Part III – From Adelaide to Coober Pedy
Wildlife Park
Do you know how a koala feels like when touching him? We both didn’t but were really interested in, so I asked our Australian friends about that. Unfortunately they also didn’t know but recommended one of those wildlife parks around. So at next morning we start our trip to the outback with a short detour to the Gorge Wildlife Park next to Adelaide and we are just on time for the “koala holding”. They use the feeding time for the koalas to give tourists the chance to hold and cuddle them. When I get the koala in my arm I am surprised how heavy he was – 10 kg. And males can also get as much as 12 kg. Just from eating plenty of eucalyptus, which he does all the time while holding. To give you the answer of the question – they feel very fluffy, similar to a cat. In the park we could also feed the wallabies and kangaroos and pet them. In general I would say the wallabies were the fluffiest, then the koalas and then the kangaroos.
After our detour to the park, which was definitely worth it, we fill our fridge one more time to be ready for our trip to the outback. Before it gets dark we do a three-hour drive up to Port Germein where we spend the night at the campsite. As the reception desks mostly just open until 6 pm we were right in time – 3 minutes to 6 pm – to check in. While seeing the sunset we walked on one of the longest piers, but just made it to about half of the length. Then it was already really dark, so we decided to return to our camper, having dinner and a good night.
Port Germein to Coober Pedy
It’s already the next morning and today we have the first day of driving through the real outback in front of us. We aim to reach Coober Pedy, the opal town, in the afternoon. Several times on our tour I was a bit worried if everything goes alright, if our car will make it and what would happen if our Chippy breaks down? But none of it happened and at about 5 pm few little hills are to be seen in front of us. We check into Riba’s Underground Camping, but of course with our camper we don’t sleep underground. We use the rest of the afternoon for a power nap, dinner and then we join the opal mining tour, where Rick told us about all the mining, how it works, rights and rules and so on. It was very interesting and if you are in a city like that a must-see.
Part IV – Coober Pedy to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
On our second day of driving we have about 800 km to go, so we start in the early morning to make sure we can make it before it is getting dark. In Australia it is not recommended to drive after dusk as kangaroos believe the streets are theirs for the night. Thus we unfortunately have seen more dead kangaroos than living ones. Driving through plenty of nothing of the Australian outback we even start to recognize when the colour of the street changes, when the vegetation is a bit bigger or smaller and when the street is wider than before. It feels really funny to see things that way, but your mind is not very busy and so you even start to see differences which you otherwise never would see. That’s a very exciting experience and after long eight hours of driving – with a roadhouse with petrol station and a small restaurant every 200 km – we finally reach Yulara and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. About 80 km before reaching our destination for today, we could already see Uluru, from the Mount Connor Lookout. At least that was, what we thought. But both of us are a bit wondering, on all those postcards we have seen of Uluru before, he looked different. Well, maybe it is just the other side…
We start driving again and during that I check the Lonely Planet for a photo of the red rock. As I finally find one I start laughing. We absolutely misinterpreted that sign with the Mount Connor Lookout. It was definitely not Uluru which we have seen but Mount Connor instead, so it was the lookout to see Mount Connor. After reaching the National Park and paying our fee of 25 $ each (valid for the next three days) we enter the park and explore the big red rock for the first time. It is bigger than expected and plenty of tourists are around (okay, at least that’s what we expected). There is plenty of nothing around and just that one big rock. But also plenty of flies are around which are thirsty. Very thirsty. So they do not just fly around but also crawl into your ears, your nose and even under your sunglasses to get a droplet of liquid from your eyes. That is really annoying and the point why we spend some money on buying fly nets in the evening. Orange ones. We look stupid, but at least they do their job and keep the flies away, a must have in the outback.
After a beautiful sunset with many colour changes from brown to glowing orange into deep red and finally purple we leave the park. The next parking area where you are allowed to stay overnight is about 25 km far from the park entrance. It’s already dark when we reach the place for our night. Tomorrow we start with the sunset…
One day at Uluru and Kata Tjuta
Unfortunately it is always the same: “Life is what happens while you are busy making plans”. So it was me waking up in the morning, seeing some sunlight and turning in the bed, sleeping. But then my mind recognized what was just happening. Isn’t it a bit too bright for that time of the day? What time is it? Damned, my mobile died over the night, the battery lost about 35 % and was now critical low due to the coldness and when I switched it on again it was already 6 am. F***. Sunrise is about 6.35 am, but it will take us about 50 min to get to the sunrise viewing point. Anyway, we try it and arrive there when everyone is leaving, but we had a nice sunrise while driving. So at least we have a nice breakfast in front of Uluru and spend the morning hours exploring some walking paths there. Later on the day we drive to the other end of the park and visit the, for us much more impressive, Olgas, also known as Kata Tjuta which means “many heads”. It is not as touristic here and we spend about three hours for the awesome Valley of the Winds Tour. Good luck for us that the path was open, as they close it due to the weather, mainly due to extreme heat. The path goes through some of the rocks and in the end makes a bow around to give you some impressions of the area around. Also here, as on many other places in Australia, there are signs which remind you to drink a lot, one litre of water per hour! If you go walking or even hiking you always should carry at least three litres of water per person. Dehydration seems to be a big problem as people underestimate the heat of the day. For the evening we stay at the Kata Tjuta, where the sunset is much more beautiful – or maybe it is just that fewer people are around.
Good bye Uluru, hello Watarrka National Park
The next morning went better for us. For safety reasons we both set our alarm clock and so we make it right on time to the sunrise viewing point at Uluru. It is very nice to see but still not as impressive as the sunset. It lasts a bit longer than the sunset and it’s more playing with the shadows than the changing of the colours. After having breakfast it is time for us to leave the national park, and we are heading to Kings Canyon. At about lunchtime we reach the parking place and ignoring all recommendations. We start our rim walk during the heat of noon and after three hours we are done. After plenty of walks and lots of travelling I can say for sure that is one of the most impressive walks in the world and we are having a great time here.
But now it is time to drive back into a bit more civilization. We are on our way to Alice Springs, just about 320 km from Kings Canyon, or almost 500 km for us, as we don’t have a 4WD.
Road signs show us that we are coming closer and closer to Alice Springs, and as soon as we reached it my mind is completely overstimulated. Too many people, too many road signs, all those traffic lights and houses. But also the feeling of luck is rushing through me – we made it: all the way from Melbourne to the red centre, without any problems, seeing plenty of nothing, dead kangaroos, a few road houses and having many impressive days in the Outback.
Part V – West MacDonnell Ranges
After some short shopping and fuelling up the car we leave Alice Springs for one last trip to the West MacDonnell Ranges, or as Australians call them – the West Macs. We stop at several points, starting with the very impressive Simpsons Gap: big rocks and a small gap with a waterhole. If you stay calm and have good luck you can even see rock wallabies here, but we didn’t. Our next stop is the Elly Greek Waterhole, where an about 2 km gravel road leads us to. The waterhole is bigger than the one at Simpsons Gap and there are also some people swimming in the cold water. There is also a camping area for about 5 $ each, but we decide to skip that one and drive a few km back to the free parking place with 24 hours staying option. The evening was really nice and we meet two backpacking girls there, with whom we talk a lot about Australia, earning money here, hiring cars, and travelling in general. The next morning leads us to Ormiston Gorge where we do our last walking tour through the outback. Again we take the longest walking path, which leads us about 3 to 4 hours through amazing landscapes with nice viewpoints. At the end we reach – again – a waterhole and finally arrive back at our car, which brings us back to Alice Springs. It was a nice last walking tour, even if it was not as impressive as the valley of the winds or the rim walk at Kings Canyon. Now it’s time to say goodbye, goodbye to our beloved Chippy which brought us about 4500 km through an amazing country. Thanks mate!
Alice Springs
We have another two days left in the outback, which we use to stay in Alice Springs before having our flight to the east coast. We are strolling through the small city, visit the Royal Flying Doctors, the old telegraph station and Anzac Hill – with a beautiful view over the city, especially a nice place for enjoying another Australian sunset. On our last day we hire two bicycles and visit Alice Springs Desert Park, which is a kind of zoo or theme park with typical animals which can be seen in the desert. There are also a few shows available which you can visit during the day and the flight show was definitely really worth to see. In another show a woman shows how aboriginal people survive in the outback, how they live and what of the few plants is eatable. Back at our hostel it’s time to say good-bye to Alice Springs, to the wonderful Outback and our nice time here. Now we are heading over to Cairns. For now we are travelling almost three weeks and have another three weeks at the east coast left.
foreign destinations 