The Red Centre

While we were camping in Kakadu, some interesting political developments were taking place. John Howard declared the Aboriginal lands in the Northern Territories in a State of Emergency. He used his federal powers to take back control of the Aboriginal lands - that would be like George Bush taking back all the Indian Reservations I suppose. Some Aboriginal communities have been in a state of crises with domestic violence and child abuse fueled by drug and alcohol. John Howard had decided to seize control of the areas and declare all the communities would no longer be able to sell alcohol or pornography. Also, military troops would be sent in to keep public order and ensure the safety and welfare of the children. Some communities had already been "dry", but that seemed to drive people into nearby towns looking for alcohol. This had led to problems in towns like Darwin and especially in Alice Springs.

On the second leg of our trip, we headed to "The Red Centre." Alice Springs is the jumping off point for all the tourists in the area to see Ayers Rock - now known as Uluru. I wasn't expecting much of Alice Springs after reading Bill Bryson's book and the things I had read in the papers. It was uncomfortable to see a lot of Aboriginal people milling about on the street in front of the liquor store and also to see some of the make-shift camps people have set up around the town. However, there were a lot of interesting things to do and see in Alice and I would have liked to stay longer. We did manage to see the Desert Museum, but we could have spent a lot more time there. The highlight for Elliott would have been the camel ride. Camels were brought over to Australia to help build the railroads thru the desert. If we go again in future, I would like to stop by the Telegraph Museum.

But the real highlights of the trip was the scenery. We loaded back into the car for the 4 hour drive from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon. Well, there wasn't much scenery on the trip out - miles and miles of nothing in the desert. Red dirt and the occasional camel carcass. We did a walk around the rim of Kings Canyon and the scenery was fantastic. The rocks have been whittled away to make honeycomb sort of shapes. I hope I have a picture that will show it in detail.

Next day- off to see the Olgas. The Olgas are slightly smaller rock formations just past Ayers Rock. There is a spectacular walk thru the rocks called The Valley of the Winds. Sadly there was only one toilet place within 30 miles of this beautiful scenery. This brings me to the interesting topic of toilets. I have a new appreciation of water conservation here in Brisbane as we have reached level 6 water restrictions. (Blog to follow I'm sure...) But up in the Northern Territory there were a lot of waterless toilets - a sort of pit toilet. Oh my goodness. Some were so foul, there was just no going in. And I won't go into too much detail, just remember, if you ever see the truck at the rest stop cleaning out the toilets....DON'T STOP! But the Olgas were fantastic.

Last day was spent at Uluru, the world's largest monolith. The sandstone monolith is 348 metres high. It is a spectacular sight jutting out of the landscape. We did walk 10 km all the way around it, as well as going up it. You can go up the rock by holding on to a chain that is about knee height. It was a little scary and I did chicken out after a while. People do fall off and die each year or some people have a heart attack while puffing their way up. For Elliott and Tim, this was probably the best day of the entire trip.

We enjoyed the whole experience very, very much. We are so glad Linda, Michael and Amanda could come. To have someone to share the experience with made it so much more fun. We are hoping to do the Kimberly Region and the Bungle Bungles next year. We are now looking for another set of intrepid travellers to join us as our friends don't see themselves getting back to Australia as soon as next year. Any takers?

Camping in the Northern Territory

We have just returned from our first camping trip ever. Our friends Linda, Michael and Amanda arrived from St. Louis and we all headed up to Darwin to see the sights. At first glance, Darwin doesn't have too much to offer. We spent a hot dusty afternoon walking around and saw some unused oil storage tanks from WWII. Not such a great start to our trip, but luckily it was all uphill from there!

We were picked up from our hotel by Alan from Sacred Safaries. He was to be our chauffeur, cook and guide for the next five days. It seems a bit extravagent to hire a guide, but with two families travelling together it seemed to be a good idea. The driving distances in the NT are rather long and sometimes the roads are impassable because of floods. We don't own any camping gear so we would have had to rent two camper vans to fit us all in. It just seemed more relaxing to all go in one car and have a guide. We were all really glad we did have Alan - he knows alot about the area and took us to some wonderful places we wouldn't have found on our own.

On our first day, we went to Lichfield National Park. We visited several waterfall sights and did some swimming. We walked thru monsoon vineforest to the top of Wangi Falls. It was all very exciting as the places were just being opened up for the first time of the season. This is the dry season now. The flooding that occurs in the wet season brings the saltwater crocodiles into many areas around the Northern Territory; they have even been seen on the Esplanade in Darwin itself! So as the water recededes in the dry season, the saltwater crocs have to be trapped and moved so tourists like us don't meet an untimely end. Over a period of a few weeks, the rangers scout around and round up any stray "salties." I didn't exactly feel reassured...they leave the freshwater crocs around because those are relatively harmless.

On our second day, we went to Katherine Gorge and took out some canoes. It was a little bit cool and a little rainy which is unheard of in the dry season. We were scheduled for 4 hours on the canoe. I was quite worried when our guide left to set up our camp - How was I to survive 4 hours in a canoe? Surely, I would be ready to go in an hour at most! We paddled down the river trying to spot the freshwater crocs without much luck. We stopped at the end of the first gorge and saw some aboriginal rock art. They have no idea how old some of the art is - it is estimated to be between 10,000 and 30,000 years old in some places. By the time we paddled back up the river, we had seen a few small crocs and a little turtle. I was amazed to see we had spent 4 hours on the river.

The next several days were spent in Kakadu National Park. This was an amazing place. It is now owned by Aboriginal people, who lease it back to the government. The park is run with joint management between a council and the government. I don't want to get to much like we did this, then that, then that - but this could be one of the best trips we've ever had. A sunrise cruise on the Yellow River had the most spectacular bird life (and crocs!). A walk up to Barramundi Falls led us to the most amazing rock pool for a swim. Ubirr Rock had impressive Aboriginal rock art and fantasic views. We all really enjoyed the trip and we all agree having Alan to organize us all was the best thing we had done!

For those of you who ever get to Darwin, skip the Oil Tanks and head for the Museum of Darwin. That proved to be a pleasant way to spend the morning. We got to see the now stuffed "Sweetheart" the Saltie that terrorized Darwin for many years. Also, there is a room where you can hear the sounds of Cyclone Tracy that flattened Darwin in 1972. The next part of our trip was going to be the 6 of us on our own. We were headed to Alice Springs to discover the Red Centre! But, this will have to be another blog as I'm running out of steam.