As I mentioned before, I wasn't convinced that the Outback and Uluru (Ayer's Rock) would be anything I needed to see (it's just a big rock in the middle of nowhere), but it was a freebie to add to my plane ticket, so why not? I was glad I went, if only because it's just so different to the East Coast of the country. Our guide was the requisite tough Australian replete with broad accent, "colorful" language, lack of high school degree and mullet. A great guy, though, and taught us a lot about the geology of the area. Which did make me feel a bit abashed, as I had naturally not expected him to be a font of knowledge. That'll teach me to keep my prejudices in check. One of the fascinating things is that there is TONS of water in Alice Springs (and the rest of the Outback). It's one of the only places in the country that never has water restrictions. That's because there is a huge aquifer under the "semi-arid zone" (don't call it a desert! - they technically get an extra centimeter of rain a year above the desert classification). Apparently even rain in the coastal areas doesn't help out those areas as much as it could, as once it soaks in it ends up back in the aquifer under the Outback. Strange how nature works.
We spent the first two of the three days hiking in different canyons that were vastly different from each other. The second day was the Olgas (or Kata Jutu - I believe is how it's spelled - as the Aboriginals would call it). I was far more impressed by that than Uluru and was especially glad I didn't just go to Uluru. The first day we slept in the middle of the bush in our "swag", basically a canvas sleeping bag with a foam mat. As our guide told us, it's not 5 star accommodation, it's 5 billion star accommodation, as you don't sleep inside the tent. Unfortunately, our group ended up in small clusters talking, instead of as a group, because it was too warm to be in a circle around the fire. The second night we camped under the stars again but in a campground that had a lit area with a picnic table where we all chatted late into the evening (and then got up at 5am to go see sunrise over Uluru)! One of the English guys on our trip had contracted Dengue Fever in Asia the week before (he described it as a curable malaria) and spent the first 2 days immersed in a book. On the last night he finished the book and really came out of his shell. He had us in complete hysterics on the last night with jokes that "require animation" and a really bad French accent. I must have only slept a few hours that night, since every time I was about to fall asleep he would say something again and all of us in the surrounding area would get the fit of giggles. And you know how contagious those are.
Back in Alice Springs we washed off the Outback tan (not as long lasting as the real one, but much safer) and met up later that night for a few drinks at Bojangles, a bar in town that has cameras and a direct feed onto the web at all hours. Your friends can find you online, you can wave to them and they can even buy you drinks from afar. Unfortunately, due to the time difference it was about 5am on Saturday morning in Chicago when I was there. During my brief stint at the hostel beforehand I met some of my new roommates - an Australian who was on his way back to Sydney after 4 years in London, an Irish guy and an American. Wouldn't you know the guy was from New Prague, Minnesota! I've met about 5 Americans over the past 6 weeks - and one of them was from MN! I also managed to freak the Irish guy out when I asked if he was from Galway. He asked "How the heck did you know that????" and told him I had recognized the Galway football jersey he'd been wearing downstairs when we were checking in. Then he wanted to know how I knew what a Galway jersey looked like... (esp. since Galway is only written in very small letters and in Gaelic.) It's fun to do that sometimes - play with peoples' stereotypes of Americans. I get to snoop on a lot of Germans' conversations - there are a lot of them here and they automatically assume I couldn't possibly understand them. I usually just join the conversation about 30 minutes in and watch their faces. I can even see them playing back the previous half an hour in their minds to see if they've said anything untoward. Luckily for them, they rarely have.
Whew, this entry has gotten long. Sorry for that. The departure to Brisbane was uneventful, so I'll start up in Brisbane in my next entry!
We spent the first two of the three days hiking in different canyons that were vastly different from each other. The second day was the Olgas (or Kata Jutu - I believe is how it's spelled - as the Aboriginals would call it). I was far more impressed by that than Uluru and was especially glad I didn't just go to Uluru. The first day we slept in the middle of the bush in our "swag", basically a canvas sleeping bag with a foam mat. As our guide told us, it's not 5 star accommodation, it's 5 billion star accommodation, as you don't sleep inside the tent. Unfortunately, our group ended up in small clusters talking, instead of as a group, because it was too warm to be in a circle around the fire. The second night we camped under the stars again but in a campground that had a lit area with a picnic table where we all chatted late into the evening (and then got up at 5am to go see sunrise over Uluru)! One of the English guys on our trip had contracted Dengue Fever in Asia the week before (he described it as a curable malaria) and spent the first 2 days immersed in a book. On the last night he finished the book and really came out of his shell. He had us in complete hysterics on the last night with jokes that "require animation" and a really bad French accent. I must have only slept a few hours that night, since every time I was about to fall asleep he would say something again and all of us in the surrounding area would get the fit of giggles. And you know how contagious those are.
Back in Alice Springs we washed off the Outback tan (not as long lasting as the real one, but much safer) and met up later that night for a few drinks at Bojangles, a bar in town that has cameras and a direct feed onto the web at all hours. Your friends can find you online, you can wave to them and they can even buy you drinks from afar. Unfortunately, due to the time difference it was about 5am on Saturday morning in Chicago when I was there. During my brief stint at the hostel beforehand I met some of my new roommates - an Australian who was on his way back to Sydney after 4 years in London, an Irish guy and an American. Wouldn't you know the guy was from New Prague, Minnesota! I've met about 5 Americans over the past 6 weeks - and one of them was from MN! I also managed to freak the Irish guy out when I asked if he was from Galway. He asked "How the heck did you know that????" and told him I had recognized the Galway football jersey he'd been wearing downstairs when we were checking in. Then he wanted to know how I knew what a Galway jersey looked like... (esp. since Galway is only written in very small letters and in Gaelic.) It's fun to do that sometimes - play with peoples' stereotypes of Americans. I get to snoop on a lot of Germans' conversations - there are a lot of them here and they automatically assume I couldn't possibly understand them. I usually just join the conversation about 30 minutes in and watch their faces. I can even see them playing back the previous half an hour in their minds to see if they've said anything untoward. Luckily for them, they rarely have.
Whew, this entry has gotten long. Sorry for that. The departure to Brisbane was uneventful, so I'll start up in Brisbane in my next entry!
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