Gecko Trek - Adelaide to Alice Springs
DAY 4 - 8/3/3
Sandra and I were on washing up duty this morning (local rules are... You sit in the front, you do the washing up) I had my red hoody sweater on (hood up) over my fly net, it was nice not to hear the flies buzzing round my ears for a change. I almost didn't hear Sandra getting more frustrated and violent with the cutlery. Although they can only see about 9cm, flies seem to have a way of knowing when your hands are busy and they have a clear run at whatever part of your face they fancy dining on...
Sandra bought a fly-net later that day.
Once we'd rolled the swags and put them on top of the truck, (a task which Gordon and I excelled at by the end of the tour) we went went off to visit Lake Eyre, a salt lake which was more of an inland sea after the recent rain.
It must suck to be Belgian in Australia. Whenever anything is big, it seems to be the size of Belgium. Lake Eyre, -Its the size of Belgium. That farm on day 3? Yep. Belgium.
Again a few of us sat with Reg for the journey to the lake. At one point he stopped and took us to a sacred place no tour group usually goes to. It was a huge ancient circular stone table (probably older than Christianity and most of our Western history) where aboriginal elders would conduct 'man's business' while feasting on a Kangaroo. Shortly after, Reg left us to go back to Maree.
ACTION SHOT!!! WOOO-HOO!! LETS OFF ROAD!!!
The Oodnadatta Track, just one of the many long, straight, unsurfaced roads we took.
This is William Creek. Im gonna give up calling these places 'towns.' William Creek is this place, 'William Creek Hotel'. We stopped off here for an ice cream.
On the other side of the road, as if to fill up the space, is this grave yard of old bits of rockets. They were fired from the Woomera Rocket range about 200 miles to the West and landed in the desert. The big bit is the first stage from a British 'Black Arrow R3' launch vehicle which launched the 'Prospero' satellite in 1971. Oh and there's a signpost in case you're lost.
This is a the 'Dingo proof fence.' After the 'Rabbit Proof Fence' was built in 1901 to straddle Australia and keep the plague of rabbits introduced here away from the farmland (it failed). The great and the good decided to build a dog proof fence from Queensland, almost to Western Australia to keep Dingos away from cattle and sheep (obviously it failed again.) Though it may not have the grandeur of the Great Wall of China, it is still a huge feat of engineering. In total, the fence is 20 times the size of Belgium. (OK I made that last bit up but its probably true...)
We got to Coober Pedy late that afternoon. Coober Pedy is an interesting place which, to be honest I was a bit let down by. 'See the underground Church!', 'Visit the Opal Mines!', 'Sleep Underground like the locals!' all the adverts said. Maybe I was expecting too much. Actually I know I was, I was expecting Tatooine, with Jawa's chasing Droids and a bar fight with a lightsaber.
Ah well. Coober Pedy is a mining town in the middle of the desert. It's claim to fame is that the area is rich in Opals and dumb tourists expecting Mos Eisley. There are some 'underground' dwellings (including a church) but I think most locals just stick with Air-Con.
'Stay In An Underground Hostel!' is a bit misleading, but then 'Stay In A Hostel Carved Out Of A Man-Made Hill Created Through Mining!' doesn't sound as good.
I am being unnecessarily harsh on this place (I always seem to be when things promise Star Wars and deliver less...) It was pretty novel to stay in a place carved into a hill.
Also, as if to keep people like me happy, they had a real life spaceship out the front as well as various film props dotted all over the city. 'Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome' was filmed nearby, as was 'Red Planet', 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' (we crossed Priscilla Creek on the way here) and also the film from which this spaceship comes from. The first person who guesses what film it's from will get a free mystery Aussie prize.
That evening we went to 'The Breakaways,' the multi-coloured mountains just outside town, to watch the sunset. They're called the breakaways because they used to be part of the mountain range further South but due to something dudey blah-de-blah (Geology) they broke away and are now here.
I just wanted to see if this'd work. (spot the fly)
Sunset in the desert
Cool Colours
Back at our secret underground lair (what?!? -Im getting in to it...) We'd all had dinner and got down to our nightly alcohol intake when the first of our old friends, The Stink Beetles appeared. Running under the tables and skittering off wherever they fancied. We remembered they like the light, so we turned off all the lights except for those by us in the kitchen, at the mouth of the cave.
There started off just being a few of them, but as the night wore on, more came. Having not been back to my 'room' (a 4 person hole with a curtain and bunk beds) I was still in bare feet. Whenever they tried to climb up my legs I could just shake them off, no problem, but I didn't think when I uncrossed my outstretched legs and squished one of them under my bare heel...
The other thing they'd do is crawl up the wall (towards the light) cross the alcove, then realise walking on the ceiling is really tough. Again I had to cover up my wine and keep checking my T-Shirt...
This is a pretty dark photo but its worth turning up your screen brightness to see how many there were...
DAY 5 - 9/3/3
Bad idea being on the top bunk. About 5.30AM the smell woke me up and I hoped I hadn't crushed one in my sleep. As I was laying there, I knew it was gonna hit my face. I knew it was dark and even if I had my eyes open I couldn't see it coming WHACK SCUTTLE STINK right across my face. I didn't have my torch on me so I was reduced to finding the little bastard with my Casio watch light. I managed to get rid of him, then THUD, STINK. Another one just where I was about to put my head. I saw him this time and sent him flying. Bastard little things.
Apart from that I had a good nights sleep, ready for the long day ahead. The heavy rains had caused some creeks to flood and made for some generally bad driving conditions for a 4WD and a trailer. We had a discussion the previous night about whether to try and reach the Dalhousie Springs or not. They're natural hot springs and we could've camped right by them, but the road had been closed by the authorities and there were no signs of it opening anytime soon. If we couldn't get in, then it was a long drive back out of there to get to somewhere to sleep that night. We decided to head off that way just incase. If we could get in, we would.
We stopped at Oodnadatta, a little town with a 'Pink' Roadhouse. Im not sure if theres a story behind it or if it just is. Places like this really do feel like they're miles from anywhere, all the newspapers on sale were at least 4 days old and everyone who walked in seemed to know everyone else, including Nick.
We listened to them all talk about the road to the springs and how the last person who tried it got stuck for 13 hours. It was decided it was worth the trek here, but to go further would've been stupid. We set up lunch on the tables outside.
Lunch was interesting the further into the desert we went. The further we went, the more flies there were. We all took care not to butter any into our sandwiches (though it did happen on occasion) and I personally found, the best way to eat, was to make a whole sandwich quickly, then hold it inside the net to eat it...
On our way back to the Stuart Highway (a sealed tarmac road... Weird...) we stopped off at the Goroka Creek Billabong for a bit of a soaking.
We were apparently very lucky as this is usually a dry creek.
About 7pm we crossed in the Northern Territory. We gained another hour (though we were still 30 mins out from the rest of the world, a timezone I still dont understand?!?) Then about 9pm we finally got to Mulga Park, where we stayed for the evening. It'd been a long day's driving and by about 6pm, we'ed all gone a bit stir crazy (hopefully Sam has the photos - I'll put up the link in when I get it).
We sat under the stars talking about the constellations, which you can see most of in the darkness of the outback :) The moon was rising late each night (about 4am) so we had an unimpeded view of the heavens. That night, I saw the best shooting star I've ever seen. It trailed across the sky for about 12 seconds -7 seconds brightly, before it broke up into 2 smaller pieces for another 4 or 5 seconds.
We were in a place called 'Mulga Park' (a park about the size of Belgium) I'd heard of a Mulga snake (venomous) and asked Nick if we should worry at all. He did his exasperated 'Stupid Town-y' face and started questioning why all tourists seem to think they'll come to Australia and get caught by a croc, bitten by a spider then turned into a snack by a snake? He said about how has hasn't seen a snake for years, crocs dont come this far in and you've got more to worry about in the cities when it comes to spiders. Even then most things will scuttle off before you get anywhere close.
I must admit, I had to believe him. Since I've been in the Outback I've seen nothing to even remotely trouble me. I've been hunting firewood in my flip-flops and the only thing that's bitten me is a mosquito.
I slept happy that night knowing the outback isn't the scary place its made out to be. The worst thing nature can do to you out here annoy you. Whether its thousands of flies, stinky beetles or mozzies round water,
It ain't as bad as everyone makes out...