Red Centre Trip
 

Well, I'm back.

I'm hell tired and have heaps to do, so eventually I will share some pics of the trip, but not for a few days. In the meantime, here is someone else's photo of Ormiston Pound where I did some hiking.


Attachment 29652

Wow! I want to go-I haven't even walked around Wilpena Pound (pathetic really).

Hope you catch up on your sleep quota soon. Looking forward to hearing about it, the pics (and the native wildlife identification).

Looks like a lot of walking to experience much change in the scenery, since you can see way the hell over yonder.

You've got to get down into the country to really see it Bruce. It might look all the same, but it's just beautiful when you're in it. It's so hard to describe the sense of space you feel when you're in the outback and beyond, when at the same time you can develop such a feeling of oneness. Of course, you also realize how unimportant your existence is to pretty much everything there.

It's a humbling experience.

It's been a long time since I've been to the centre, but I hope to take the kids some time in the next few years.

Yeah, we've got that here too. See forever, look down around your feet and you'll see pretty much what you saw around your feet two hours hike ago. Differences are subtle and nuanced, it helps to know some about the flora and fauna.
The spiritual effect, for lack of a better word, of the wide open spaces, can be significant. Enlightening or scary, depending where your head is at. It changes your perspective on the size of mother nature, and the sky, you don't get while living surrounded by constructions of human scale.

The time I drove from Adelaide to Darwin was an eye-opener. I had thought that after Port Augusta, all of the country would be desert and boring as, but even within the desert bits, it changed every 100km or so and surprisingly it was fascinating to see. The changes were particularly noticeable between Katherine and Darwin. So glad I did that trip.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, has anyone been to the sand hills at Eucla (on the border of SA and WA)? When I was 12, we drove to Perth across the Nullabor and camped in the sand hills at Eucla one night. Pristine white sand -no-one goes there because it's in the middle of nowhere.

I've got a little time so I'll share the photos for the first few days.

The journey starts from Adelaide, with the first stop at port Augusta. As soon as you are out of the city the freeway is 110kph, often dual lanes, or with plenty of places with a third lane added for overtaking. It is mostly agricultural land, with the sea to the west and mountains to the east. This photo was actually taken on the way back.

Attachment 29677

Then after Port Augusta the country changes. Range lands, salt bush, flat plains with distant mesas, the occasional salt lake. No overtaking lanes, just straights 5 km long to go with the 3-trailer, 62 wheel trucks.

Attachment 29678


Attachment 29679

Another 550km or so gets you to Coober Pedy, literally "White Man's Burrows". I stayed in an underground hostel, I wouldn't actually recommend it, it is dusty, noise echoes, and there is none of the normal signals to get your body awake each morning, like increasing light, warmth, or noise. Nevertheless, here is the fire escape.

Attachment 29680

So on the second day I drove about 700 km, to see the first of the the Tors of the Inland: Mt Conner.

Attachment 29681

Then I spent the night at a campground - yep, "The" campground where baby Azaria Chamberlain was taken by a dingo almost 30 years ago. They're about to have (I think) the fourth coronial inquest into it.

Anyway the next day I visited Uluru. Here is the compulsory sunset shot.

Attachment 29682

I didn't climb it, but did the base walk instead. This is about 10km. It was unseasonally hot - 37 flamin degrees! So a little under half way, I wandered off the path and into one of the gullies that run down the rock, and spent the middle of the day relaxing under a nice shady boulder.

Attachment 29683

The rock has amazing texture. It weathers in patches. One patch flakes off from the changes in heat or whatever; underneath is pasty yellow-white. As it slowly ages, it turns orange then red as iron oxidises. Meanwhile the bulgy bits around it are also flaking off to reveal pale patches, leaving our now red patch protruding. As a result, during the middle of the day, the sun mostly hits the pale patches and these dominate the colour. As the sun sets and the angle increases, the recessive pale patches fall into shade, the protruding red patches begin to dominate the colour. Neat, huh?

The next day I visited Kata Tjuta, "Many Heads", or the Olgas. The area is all extra secret Men's Business, so I'll just post this photo from a distance.

Attachment 29684

Zen, A really nice travel story... looking forward to the next chapter.

A little time? I think it's time for you to set your students, colleagues, and superiors, straight. Just straight out tell them you have priorities, and you'll get back to them after your Cellar obligations are tended to. :eyebrow:


Seriously, nice pictures. I'd never heard about Uluru's spalling, and the attendant color changes. As the light changes during the day, it must appear almost like it's seething, or breathing. No wonder the natives thought it had magical powers.


edit - Hope you can avoid these guys.

Absolutely beautiful.

Bruce, the bunyip is mythical??? Nooooooooo.

Zen, I thought I'd heard/read/seen it all before, but you've always got something incisive and original to say (except for when momentarily distracted by the thought of naked females). Looking forward to reading the next installment.

Casi, don't bother trying to butter him up, he's not going to tell you about the super secret men's stuff at the Olgas. :haha:

I already know Bruce, Zen is unbutterupable.

Take a look at Uluru in the rain, it's spectacular. 10 at this site...
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/...#bigpicturepos

19 at this site, check out the Hummingbirds in photo#8....
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...1617677?page=1

Thanks Bruce for posting these. The one with the pool of water at the bottom is the one I like best. When there's green in the desert, that's fantastic too.

I was pretty impressed with the amount of water streaming off the rock. I guess the top is pretty big, and it was raining hard, but there's a lot of streams carrying serious amounts of water.

Saw the movie Ned Kelly (starring the late Heath Ledger) last Friday and was rather taken with the shots of Australian wildlife in the rain. I was intrigued as to how they managed to not only wait until it rained, but then find and shoot (with a camera that is) sodden birds and goanna and what not. I am hoping that no-one is going to disillusion me here and tell me it was photoshopped or something.

too tired to make a sock puppet called no-one...

That was a beautifully shot film and I have no idea how they pulled it off.

Wow, thanks Zen - looks like a magical experience.
Okay, I do get that the Uluru shot at sunset is obligatory, but this is the Cellar you know. A shot of Dwellar eating or drinking is also obligatory. If you didn't take one I suggest to nip back and sort it out...

Disappointed re the underground hostel details - it's been one of my ambitions to go to Coober Pedy and stay underground. If it wasn't for the heat I'd be tempted to head out to the outback to find a town with a lower than average female population...

I haven't been to Coober Pedy for years and years, but I would be tempted to go and do some more research on the matter. I have heard of a recent homestay experience in a dugout which was apparently very pleasant and certainly can't complain about the dugout I stayed in (alright, so it was the rectory/dugout where the Anglican church minister lived).

And cheers 3foot. Time has gone by. That wasn't too disillusioning.

Just like popping round to the corner shop, really.

Very cool! I bet it will give a boon to the life of an ordinarily extremely dry environment.

The weather last night on the Australia Network showed significant clouds/pending rain over Central Australia as a by-product of Yasi.