Friday 26 April 2013

Road Trip to The Red Centre

By Sanne

We decided to do a little road trip while we were in Darwin. Neither of us had ever been to the Centre of Australia before so we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do it now, especially since I was turning 30 and had no intentions of spending the day in boring Darwin.
As we didn't want to push our car to do the approx. 5000km round trip, we decided to hire a camper van instead. We chose the cheapest one we could find but in the end they decided to upgrade us to a better and more expensive one for free so that worked out well.

So we embarked on a two-week road trip and we had a great time! Although it was hot, it felt cooler than Darwin because it wasn't humid. The distances out here are great and there's a lot of nothing in between towns but when you get to places like Devil's Marbles and Uluru it's definitely worth the drive. Yes, they are just rocks...but pretty rocks! Although I had seen Uluru depicted many, many times it is still something else to see it with your own eyes. We shared a bottle of wine while watching the sun set on the rock, and it was really nice.

There's something about the dessert...dry, mysterious and vast. I don't think this will be the last time we'll venture in to the out-outback...

Karlu Karlu - Devil's Marbels






Our dingo friend


Our camp spot

Ellery Big Hole, West MacDonnell Ranges



Love the red dirt roads

A great little camp spot...

...overlooking this massive meteor crater 5 km in diameter and 145 million years old

Our pimpin' new ride!


And finally we made it to the big rock - Uluru

It is possible to climb the rock but the Aboriginal landowners prefer you don't, 
besides it is REALLY steep and lots of people have plummeted to their death over the years.

Kata Tjuta - The Olgas

The Olgas seen from across the dessert

Uluru by sunset


Kings Canyon 






Alice Springs

Where we were staying in Alice Springs, rock wallabies descend from the ranges 
every night at sunset and we got to feed them. Cute yes, but their claws are nasty!
This one had a little joey in the pouch.

Just hanging dude...

In a neat little row, waiting for FOOD!

And streeeetch!

Little fella

Wycliffe Well has the highest UFO sightings in Australia. 
It also has one of the largest range of beers. I wonder if there is a connection there...?

Special...

Mataranka Thermal Springs