Australia 2011 - Days 13 and 14 - Kakadu National Park and Eastward

Sept. 28th

We woke up early and hit the road for Kakadu National Park, stopping only for gas and to mail postcards from the town of Humpty Do. We stopped at the entrance sign to the park, which was the source of a great photo op, and also the location of a geocache. Unfortunately, we were primarily thwarted by a busload of tourists who took their time milling around, taking pictures and wasting time. Eventually they were off, and we got our own photo op and scored that geocache which was home to a travel bug in the form of a lure that we took with us.

It was hotter than heck, and extremely humid in the buildup to the rainy season in the Top End. Tempers flare easily here, and I can see why. Luckily we were too happy to be here to get uptight. Our first stop was a hike around some floodplains that were quite dry, but afforded views of an incredible amount of waterfowl, both from a lookout and from afar. We hoped to glimpse a croc, but alas, it was not to be. The hike was at least a two mile loop, and I was getting overheated, but it was still very interesting. We also did some hikes out to see indigenous rock art, and I saw many examples that I’d seen depicted elsewhere, which was neat. Some of them had interpretations, as well. My favorite hike, however, was a short one along a boardwalk. I really hoped to see some herps, but nothing was spotted, only fish, probably barramundi. Lots of birds too, of course. Boat tours would set off from this location, too, and we considered doing one, but it would have taken too long and we’d have needed to stay another day in the area. The tour guaranteed many croc sightings, but we’d have to pass, and that was disappointing. We did find our way over to the nearby food court and were excited to see we could get a platter of foods including barramundi pies, kangaroo skewers, water buffalo sausage, and crocodile spring rolls!! We were so excited to finally try croc, but unfortunately it was so sparse in those spring rolls that you really couldn’t tell if it was any good or not. Oh well. The water buffalo was a neat surprise, and pretty good, too. So that was something!

It was getting late at this point, so we made our way out of the park, stopping at every waterway with hopes of spying a croc, but to no avail. We did spook a mob of wallabies and saw some impressive storklike birds, and most excitingly several water buffalo who thundered into the bush upon our arrival, but no crockers. We continued down the road, met up with the Stuart Highway, and wound up spending the night at the same pull off at which we’d slept two nights prior. It was a bit colder, but still quite tolerable.

Sept. 29th

We woke up quite early and headed south along the Stuart Highway. On our way north, we’d wanted to stop at a historic and famous site known as Daly Waters Pub, but we’d passed by too late at night. This time, we hoped we’d be able to do breakfast there. On our way, we passed by the old WWII hangars that made Daly Waters so famous. Australia’s first international airport, during the war, Daly Waters served the military. Prior to that, this area, known for its springs, was a center for cattlemen, and the pub sprang up to cater to them. Much to our delight, it was open, and quite worth the visit. Trying to describe Daly Waters is an exercise in insanity. It’s a rough-seeming outback pub full of memorabilia from the multitudes of people who have visited throughout the decades. Hanging from the walls and ceiling are all numbers of things from banknotes to bras, postcards to panties, license plates, stubby holders (Aussies know what I mean) (Ok, beer cozies…), and things ranging from mundane to ridiculous. It’s enough to stun your senses. We sidled up to the bar and the friendly tender, who was a young guy from the UK, cheerfully took our order. Nate had the pancakes and I had some lovely omelets. While we were sitting down to eat and enjoying the décor, we were greeted by a gigantic double decker luxury charter bus that pulled up packed to the gills with teenagers (possibly 20-somethings). An incomprehensible whirlwind of noise and commotion converged on this formerly quiet outback pub, and Nate and I sped up our meal. Despite the sudden turmoil, we made sure to explore the location, both inside and out, before hitting the pavement and getting the heck out of the insanity.

We pressed onward this day, which would prove to be one of our most strenuous and least interesting of the trip. Eventually we bid adieu to the Stuart Highway at Three Ways, and continued east down the Barkly Highway. We only really stopped for gas and in search of any treats we could find to help break up the drive. Believe me, there is a whole lot of nothing along the Barkly Highway – it’s probably one of the most desolate stretches in Australia, easily beating out the Stuart Highway. Not much in the way of scenery, only flat scrublands and grazing, we hardly saw any wildlife. Interestingly, Barkly is designated Rte. 66 in Australia, and it bears no resemblance to ours at all save for the fact that it is a two lane highway. There is certainly no kitsch or whimsy to go along with the name, not that there should be. Still, I found that quite interesting.

Onward we pressed, heading east for a long, long time. We did stop at the border of Northern Territory and Queensland for a photo op, just glad to be out of the NT for our rental car’s sake. Continuing on, we eventually stopped in the town of Mt. Isa for dinner. It was getting dark, and we were extremely tired, so we weren’t in any mood to search around for restaurants, not that any would have been open if we had. We gave in and had dinner at the local McDonalds, which was absolutely hopping. Oh my gosh, it was the best meal ever. No joke. I ordered a Happy Meal and had to go back when they forgot my pickles and toy (um, hello?! Haha!), but once everything was set, it was soooo good. I even got my first Australian soda from a fountain. It was even better because of the cane sugar they use instead of corn syrup. The fries are cooked differently, too, and don’t leave you feeling greasy and sick. It just seemed healthier. And the new McCafe trend going on here in the states was taken to a whole new level with a separate area at which to order that genre of foodstuffs. I really don’t like McD’s, but this hit the spot like no other. It, too, was a bit of a madhouse, being full of teeny-boppers, but such is life!

Now Mt. Isa is an interesting town, and I really wish that we’d have gotten there earlier to truly see some of it. It is said that you’re not truly an Australian until you’ve visited this place, so I guess that makes us more Aussie than a lot of the population! Mining is its main purpose, producing lead, silver, copper and zinc. It’s also considered the largest city in the world (in jurisdiction, anyway) stretching around 188 km across. Despite being in the most barren desert, it has an artificial lake rife with water activities like fishing and boating. It is also noted for its historic WWII underground hospital. Still, it was dark, and we couldn’t tarry. Being frugal (not to mention probably being there past 8pm when the motel lobbies close), we decided to sleep in the car again. We continued down the road, in immense darkness, often between narrow rock outcroppings, and found ourselves dodging errant wallabies on the road. Unnerved, we stopped at the first pullout we could find and made camp for the night. There were a large number of other people, mostly with huge RVs keeping us company, so it was probably pretty safe, although Mt. Isa seemed rather rough. I slept ok until about 4am when I got ridiculously cold. I tried to sleep huddled up like a mouse, to no avail. Huddled in my coat, my breath warmed me only superficially. Then there were the people walking around with flashlights outside the car. That was distracting, and I just couldn’t get back to sleep. Nate luckily woke up before too long, and I convinced him to hit the road, if for no other reason than to run the heater a little bit. While car camping is frugal, it’s not always the most comfortable.

Australia 2011 - Days 11 and 12: Northern Stuart Hwy., Litchfield National Park, and Darwin

Sept. 26th

We slept in a little (by our standards, which was probably 7 or 8), and hit the road northward again, bidding adieu to the lovely outback town of Alice Springs. Our first stop along this stretch of the Stuart Hwy was the Tropic of Capricorn marker. I’d already seen the one in Western Australia, but I thought it would be good to get another photo op here as well. We also stopped at a few historic telegraph stations along the way. None of these are manned, yet they remain generally unvandalized and well kept. The US could take note. We stopped for gas several times, including once at a station considered to be the Roswell of Australia. Apparently people staying there have UFO sightings almost every night of the year. Had we known about it, we would have tried to spend a night there, but it wasn’t in the cards.

About 70 miles up the road from there was Devils Marbles, one of Australia’s most noted geological oddities. Consisting of many huge boulders, many of which seem precariously placed, it is a rock climbers playground. It’s also the source of another number of indigenous stories, one of which involved the existence of little “people” who live there and try to steal children to this very day, along with first-hand accounts from witnesses. Creepy!! You almost have to wonder if it has anything to do with all those UFO sightings down the road…

We had a fun time climbing on the boulders and seeing the sights. As always, I wish we’d have had more time, but we had to continue up the road. Starving for our one meal of the day, we were happy to reach Tennant Creek and hoped to find something good. Our pickings were slim, and many old restaurants were out of business. Even in the towns, you’re not likely to run across a McDonalds or anything similar. We did happen to find a pizza joint that was situated in the bus terminal. It was unclear where the counter was, and the owner was rather rude to us for not being psychic about such things, but we were too hungry to argue or go elsewhere. We ordered the seafood pizza which, upon receipt, was hideous. Imagine a slimy pile of tentacles and disembodied mollusk bits. It was ok, though bland. We were just glad to get some nourishment and head up the road again.

As we booked it north, it eventually started to get dark. I found a gas station on our atlas that looked promising, but upon reaching it, it was no longer, so we decided we should probably call it a night before we ran out of gas. We were also getting unnerved by the sudden increase in wildlife. During daylight hours, we spotted a dingo, which was exciting, but now we were dealing with wallabies and wallaroos that would appear out of nowhere with a death wish. We also saw a number of odd rocklike things that appeared to be alive in the middle of the road. Though we never got a good look, we think they were probably cane toads, one of Australia’s most destructive invasive species. These huge toads from central and South America compete with native animals their size, eat small marsupials, and poison anything that tries to eat them. And they breed unceasingly. I still would have liked to have seen one up close.

You could see the flora was changing – trees were getting bigger and humidity was increasing as we headed north. We found a nice pull off just south of Katherine and enjoyed our first relatively warm night in the car. It was nice not to spend the dark hours shivering uncontrollably.

Sept. 27th

We woke up around 7am to a steamy and humid vehicle. After throwing ourselves together, we continued northward, stopping for a tour of a cave along the way. Situated at a state park, this cave tour offered a pleasant respite from the heat above. Led by an indigenous guide, he showed us the marvels of the cave (which, honestly, all seem to blend together at this point). We did see a dead bat and a dead snake, both inside the cave, so that was exciting.

From there, we got gas in the rough outback town of Katherine and we also saw a mine overlook and a railway museum from afar. Then we hauled butt out to Litchfield National Park, the second most visited national park in the Darwin region. More of a playground for locals, Litchfield is popular for its many freshwater pools and swimming holes. It gets unbearably hot in Australia’s top end that the residents need some relief, and these swimming areas are perfect for that. Interestingly, most of Litchfield’s pools are also home to freshwater crocodiles, or freshies. Not nearly as aggressive or big as salties, locals gladly swim with these large reptiles. Sadly, we didn’t spy any, but I would have loved to have seen one. I’m not sure that I would have braved swimming with them, but that really didn’t deter most people.

We were more in the market for wildlife and scenery than swimming, however, so we took this opportunity to take a number of hikes including one spectacular one along the top of a waterfall. On this hike, we glimpsed a wild Nephila spider, or golden orb weaver. This was really exciting for me because we used to have them in our lab. The females are enormous, and can spin webs up to three feet in diameter. The one we saw was old and missing several legs, but it was exciting nonetheless. We also saw some emerald green ants going about their lives. Just fascinating! We also saw an array of birds including our first black cockatoos. We weren’t sure that’s actually what we were observing, so we spent a good deal of time trying to get a good view of one. Turns out, we were right!!

One of the biggest draws for us at Litchfield, however, was the enormous termite mounds. Two main species of termite call Litchfield home. The cathedral termites form mounds up to 30 feet tall, and quite large around in order to insulate the colony against the extreme heat. The magnetic termites also have mounds reaching 30 feet, but their mounds are rather narrow and oriented in a north/south direction to minimize the amount of surface area receiving direct sunlight throughout the day. They both tend to form mounds in floodplains, so the height can be attributed to a need to stay above the waterline once the floods settle in. Feeding on grasses and dead plant material, the floodplains are the ideal habitat for these termites. In some areas, hundreds of mounds can be witnessed at once, forming a veritable termite metropolis. It really is a fascinating thing to see.

The other neat thing about Litchfield is that, despite being a land of water, it’s also a land of fire. We arrived in the top end at the buildup to the wet season. Most of the land was as dry as it was going to get, and the humidity was on the rise. During this time, land managers conduct controlled burns, many of which we drove past on our route. Interestingly, indigenous peoples have been using a similar technique called fire stick farming for centuries. They noticed that, when an area is burned, new plant and animal life will converge on an area, providing more food choices. The ideas were noted and a fire management plan was set into effect.

Once we’d had our fill of Litchfield, we headed up to Darwin. The most affordable place we could find was an ensuite room at the YWCA. Accomdations were minimal, but we were glad to have a bathroom such as it was. We found a roach, which was unpleasant, and the curtains left little to the imagination, but we made do. Then we wandered around town in search of a place that served crocodile. It was next to impossible despite claims that this was the place to find it. We wandered around downtown, such as it was, scoping out the night life. The one hotel that the British camel riders recommended and that we’d considered but ultimately turned down because it was in too congested an area, seemed to have been experiencing an incident of some sort as it had fire trucks outside and people evacuating. There really wasn’t too much to see that couldn’t be seen in other cities. It wasn’t very large, and I’d have liked to have seen more, but neither of us is a fan of driving around large towns, so we toured on foot. It was getting pretty late, and since we couldn’t find a place that served croc, we opted for the Indian restaurant suggested by the British ladies. We were pleasantly surprised by the food, which heavily featured beet root (at least Nathan’s did). They also served island drinks, so I was in my glory. Once done, we hit the sidewalks again in search of croc, to no avail. We wound up getting post cards and just calling it a night.

Australia 2011 Day 10 - Alice Springs

Sept. 25th

We enjoyed our stay at the previous night's motel so much that I inquired at checkout about staying another night, but unfortunately they were all booked. Nate did some research however, and discovered a place on the outskirts of town that was known for rock wallaby sightings, so he made a reservation there instead. I called about camel rides, and got us a reservation, much to my excitement. We spent the morning walking around downtown Alice Springs, such as it is, and getting stocked up on toiletries, postcards, and groceries. I actually felt really comfortable in this town, and it felt like the truest Australia we’d yet to see. It was the Australia romantics imagine – rough and tumble, yet with a heart of gold. The people here were the friendliest, too. I was trying to locate a restaurant and asked our grocery clerk, and a patron nearby overheard and jumped in with the location. So nice! While shopping, I wound up finding what I thought was a great deal on shower puffs, since mine had just fallen apart. It was something like $2 for 6. Well, it turned out that each one only lasted about two showers, but they’d at least get me through the trip because of all the car sleeping we’d be doing. Makes you wonder about pride in ones product, but oh well.

As we wandered around, we decided to climb Anzac Hill, the most prominent geological feature right in the heart of downtown. It had a war memorial on top, as well as a geocache, which we found. We enjoyed the views from up there, surveying the small city below as well as the mesas and desert all around. There had been many fires in the area, so it was all a bit hazy, but still quite scenic. Despite the topography, the entire region is considered one of the most geologically stable areas in the world with no volcanoes and very few earthquakes. It is an interesting region. Once we’d had our fill of town, we realized it was almost time to ride our camels. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I’d always wanted to do this. I’d been on an elephant as a kid at Busch Gardens, and ridden countless horses, but never a camel. Nate had ridden a camel at the zoo before, and isn’t much for horseback riding, so he was less enthused about this entire thing, and I have to admit I was getting a bit nervous myself upon approach. I always thought camels were a bit ornery and unpredictable, but it turns out that this wasn’t the case, at least with the ones at Pyndon.

We pulled up to the lot and waited for another group to join us before heading over. It was a very informal set-up, with the owner collecting money for the tours and the guide standing by, chit chatting with everyone. I really liked the guide a lot. He was the most stereotypical Aussie we’d met the entire trip. A lifelong naturalist, he spent his youth chasing down lizards and catching bugs and birdwatching. Everything I’d done as a kid. Through the years, he studied wildlife more and had a lot of experience working with camels along the way. He’d answer a number of our questions and was really a wealth of information. Quite the character indeed!

Once everyone had arrived, we headed over to the fenceline where all the camels were tethered. Inside the paddock were a mother and young baby camel, who was frolicking around adorably, so we got to observe that as we waited. Our guide gave us our camel first, and it turned out that we would be in the lead. We were given Trillian, one of the oldest camels around, and most mellow it would seem. The feat of having to climb way up into the saddle (each saddle is custom-made to fit each individual’s hump structure) was made easier by the camels, who would merely lay down until you were ready to go. In fact, it seemed that whenever they weren’t out walking, they were lying down.

Nate and I both climbed into the saddle, me in the front, and him in the back, and we were instructed to lean backward and forward as she laboriously hefted herself up. It was pretty intense, but fun too. We waited atop Trillian as the other members of our trip mounted and rose into the air. It was exciting up so high, much higher than any horse. Yet it felt comfortable. We wound up chatting with the two older ladies who were right behind us. They were doing a whistle stop tour of Australia, visiting from England, and were just lovely to speak with. They even gave us some advice on where to eat while in Darwin, which we wound up following later.

Once everyone was up and ready to go, our guide came and took Trillian’s lead. We walked out into the desert, and he told us all about what wildlife sign to try to see. He pointed out tracks from kangaroo tails, identified strange birds, and, most excitingly, pulled a Crocodile Hunter on us when he spotted an enormous yellow bearded dragon. He dropped Trillian’s reins and grabbed the creature, getting bitten up and bloody in the process. Undeterred, he proudly took the lizard up to each of us for an excellent photo op. Very cool.

He also told us a lot about the camels we were riding, their origins (many of which were wild captured in the outback), and how they differ in training from horses. It sounds like, instead of reining and kicking, camels respond to verbal cues to turn. Unlike horses who respond to rewards like treats and petting, a camel’s reward is to be ignored by people. They don’t like attention. It sounds like camels are more predictable and generally safer to deal with than horses, too, if you know enough about their habits. They don’t spook and are more even tempered in many cases. Nate actually really enjoyed the camels and told me that he’d rather have a camel than the horse I’ve been pulling for all these years. Maybe I’ll take him up on it!

As for the Australian wild camels, there are nearly 1 million camels, mostly dromedaries, roaming the outback. These are the descendants of camels that were brought over before transportation technology advanced across the continent. It turns out, they’re very well adapted to the Australian outback and can eat about 80 percent of the plants available. While they’re an invasive species, so far they haven’t done too much damage, only really being a problem in densities higher than two per square km. Unfortunately, they tend to double in population every 9 years, so that may change. Interestingly, Australia is the only place in the world that you can observe dromedary camels exhibiting truly wild behavior, so that is exciting. I would have loved to have seen some wild ones, but that wasn’t in the cards on this trip.

Once we made it back to the ranch, we asked about interesting sites to see while in The Alice. He suggested we not miss Bojangles, a touristy pub of sorts, so we took note and headed back into town.

Our first order of business was to get some food. We’d heard that Red Ochre restaurant was known for its distinctly Australian cuisine, so that’s what we did. We shared the combo platter which included a lamb wrap, kangaroo steak, and camel sausage. We really did feel bad eating camel after having just fallen in love with them, but it did taste good. The kangaroo was tough and unimpressive. I don’t really remember the lamb, but I think it was alright. We weren’t that thrilled with anything we got there, though. After our meal, we headed to Bojangles, which was all done up like a wild west saloon and had crocodile skins and other outback kitsch hanging all over the place. Nate got a Northern Territory beer of some sort, and I had my beloved Lemon Ruski. It was an interesting and seemingly rough (though whimsical) place. Definitely worth a stop when in The Alice.

After this, we checked in at the Heavitree Gap Resort. Despite the name, it was actually a lower end motel attached to a campground. We did get an ensuite room, though, and it was mere feet away from where the rock wallabies would appear around dusk. Once signed in, we hit the road again for more adventuring.

We drove west of town and stopped at West MacDonnell National Park for some scenic hiking along a creek bed. We tried to spot some rock wallabies here, to no avail, but the scenery made up for it. We also stopped a little further up, and back at a memorial on our way back, but nothing too exciting. We had to hurry back to make it in time for the dusk wallaby feedings.

Once back at the motel, we bought a bag of wallaby chow from the front desk and headed over to the rocky hillside where people had already converged. On top of that, there were around 30 rock wallabies already milling around the area, some of which were eating wallaby chow right out of peoples’ hands. There was also a really little joey who looked like it was searching for its mom. It kept trying to crawl into a lady’s purse. I just wanted to scoop it up and take it home with me. We had the most incredible time coaxing these wild creatures to us and marveling at them up close as they ate. Some were really greedy and would hold your hand with their paws so you wouldn’t leave until they had their fill. Their fur was a bit coarse, and most of them had ticks, which was a bit unpleasant, but I doubt they transferred to humans. I’m not sure I agree with letting people interact this closely with wildlife, but it doesn’t seem to cause any problems, and hopefully it won’t in the future. Hopefully close interactions will help to educate people and make them more aware and concerned about wildlife around them. As a species, the black footed rock wallaby is a vulnerable species due to predation by feral cats and foxes, but in this region, their numbers seem to be doing well.

From there, Nate and I found the on-site laundry facility, and I filled out postcards while he did the laundry. Then we enjoyed a beer at the on-site pub before visiting with the wallabies one more time and then calling it a night.

Australia 2011 - Day 9: Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Red Center

Sept. 24th

One of the things we’d read about Uluru was that you just had to witness it at sunrise. Apparently the color scheme on the rock was vastly different from the reds one is accustomed to during the day. Well, when I woke up, it was still incredibly dark out and I almost didn’t think to look at the clock. Luckily, I did, and I realized we’d better leave NOW if we were to have any chance of seeing this spectacle. We had another 180 km to go, and it wasn’t long before morning’s first glow was seen on the horizon. “C’mon! C’mon!” I kept thinking. Surely we can beat the sun! But it wasn’t looking very promising. Despite this, it turned out to be a cloudy day, and that worked in our favor. Every time the sun threatened to peak above the clouds, they would stay just one step ahead. By the time we were able to catch a glimpse of Uluru, the sun was just starting to show itself, and I was able to get some pictures of a very purple Ayers Rock. Talk about luck! Once we got through the gate, we found parking and decided to walk around the entire Rock.

Surrounded by flatland for as far as the eye can see, Uluru is an enormous beacon in the desert. One of the most recognizable symbols of Australia, Uluru stands 1,142 feet high, though it is thought that much more of it lies beneath the surface than is currently visible. It’s comprised of mostly sandstone and forms one continuous rock. Despite its monolithic appearance, when walking around Uluru, you can see many amazing faces and facets otherwise overlooked. We walked around the entire thing, taking in its many features as we went. We were not able to photograph a number of aspects out of respect for the sacredness of many areas. Many of the sacred stories about which this place has meaning are not shared with outsiders, and often they’re not even shared across gender lines. Although frowned upon for religious reasons, you can still climb to the top of Uluru on a very steep and occasionally deadly trail, but that was closed due to wind while we were there. Still, out of respect, it’s probably better we didn’t do it. They say the view from the top isn’t even that spectacular, when compared to the views from alongside it.

Our hike around the base took about two hours, and we admired all the faces of Uluru. We even came across a lovely spring that looked incredibly refreshing and was the reason for the peopling of the area. Uluru remains one of the only permanent sources of water in the region, thus bringing wildlife and man from far and wide. We also saw some rock art depicting ceremonies and animals and Dreamtime stories. Some natural formations looked like alien craft, and those were particularly sacred. It was a somber and fascinating place.

After our hike, we headed over to the visitor center which discussed a lot about the cultures of the region and talked about things like bush tucker (what the Aboriginal peoples ate before the arrival of colonists, the most interesting of which were witchety grubs and honey ants) and ceremonies. One thing that was not really covered was the geological aspect of the area, which we found odd since it was so unusual. Still, it was an interesting place.

Seventeen miles up the road was another unusual feature in the midst of a flat desert: Kata Tjuta. Also known as the Olgas, Kata Tjuta means “many heads” in the indigenous language. It is a series of 36 rocky domes, of similar composition to Uluru, and is also the source of many Dreamtime stories and a permanent source of water. It’s almost more interesting than Uluru. We were pressed for time, so we only did one of the two hikes up to the rocks and took in its beauty from a lookout point several miles away.

On our way out of the area, we made sure to stop for two geocaches in the red center. One was in the middle of the visitor’s village and the other was on an outlying road. Then we booked it back toward the Stuart Highway and headed back toward the north. It’s always so interesting to drive along an area during the daylight hours after only having seen it in the dark. It seemed like we should have been surrounded by thick forests, but in reality, it was just the typical, scrubby outback we’d been seeing before. We’d see an occasional kangaroo, but nothing of too much note. Lots of hitchhikers, too, but we avoided those as well.

On our stretch north along the Stuart Highway, we decided to make one quick stop at the Henbury Meteor Crater site. Our car was pretty tiny, so I was a bit nervous about the 10 k drive on gravel out to the site. We were surrounded by cattle the entire way, and the last thing I wanted was to break down and have to walk through unpredictable bovines to get back to the main road. Luckily, we made it out there ok and finally parked the car. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a man who had a camper who told us the crater was about a half km out there. For some reason he made me uneasy, so I insisted we make this quick. We jogged out to the site, looked around, and came right back. It really didn’t look like much, but it was interesting to think about what the impact was like nonetheless. We ran back to the car, the man nowhere to be seen, and booked it out of there. We had a reservation at a motel in Alice Springs, and we had to really move if we wanted to get there by 8, when the lobby would close.

After a few hours of driving, we wound up in the outback town of Alice Springs. It seemed a little rough around the edges, but it also had a certain comfortable feeling about it, too. We navigated our way to the motel, but despite having about a half hour to spare, the gate to the lot was closed and locked. I called the front desk (thank goodness for that cell phone!) and they seemed confused as to why it would be shut already. They let us in, and we checked in. It was run by a nice retired couple from New Zealand (why they’d relocate from such a lush, lovely place to the wild west of Australia is a good question), and they answered some questions we had. For instance, they had a few strange gourd/melon things on their desk that we’d seen growing all along the Stuart Hwy. We thought they were probably poisonous, as the ones out in our Southwest are, but it turns out they were just melons and perfectly edible. Who knew? Upon asking about camel rides, they handed us a brochure on Pyndon Camel Tracks, a local camel outfitter whom I would call in the morning. We also asked about places to eat, and they warned us about wandering around at night. I guess it does get pretty rough after hours, hence the locked gate, but I also think a lot of the warnings may have stemmed from a rather racist attitude a lot of Australians harbor. Still, we weren’t going to push our luck, and we drove quickly down to the Red Rooster, an Aussie chain restaurant I’d remembered from my study abroad days, and got some chicken-based meals to go. We got back to our ensuite room and enjoyed the comforts that we weren’t afforded the last two nights sleeping in the car. It was just lovely!