27-May through 2-June: Alice to Adelaide

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Set out early from Alice towards Kings Canyon. We got there a bit after lunch and climbed up to the top of the canyon and did the rim walk...it was a pretty cool canyon. After the hike we had to drive a few more hours to get to Yulara which is the town near Uluru. We camped there and got rained on in our swags.



The next morning we were up early to see the sun rise on Uluru but it was cloudy and rainy so there wasn't much of a sunrise. They say less than 1% of visitors see Uluru in the rain so we're actually special. Did the hike around the base...its a huge rock! The base walk is about 10kms and it was cool to see it from a bunch of different angles. Then we went a bit down the road to Kata Tjuta which is one of the other rock formations and did a little hike. By this time the rain had picked up and was being wind blown into us so that it was actually painful...not the kind of weather you expect in the desert! After lunch the rain continued to dump and we eventually started to head back to the rock when there were a couple breaks in the sky. As we were just getting there a rainbow started to form and it ended up being perhaps the most intense rainbow I've ever seen directly over Uluru. It was amazing and lasted for about three minutes...our timing was incredibly lucky. Uluru also had hundreds of waterfalls cascading down from all the rainfall which was really cool...at this point I did feel special. For sunset the clouds broke up enough that we got some great red light on the rock. After diner and a campfire, another attempt at sleeping outside in a swag was thwarted in the middle of the night by rain.



On Friday it was quite a long drive from Yulara across the NT/South Australia border through the desert and not a whole lot else. We ended up in the later afternoon in Coober Pedy which is the opal mining capital of the world...more than 80% of the world's opals come from there. In the middle of the outback there it gets hot in the summer, like 120s and 130s at times so over half of the town is actually underground to keep cool. Coober Pedy translates from the local aboriginal language to something like "white man's hole in the ground." We stayed underground at this place which was quite a novelty. Had dinner and went to an underground pub for a few beers.



Saturday we spent a bit of the morning in Coober Pedy digging for opals. I came up empty but did find a piece of glass with some interesting color on it that I for a few brief moments thought was a black opal that would make me rich. Back on the road driving through a lot of empty terrain. Went by a former joint US/UK missile testing ground...I can see why they placed it there. Ended up in a little place a the foot of the Flinders mountain range called Quorn for the night.



Sunday was a pretty full day of hiking in the Flinders range which was great. In the morning we took a short hike to the Yourambulla caves which has a bunch of aboriginal artwork on the walls. After lunch we took a tough hike up a mountain called Ohlssen Bagge which is part of the Wilpena Pound. The Wilpena Pound is an area of land that is basically circled by mountain peaks all the way around. The views were great and of course the mountains are somewhat vertically challenged by the world's standards but they have a very craggy rugged look which fit perfectly with the bitter wind and cold we had at the top.



On Monday we took a morning hike in the Flinders to the top of a place called The Dutchman's Stern named because I guess it looks like the stern of a ship. Nice views from the top. After lunch we hit the road towards Adelaide taking the scenic way through the Clare Valley which is one of SA's big wine areas. It was a pretty drive and didn't take all that long to get into Adelaide. We went out for dinner and some drinks to celebrate the end of the trip.



Tuesday I spent the morning walking around Adelaide...its a very clean city with lots of gardens and parks. It has a bit of a sleepy feel to it also which I like. After seeing what I could in a few hours I got myself to the airport and onto my flight back to Sydney. 40 days blows by pretty quickly...it was a great trip!!

22-May through 26-May: Darwin to Alice Springs

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Set off early on Friday morning for a three day drive along the Stuart Highway to get to Alice Springs in the middle of the desert. The drive goes along some of the most isolated, desolate road in Australia. First day we went to Katherine and went to Nitmiluk National Park in the afternoon. Took a boat across a croc infested river and then had a great hike into a falls and swimming hole. Even though it was like the kajillionth time I've done that in the last month, it doesn't get old! The water was frigid which felt great. Back at camp we were able to have a campfire and unlike at Kakadu it got nice and cold so I had a good night's sleep.



The next day started with a trip into a beautiful hot springs near Mataranka. The setting was spectacular and we had a really nice swim. It was very chilly out still early in the morning so the hot water was perfect. After the springs we had a long day of driving through not a lot. We stopped at a few roadhouses including a stop at Daly Waters which has a great little pub that claims it is Australia's most remote pub. Back into a swag sleeping under the starts at night which was great.


The next day was another long one of driving to get to Alice Springs. We had a stop at a place called the Devil's Marbles which is a huge area of spherical rocks that are perched atop one another in weird ways thanks to millions of year of erosion of the ground around them. We crossed the unofficial line that divides to the north the area that has wet and dry seasons and to the south is desert...and then a bit later we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn which is the official divider of the tropics and the semi-arid desert. Finally got into Alice in the evening and enjoyed a bit of the desert nightlife.



Two days "off" in Alice were relaxing and relatively uneventful. One highlight was I rented a bike and road around town a bit. Went to the "School of the Air" which is where "school" for hundreds of Aussies living in the most remote parts of the country happens. Its basically a TV studio and using webcams the teacher has class with his/her students who are scattered about. Pretty cool.

19-May through 21-May: Kakadu National Park

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Early start to head out of Darwin for a three day trip focused on Kakadu National Park. The first day we spent in the other parks in the area: Litchfield and Mary River. First stop in Litchfield National Park was Florence Falls where we had a nice swim. From there we went on to Buley Rock Holes which is basically a cascade of swimming holes. Another refreshing swim (we've left the hot/dry area for the hot/humid area so nice cold water to swim in is greatly appreciated). For the afternoon we drove to Mary River National Park where we took a boat trip on the Mary River. The trip was awesome...we saw a bunch of salties and freshies (crocs)...some really big ones too a 12 foot saltie! There was also abundant exotic birdlife and the river was quite swampy which when put all together kind of made me feel like I was taking a boat cruise through Jurassic Park. In the evening the dark gray clouds and humidity won out and it poured down rain.



The next morning we headed into Kakadu park where we did a hike up a rock hill that led to 360 degree views of the Kakadu flood plains which were pretty cool. Its the beginning of dry season (despite the previous night's rain) now so there was some water out there, but drying quickly. The main draw of the hike was the aboriginal rock art all over the place, some of which was thousands of years old! In the afternoon we went to Jim Jim Falls. Getting there involves driving down a narrow, rutted sand/dirt track that is semi-flooded out. It was quite a ride. Then a 1km scramble over some huge boulders to the beach where you swim through some rocks to get to the plunge pool. The water was freezing...we swam right under the falls which was coming down from 200 meters above. It was pretty cool!



The following morning we went to Gunlom falls which was a steep hike up to the top where there were swimming holes with amazing views out to the falls and the valley beyond. We swam in each of the pools which eventually led to a little waterfall up above. The next stop was a secluded little pool and falls which I don't think has a name. The water was again freezing which was again extremely refreshing. Then a long drive back into Darwin and a few beers to say goodbye to some new friends who were all parting ways.

7-May through 18-May: Broome to Darwin

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The remaining time in Broome was great...had a few good meals at restaurants, spent some time at Cable Beach including a glorious sunset and went through a few museums dealing with Broome's pearling past. On Saturday morning we were up early to start the next leg of our tour to Darwin. This leg consisted of 8 nights of camping along an extremely isolated rugged dirt road: the Gibb River Road. We drove a few hours the first day to get out of the metropolis of Broome and made our first stop at Tunnel Creek National Park where we hiked through and along a creek that runs about a kilometer through a cave. The cave was used back in the day by an aboriginal outlaw to elude police for years (until his own gang eventually turned him in). Then on to Windjana Gorge for our first night's camp. We took a dusk/sunset hike into the gorge and saw a bunch of freshwater crocs and once it got dark you could shine your light over the river and see a bunch of glowing red croc eyes staring back at you. The gorge was a nice spot with huge rock walls towering into the sky on either side...pretty cool.



Up with the sun the next morning to continue along the Gibb River road. We had quite a number of river crossings today although none more than about two or so feet in depth. The major stop was to Bell's Gorge where we took a little hike to a waterfall with a swimming hole below. Had a nice refreshing swim (it was very hot out but the water was very "fresh" as they say). On for the night to Manning Gorge where we camped next to a huge Boab tree (an awesome type of tree found primarily in Madagascar as well as this part of Oz and a few other parts of Africa). I'll mention that camp life on this trip was awesome...delicious food and we were able to have campfires. Everyone sleeps in swags under the stars which is fantastic...I'm going to look into buying my own swag to take back to the US.



Up a bit before the sun today to get an early start on our hike through the Manning Gorge to Manning Falls. It starts with swimming across the Manning River to get to the trail...they had styrofoam boxes you could put your pack in to push across and keep dry (I left my big camera behind...didn't want to risk it!) Manning Falls was lovely, had a great swim and then warmed back up in the sun before hiking back out to the campground. Back on the road continuing east (I use the term road somewhat loosely. Its mostly red dirt, sometimes mixed with sand, there are constant stream/river crossings and there are basically no services...we've passed two very lonely roadhouses in about 500km and have passed maybe 7 or 8 cars per day on average). Quick stop at Galvan's Gorge for another swim under a waterfall...quite picturesque! Then found a nice spot to bush camp off the road near a creek. Had a great fire and some good food as always!



Tuesday was our last big driving day on the Gibb River Road. We drove through beautiful country where a large part of the movie "Australia" was filmed and had our biggest river crossing...the Pentecost River was probably 300 or 400 meters across. Our major stop for the day was Emma Gorge which was a smallish hike into a gorge with a beautiful waterfall and pool to swim in. (swimming beneath beautiful waterfalls doesn't get tiring!) The water was freezing which was pretty nice on a hot day. Afterwards we went to our stop for the night which was on a huge million acre cattle station. We had a makeshift baseball game in our campsite with a tennis ball, a shovel as the bat and chairs as bases. As the only American I tried to teach everyone the rules which went okay but we ignored some of the more "complex" ones (tagging up on a fly ball was wayyy too complicated so we ignored that one). The campground on the station had a bar which had a band playing that night so after dinner we spent the evening having some beers and dancing to some great Aussie bush music under the stars. It was a pretty great scene!


The next morning we started off by going to the Zebedee Hot Springs in the morning which was gorgeous. The day ended up being one of mechanical issues...we had to make a small detour into town to get a flat tire fixed and then we drove on to Purnululu National Park which is more commonly known as the Bungle Bungles. The road in is quite rough, the 50kms takes 3 hours on average. About halfway through the clutch on our truck gave out. So we camped off the road in what was really a gorgeous spot.

We woke up to a great sunrise and unfortunately the clutch didn't fix itself overnight but Luke, our awesome guide, somehow figured out how to shift without it, basically just muscling it into gear. First stop was to two little hikes: Piccaninny Gorge and Cathedral Gorge. The main feature is the huge "beehive" dome rock formations...these are sandstone that have been carved by wind and water over the years. Before lunch I did a helicopter flight over the Bungles which was awesome...really cool to get an aerial perspective on the park. In the afternoon we did another hike into Echidna Chasm which was incredible! It was this really narrow gorge cut through the rock...my photos don't do it justice unfortunately. Back to camp for dinner but not fire unfortunately because of a fire ban in the park. Big fan of the Bungle Bungles!



The following day was a long day of driving back up to Kununurra. A few of us had a nice run around the Lily Creek Lagoon at sunset...really pretty colors! The next morning we went to Lake Argyle which is the largest man made lake in Australia and had a boat ride around. We saw crocs (there are evidently 25,000 in the lake! yikes!), rock wallabies, lots of huge fish and some birds. In the afternoon we crossed over from Western Australia into the Northern Territory...the NT only instituted speed limits like 3 years ago and they're way higher than anywhere else in Australia. I also unfortunately found out that its the only place in Australia where you can still smoke in bars...gross. Had a nice sunset hike in Gregory National Park and then on to camp along the Victoria River for the night.



Our last day of the trip we woke up well before the sun which was painful. We stopped in Katharine National Park at Edith Falls for the usual: hike in to a waterfall with a swimming hole below. As the drive continued north to Darwin you could notice the increased humidity. In Darwin we all met up at the Mindel markets which they have twice per week along the beach with all sorts of food, art, music and fireworks. Then we went out to celebrate our last night and the end of the trip!

A link to a few more photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqmhkbd.1z0vj761&x=0&y=-9f3dyg&localeid=en_US