Alice Springs to Adelaide

I have now seen Australian kangaroos, emus, camels, wallabies, koalas, and horses in the wild – no more zoos for me! It was so bizarre the first time I spotted wild kangaroos hopping along beside the highway. And after driving through the Outback a while, they start to become a commonplace part of the scenery. One of the first Europeans to come here described them as “standing upright like a man, with the head of a deer, and hopping about like a frog." Needless to say, the folks back home thought he was a little crazy.

Oh, and here's another interesting fact about kangaroos for you: Have you ever wondered what the word "kangaroo" means? No? Oh. Well, come to think of it, I haven't either. But I'll tell you a little story anyway. See, when some of the first European settlers asked the Aboriginals what those strange hopping animals were, the response was, "kangaroo." So that's what the settlers started calling them. Little did they know that the Aboriginal word "kangaroo" means "I don't know." Haha!

The portion of my trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide was a little long, so in order to not bore you with the little details about how great my group was or how much fun we had at each little stop, I'll cover the highlights:

Kings Canyon. The tour company has a rule that if the temperature climbs above 35 degrees Celsius at Kings Canyon, the planned 3-hour hike through the canyon is canceled. (I guess they have some silly thing about not wanting the tourists to die on them.) So naturally, it was 43 degrees (109.4 F) on the day my group showed up. We were still given the option to climb to the first lookout point, which most of us did, then we went on a less strenuous hour-long walk through the base of the canyon. Good news was that the extra time meant we were able to make it to Uluru in time for sunset!

Uluru, aka Ayers Rock. Look at any travel guide or tourist brochure about Australia. You know that big iconic rock in many of the pictures? Yeah, that's Uluru. It's beautiful, though the area is unfortunately very touristy. I completed the base walk around the rock (9.4 km/5.8 mi), beginning before sunrise. Yes - I am Tourist, hear me Roar!

FYI, Uluru is the Aboriginal name; Ayers Rock is the white man's name. Aussies are trying to revert back to using the Aboriginal names for significant places, hence Uluru.

For our two nights near Uluru, we slept in swags under the stars! And I didn’t see or feel a single insect try to take over my swag! Have you ever fallen asleep under a star-filled sky with the breeze on your face? Amazing. I highly recommend it. Just...you know...watch out for the spiders...

Coober Pedy. I have never before been to a place like Coober Pedy. My first impression was that it looked like a hick town, and my last impression honsetly matched my first, but there’s more to this little town than that. See, what makes this town special is that it is known as the opal capital of the world because of how many opals are mined there. But the really fascinating bit about Coober Pedy is the fact that most of its residents live underground! See, the temperatures get so hot (as in hotter than an Arizona summer), that people converted underground mine shafts into rooms and houses, then dug up more housing out of the sides of hills. The temperature underground stays nice and cool for them year round, isn’t that nice? And yes, folks, I slept underground too! And I tried to find an opal myself, but in the end my debit card had to find an itty bitty one all by itself. Good debit card.

Flinders Ranges. I always figured it must be funny to Europeans to come to America and hear all about our past, it being such recent history compared to their extensive past. Our historic buildings are newer than many of their homes, after all. Then I came to Australia, where we visited “historic ruins” that were built after the American Civil War! Ah, those cute little ol' Aussies. But I have to say that the Flinders Ranges held some of the most magnificent views I've encountered thus far in this trip through Australia.

Dutchmans Stern. I went hiking quite a bit these few days, but my favorite was Dutchmans Stern. It took a while to get to the top, but once I did, it was amazing. Beautiful views, beautiful temperature, beautiful breezes. Get the drift?

And that's it for now! I'm enjoying my travels so much that I'm a bit behind on my blog, eek! Stay tuned to hear about the rest of my trip from Adelaide to Melbourne, and then back on to Sydney!