resort and you can book various tours. I hate tours and any kind of organized sightseeing/traveling but one seemed to be quite interesting. Anangu Tours is a company run entirely by local aboriginal people and they offer a few different tours with an aboriginal guide explaining the legends connected to this place and then showing for example how to make a fire etc. But as I said, I hate tours and it was pretty expensive, so I decided to explore Uluru on my own.
Uluru is an important sacred place with spiritual and cultural meaning for aboriginal people so there are lots of restrictions about what you can or cannot do. You can only walk on marked tracks and you can't take pictures of some parts of the rock. Surprisingly, you can climb up but aboriginal people ask you not to do it. Moreover it's also really dangerous - 37 people have already died while climbing it!
An important part of the whole experience is the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. It's very valuable source of information about aboriginals - it's trying to explain what Uluru means for them and you can also read some of the legends connected to the place, although I found it pretty difficult to really understand them. For me, a lot more interesting were information about their everyday life - what they eat (I'd love to try witchetty grub, hehe), what kind of tools and weapons they use etc. You can also read there that in 1985, australian government handed the land back to aboriginals, they leased it back to the government in return for 99 years and since then the whole place is looked after by aboriginals and Director of National Parks together.
I must say that Uluru is really beautiful and definitely worth seeing but the whole place is way too touristic. It's exactly one of the places that always make me think again about the balance between exclusivity and accessibility. The whole infrastructure and so many people destroy a big part of the magic of the whole place. It would be much better if there wasn't sealed road all the way to the rock, the airport and the whole Yulara resort and you actually had to make lots of effort in order to see it. That way you could really feel it and appreciate it. Instead, all you have to do is pay for a tour, sit on a bus that takes you all the way to the rock, make a couple of pictures and go back. But what's that for? I really wanted to experience the place fully - to enjoy the view, walk around, get to know it as much as possible, try to understand it etc. But in fact, it was quite hard - the only source of information was the aboriginal cultural centre - there were no local aboriginals around you could talk to and ask your questions... So in that sense, I was a bit disappointed. But it still remains one of the most interesting places I've ever visited and one of the most memorable experience.
So I spent all day walking around Uluru (I was lucky - there were almost no people at all at that time!) and getting information in the cultural centre. On one of the walks, I bumped into Romain, a french guy travelling around australia in his van. In fact it was the third time we met each other (first in Erlunda when he refused to give me a lift - he wanted to travel alone, then in Yulara resort earlier that morning) so we made the rest of the walks together.
We found out we suited each other pretty well and we had exactly the same plans for next couple of days so we decided to travel together (I was surprised he didn't want to travel alone anymore but I guess it's because of my irresistible charisma, hehe). In the evening we went to see Uluru in sunset. If you forget about all the people around (there are special sunset and sunrise viewing areas and they're always packed), it's magic and definitely worth experiencing!
Next morning we got up early to see Uluru in sunrise. Again, beautiful but too many people around. At least you were looking at the rock from less usual angle so you didn't get the most typical pictures of it. Funny was that I met Matthias there again! After we said goodbye to each other in Port Augusta, he drove back to Adelaide to hand in the car, then he went by train to Alice Springs and from there he took a tour to Uluru. We couldn't talk too long because he had to rush to follow his tour group. Poor boy, he hates tours as well as I do but he hasn't got so much time for Australia, so taking a tour was necessary.
Kata Tjuta
After sunrise we drove to Kata Tjuta. The name means "Many heads" - look at the pic and you'll know why! It's a rock grouping just about 30 km far from Uluru. Again, it's absolutely spectacular place! The highest rock is even 200 m higher than Uluru which makes it the biggest monolith in the world! It's quite strange that Uluru is so famous while nobody knows about Kata Tjuta but maybe it's because Kata Tjuta is apparently a lot more sacred and all the information about it (like aboriginal legends etc.) is secret. But the good thing is that at least there is a lot fewer tourists.
We walked the tracks - they're all pretty nice and after a quick lunch, we left the whole place (by the way we saw three hitch-hikers on our way - the first hitch-hikers, I've ever seen in Australia!), heading to Kings Canyon.
After I saw enough of Coober Pedy, I was ready for Uluru. I started hitching on wednesday (14/09/2009) morning but it turned out to be much harder than I'd imagined. Only few cars were passing by and drivers didn't want to pick me up. Finally after five and a half hours (my longest time so far) I got a lift by a guy named Kingsley, who was going to work at a titanium mine somewhere in the desert. We quickly found out we had lots of things in common so we spent the ride with great conversation. Unfortunately he dropped me off only about 80 km further at a place called Cadney Park (just a petrol station, motel and a campground).
It was already around 5pm but I still kept on hitching. Of course I was unsuccessful so I stayed at the campground. But it was great! I joined a friendly group of people that were on their trip from Victoria to Alice Springs on small red motorbikes! Very funny company! We had dinner together, I played some card games with kids...
There was a couple of cars supporting the bikers so I got a lift from them next morning. The only problem was that they were a bit too slow and they didn't go too far. So at the next stop, in Marla (just another station), I tried to find somebody else. And I bumped into one of the most interesting people I've ever met!
Jayle and Kayla, a young aboriginal couple on their way from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs. I first thought they were spanish - they really didn't look like typical aboriginals but after they made it clear and Jayle started talking about their culture I quickly realized that it was an exceptional opportunity to get to know a bit of the aboriginal culture from inside. I got pretty excited and asked all sorts of questions.
Maybe you are wondering - as well as I was - how aboriginal people live today (and whether there still are some tribes living in completely traditional way). Unfortunately, the aboriginals you can see most often are actually lying on the streets, drinking, yelling at each other, begging for money or cigarettes and making lots of troubles. You can see them rather in central and northern parts of Australia. The problem why this is happening is mostly because first, they can't deal with alcohol like white people - they were introduced to it only about 200 years ago and so they're not used to it; and second, aboriginal people are supported by government (sort of positive discrimination), so they get lots of money through wellfare. For me, it sounds a bit familiar - we've got similar kind of problems in Czech Republic with gypsies.
There are many aboriginals living in cities that accepted western life-style completely. They work in a city, often got married to white partners and most of the time you (as a tourist) can't really recognize that they are aboriginals.
And then there is a part of aboriginal population that lives in communities. They live in bush (in reservations) and to certain extent they live traditionaly. Well, there are no aboriginals traveling across the country, wearing no clothes and hunting with spears anymore. The people in communities live in houses, were clothes, travel by cars, buy food in supermarkets and hunt with rifles. But the interesting thing is that they still try to keep their traditions - they teach their children their legends, language, rituals, medicine, magic, hunting techniques and all the extensive knowledge of nature they've got. There is also a lot of white people working or volunteering for them but for a tourist, it's pretty hard to get to a community. And that's good, I think...
I felt very comfortable and happy in the car and I wanted to share a bit of european culture as well. So when I found out I can connect my phone to their radio, I played them Gogol Bordello and some Czech and French music.
Jayle kept on talking about his culture and the aboriginal life. One of many interesting things he told me was that he was a witch-doctor, a shaman, and he'd been taught traditional healing techniques. I was really excited about that and wanted to know as much as possible but unfortunately aboriginal people have very strict rules about who can know certain information. Even within their community. And since I'm just a white-fella, he couldn't give me much details. But it was extremely interesting anyway and I felt very happy being around them.
Finally we arrived to Erlunda where they had to drop me off. I was really sad I couldn't stay longer with them. Before I left the car, Jayle really surprised me - he took a wooden fight-stick from beneith his seat and explained me that it's a traditional weapon and that he'd made it by himself. Then he gave it to me. I was shocked! I wasn't able to say more than "Thank you". It was such a strong moment! One of the moments that always convince me how interesting and exciting hitching (and traveling alone in general) can be!
I got a lift by two dutch women, Corry and Rian, all the way to Yulara, which is a tourist resort just about 20 km far from Uluru. They even promised to take me to Uluru next morning, which I was really happy for because the whole place is very touristic (400 000 visitors every year) and really expensive. If I didn't get the ride, I would have had to take a bus ($45 return!) or rent a bike ($20/day).
There is a few tour operators located in the resort and you can book various tours. I hate tours and any kind of organized sightseeing/traveling but one seemed to be quite interesting. Anangu Tours is a company run entirely by local aboriginal people and they offer a few different tours with an aboriginal guide explaining the legends connected to this place and then showing for example how to make a fire etc. But as I said, I hate tours and it was pretty expensive, so I decided to explore Uluru on my own.
Uluru is an important sacred place with spiritual and cultural meaning for aboriginal people so there are lots of restrictions about what you can or cannot do. You can only walk on marked tracks and you can't take pictures of some parts of the rock. Surprisingly, you can climb up but aboriginal people ask you not to do it. Moreover it's also really dangerous - 37 people have already died while climbing it!
An important part of the whole experience is the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. It's very valuable source of information about aboriginals - it's trying to explain what Uluru means for them and you can also read some of the legends connected to the place, although I found it pretty difficult to really understand them. For me, a lot more interesting were information about their everyday life - what they eat (I'd love to try witchetty grub, hehe), what kind of tools and weapons they use etc. You can also read there that in 1985, australian government handed the land back to aboriginals, they leased it back to the government in return for 99 years and since then the whole place is looked after by aboriginals and Director of National Parks together.
I must say that Uluru is really beautiful and definitely worth seeing but the whole place is way too touristic. It's exactly one of the places that always make me think again about the balance between exclusivity and accessibility. The whole infrastructure and so many people destroy a big part of the magic of the whole place. It would be much better if there wasn't sealed road all the way to the rock, the airport and the whole Yulara resort and you actually had to make lots of effort in order to see it. That way you could really feel it and appreciate it. Instead, all you have to do is pay for a tour, sit on a bus that takes you all the way to the rock, make a couple of pictures and go back. But what's that for? I really wanted to experience the place fully - to enjoy the view, walk around, get to know it as much as possible, try to understand it etc. But in fact, it was quite hard - the only source of information was the aboriginal cultural centre - there were no local aboriginals around you could talk to and ask your questions... So in that sense, I was a bit disappointed. But it still remains one of the most interesting places I've ever visited and one of the most memorable experience.
So I spent all day walking around Uluru (I was lucky - there were almost no people at all at that time!) and getting information in the cultural centre. On one of the walks, I bumped into Romain, a french guy travelling around australia in his van. In fact it was the third time we met each other (first in Erlunda when he refused to give me a lift - he wanted to travel alone, then in Yulara resort earlier that morning) so we made the rest of the walks together.
We found out we suited each other pretty well and we had exactly the same plans for next couple of days so we decided to travel together (I was surprised he didn't want to travel alone anymore but I guess it's because of my irresistible charisma, hehe). In the evening we went to see Uluru in sunset. If you forget about all the people around (there are special sunset and sunrise viewing areas and they're always packed), it's magic and definitely worth experiencing!
Next morning we got up early to see Uluru in sunrise. Again, beautiful but too many people around. At least you were looking at the rock from less usual angle so you didn't get the most typical pictures of it. Funny was that I met Matthias there again! After we said goodbye to each other in Port Augusta, he drove back to Adelaide to hand in the car, then he went by train to Alice Springs and from there he took a tour to Uluru. We couldn't talk too long because he had to rush to follow his tour group. Poor boy, he hates tours as well as I do but he hasn't got so much time for Australia, so taking a tour was necessary.
Kata Tjuta
After sunrise we drove to Kata Tjuta. The name means "Many heads" - look at the pic and you'll know why! It's a rock grouping just about 30 km far from Uluru. Again, it's absolutely spectacular place! The highest rock is even 200 m higher than Uluru which makes it the biggest monolith in the world! It's quite strange that Uluru is so famous while nobody knows about Kata Tjuta but maybe it's because Kata Tjuta is apparently a lot more sacred and all the information about it (like aboriginal legends etc.) is secret. But the good thing is that at least there is a lot fewer tourists.
We walked the tracks - they're all pretty nice and after a quick lunch, we left the whole place (by the way we saw three hitch-hikers on our way - the first hitch-hikers, I've ever seen in Australia!), heading to Kings Canyon.
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