The only one moving early in the morning was Gandi who took this photo of sunrise and a couple of sleepyheads. (Picture: Gandi)
After a restful and quiet night at the camping area (I must have been abducted by aliens as I don't recall anything from the night) we got up early enough as we still had over 500 km to drive until Alice Springs. Alas, the car battery was totally dead again even though Winona had started just fine during our breaks the previous day. Once again a friendly fellow camper helped us start Winona by providing power from his car. Thanks! At this point we were very glad we had the foresight to buy starter cables.
A fueling break some three hundred kilometers later in Ti Tree left us once again with a car refusing to start - like the battery had not recharged at all during the morning's drive. Again we had to use the starter cables in order to start Winona. It was decided that we would drive straight to Alice Springs without turning off the engine, find a mechanic, and find out what was wrong with the car (alternator was the main suspect).
It was not hard to find a car repair workshop in the northern parts of Alice Springs. Surprisingly, Winona worked perfectly at the workshop: the battery was fully charged and no suspiciously large electrical currents were present when the engine was off that would drain the battery overnight! The friendly mechanic at the workshop suggested that the alternator might have worked only intermittently because of the dust from driving on dirt roads. This was said to be a not too uncommon problem. Somewhat baffled we continued on to a camping site just south of Alice Springs to have rest of the day off and drink some well earned beer.
Later in the evening drinking "some of the beer" turned to "all the beer" and we had a very nice evening playing cards and just generally talking bullshit. A good day at the end.
As a big suprise to us all, no signs of hangover manifested themselves in the morning. There weren't much activities planned for the day other than finding an internet cafe. As our trip was nearing its halfway mark we needed to book Sydney-Perth-Sydney plane tickets as per our vacation-within-vacation plan. We found an internet cafe in downtown Alice Springs without too much trouble and got a set of very reasonably priced tickets online from Qantas's website. The flight to Perth was scheduled for the morning of 18th November and the return leg would be a night flight on the 3rd of December. That would still leave us with three weeks until we needed to get to Sydney - plenty of time to check out The Red Center, South Australia and Victoria.
For the rest of the day we just walked around in Alice Springs with the highlight of the day being finding an arcade with Bubble Bobble in it (though the arcade was closed). The night was spent at the same caravan park as the last before we'd leave to discover the wonders of Watarrka, Kata Tjuta and Uluru in the morning.
Early wakeup and onwards to The Red Center! Just after noon and some 450 kilometers of driving later we found ourselves at Watarrka or King's Canyon. The day was turning out to be a hot one but we decided that we couldn't miss the opportunity of trekking amidst the spectacular views of the canyon and chose to walk the approximately 6 km King's Canyon Rim walk.
The route first climbed all the way to the top of the canyon rim and in the hot weather it truly was a real exercise! On top of that the ever present flies occasionally drove some of our party to near madness. At this point we had already learned to take enough breaks and keep drinking the water all the time. Once we were on top of the rim the climb rate lessened and with every step forwards more and more breathtaking and surreal views opened. The drop down to the canyon was at points vertical or even negative and the way the sun lighted the red rock was amazing. The wind at the top of the canyon was surprisingly strong - one had to literally hold on to one's hat.
The end of the canyon revealed a hidden treasure - a waterfall and a pond which was inhabited, naturally, by ducks! The birds really seemed to be familiar with tourists as they were happy walking and resting within centimeters of you. At this point we had spent approximately three hours walking the track and we were about halfway (3 km) through. There were just so much to look at and enjoy that the pace was very slow. The path continued to the other side of the canyon and we got to see some interesting domelike sandstone formations. The latter half of the walk went by much quicker than the first half had, not least because it was downhill all the way. All in all, the canyon walk was definitely one of the major highlights of the whole trip so far and I'd say it's prudent to have at least 5 hours for the rim walk. The signs say 3-4 hours which of course is enough to walk it through but be sure to have the time to truly take in all the sights and views as well! Just spectacular.
We got back into our car and the trip continued for 300 kilometers all the way to Ayers Rock campground in Yulara. As the darkness was falling we paid for a place to camp in for the next two nights.
With only 45 km drive ahead of us, we headed for the Kata Tjuta or the Olgas, a formation of large domed rock formations. The highest point of Kata Tjuta is actually way higher than Uluru, being 546 meters above the surrounding plain.
We went for the 7.4 km Valley of the Winds walk. Every step revealed exciting new sights of the smooth mountain-sized rocks all around us. Words cannot truly describe the beauty of the place, but maybe the attached pictures will give you some idea. The day was again hot but we had plenty of water to drink with us. There were surprising pockets of life amidst the rock with colorful little birds singing and flamboyant flowers presenting themselves.
After a highly exhilarating trek trough Kata Tjuta we stopped at a site overlooking some dunes on our way back to the camping grounds. The wind was high and the red sand flew through the air which made the vista even more interesting.
A very early wakeup call this time as we got up before dawn in order to watch the sunrise at Uluru (Ayers Rock). We packed the camping gear and had a short drive to Uluru only to discover that it was packed with tourist busses - not exactly what we hoped for. Nevertheless we enjoyed the sunrise with Gandi taking photos. At this point Asmu figured out he had already had quite enough of the outback and decided to stay in the car sleeping and playing Bubble Bobble with Gameboy Advance while kuvaweopu and Gandi went hiking around Uluru. :-)
The track was around 9.4 km in length and the idea was not to use too much time walking around it as we planned to drive as far south as we could that day (maybe even to Coober Pedy). The time was around 6:30 when we started the walk and we managed to finish at around 9:30, with plenty of time reserved for just watching, listening and learning about the place. Uluru is a wonder, a lone red rock rising from the outback, and there is a certain majesty to it that no doubt is part of the reason why it is held in so high regard by the aboriginese people. But for me personally, if truth be told, Uluru was a bit of a letdown after Watarrka and Kata Tjuta, which both so greatly exceeded my expectations.
With me at the wheel we continued first towards the east and Stuart Highway and then south. With the early wakeup, hot day and both my fellow travelers sleeping soundly it was really, REALLY hard for me to keep awake while driving the arrow-straing outback roads with little other traffic. After almost falling asleep a few times I had to pull over for a while to clear my head. Fortunately for the rest of the day the Gandi and Asmu were more or less awake and kept talking so it was easier to stay awake myself.
After about 600 kilometers of driving later the darkness was falling and Coober Pedy was still 150 kilometres away. As the roadsides were pretty much empty aside from the bush we looked out for a suitable place and drove Winona some way away from the road and set up camp under the stars. No tent, just a tarpaulin, foam mattress and sleeping bags. And what a place it was! We had a small fire going and enjoyed the REAL outback camping experience with Asmu "playing" the didgeridoo and beer numbing the hearing sense. In order to be absolutely safe with the fire we dug a reasonably deep firepit. Firewood was plentiful with dried branches everywhere just waiting to be picked up from the ground. It actually IS surprisingly cold in the desert during the night but with good sleeping bags the experience was wonderful. Imagine waking up in perfect darkness to watch millions of stars visible in the clear sky, the Milky Way cutting across the sky and several shooting stars streaking across it all. Breathtaking.
A well slept night later we packed up our gear and continued driving south. Near Coober Pedy we stopped to admire some scifi movie shooting locations (eg. Red Planet, Pitch Black). The funnily coloured mounds and hills could easily have been from another world. Asmu still wasn't loving the outback, staying mostly in the car playing Bubble Bobble.
After sightseeing we found ourselves in downtown Coober Pedy where we stopped to eat in a Ferrari themed restaurant. We had a very nice chat with the owner of the place who was 50% Italian, 50% Greek, had lived in Sweden and had used to come to Finland to drink aboard the regular ferries sailing between the two countries. And now he had a restaurant in Coober Pedy, Australia. Small world. :-)
The trip continued south towards the coast until the darkness was creeping up on us. With no camping grounds nearby we decided to camp at the side of the road for the second night in a row somewhere near Pernatty Lagoon, I believe. The camp was quickly set up and not directly visible to the road. Some time later a campervan turned off the road to the same place we were in but after they saw us they turned around and drove away. Are we such a scary sight? There was still enough light left to practise boomerang throwing with varyingly bad results. Finally we settled in for the night with Gandi sleeping in the car and Asmu and I deciding to tough it out under the stars again.
The night turned out to be much colder than the previous night. I woke up several times during the night shivering with the cold but at the same time too tired to do anything about it. Oh well, such is the life of a budget traveller (not that I'd change any of it!).
The journey continued to Port Augusta on the south coast where we had a shopping, eating and refueling break. From there we continued northeast towards the Flinders Ranges national park stopping occasionally to view rock paintings and other interesting stuff. As we had some spare time we decided to take a detour from Hawker and drive through the Moralana Scenic Drive dirt road which cuts straight through the Flinders. Although there were a few water crossings, Winona went through them effortlessly. There were a lot of lizards lounging in the middle of the road and we constantly had to avoid driving over them. We named the beasts chocolate bar lizards or "patukkalisko" in Finnish as they mostly looked like one and were as active. As one approached the lizard the most they did was stare at you like they thought you were an idiot. Later we found out the "correct" name for the lazy lizards is shingleback or pinecone lizard. The troubling part about the day's drive was that Winona started to cough and lose power every time power was needed climbing steep hills or accelerating.
At the end of the day we found ourselves camping at Wilpena Pound Resort in the Flinders Ranges national park. Asmu ate some old pizza he had saved previously and which was much sought after amongst the fake-kookaburras (a name we conjured up for the pizza-loving australian magpie). No, we're not ornithologists.
