HFDU - Outback Special

Originally sent: June 7, 2004

Hello everyone! Well, what can I say about my adventures in the Outback - they were amazing! Made even better by the fact that I got to experience everything with B. And this trip definitely warranted it's own HFDU email - the Outback Special. For those of you who are new to these emails, "HFDU" stands for "Hello From Down Under". It was the title of my very first email that I sent out once I got to Australia, and the name just stuck. So, what did B and I get up to in Australia's "Red Center" (it really does look like Mars!)?

Our first night was spent in a little country town, but it was literally a sleeping spot for us as we had no time to wander about the next day since we had to get to moving. We had thousands of kilometres to cover and lots to see along the way. The first point of interest was when we stopped in a town called Bordertown (near the border of Victoria and South Australia) and snuck a peek at the white kangaroos that the town is famous for. They are literally albino kangaroos, and they were very intrigued by us as they immediately hopped over to the fence to see who we were and what we were doing there. Photos of these little guys will be posted on the website. They really were a sight to see!

We continued along our way to Adelaide (capital of South Australia - about 1 million people) and made it there by mid-afternoon. Keep in mind that we're still not in the Outback yet, just doing lots of driving to get there! We spent the afternoon & evening in Adelaide just wandering around, and enjoying our last night in a big city before heading to no man's land.

The next morning we took a drive through the Barossa Valley, which is my favorite wine-producing region in Australia. It's the home of many famous wineries, including Jacob's Creek, which I think exports to the U.S. so some of you may have heard of it or drank some Jacob's Creek wine at some point. Once we left the Barossa Valley, we started heading up north and getting more into the country of Australia. One of the first things that B told me about on the highway was Australia's notorious "road trains". Imagine a normal 18-wheeler in America......then add on up to four more semi-trailers! You're literally driving down the highway and a truck passes you with up to five semi-trailers. They are huge, and are everywhere, although the largest that B and I saw was four trailers. They do this because driving around Australia, particularly in the Outback, is long and arduous, so they try to be efficient and have one driver take along as much as possible. I've also taken a photo of a road train alert sign so be looking for that on the website as well.

One of the things that we specifically planned on not doing during this trip was having to drive through the Outback after the sun went down. This is because the kangaroos (who are nocturnal) tend to bounce right in front of your car, and if you're traveling along at more than 110 kph (~68 mph) it's hard to do much about it when you can't see them. Also, there are heaps of sheep and cattle in the Outback that are not fenced in and tend to wander alongside or on the road. But, because of many reasons, we ended up driving a few hours in the dark on our third day. We managed to make it safely to Coober Pedy without hitting anything, but we did see a few roos and sheep on the way up. Unfortunately, a couple staying at our hotel were not so fortunate and hit a roo on the way up, so they were busy trying to figure out what to do with their car!

Coober Pedy is an opal mining town with lots and lots of red dirt. That's about all you see, because a lot of the establishments (hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, etc.) are underground. This is because of the immense heat in Coober Pedy in the summer. It regularly rises over 40 degrees C (104+ degrees F) and there are hardly any trees to provide protection. B & I actually stayed in an underground hotel that was an old opal mine. It was very cool and photos are on the website, along with photos of the town. Coober Pedy produces more opal than any other place in the world, and along with two other towns, supplies about 85% of the world's opal supply, so you can imagine that opals run in these people's blood. We took a tour of an old mine, and it was very interesting. The miner's used to live underground as well, and we took a tour through an old underground home. All in all, Coober Pedy was a very interesting and very barren part of the South Australian Outback.

There are a few more photos related to Coober Pedy up on the website:
- a sign seen a long the highway that warns people about the opal mine shafts that are hidden. In other words, pay attention to where you are going or you are likely to fall down into one!
- the endless piles of "ant hills" that actually represent the exploratory digs for opal. When driving along the highway, you can literally see these as far as your eyes can see!
- a photo of me next to the "dog fence", which is the longest man-made fence in the world! It spans 5,300 kilometres (nearly 3,400 miles) across the Australian Outback to separate the native dingo from many of the sheep. The plan was to build the dog fence and then kill all of the dingos on one side so that there would be one side that was safe for the sheep. Obviously it is not perfect, but the theory has worked well.

We continued travelling up the highway, getting deeper and deeper into the Outback, and the dirt was become more and more red the further north that we got. I wasn't fully aware of the true meaning of "the Red Center" but I certainly am now! We would drive along and see dirt so fine, and so red in color, that it looked like paprika. Literally. I had to get out of the car at one point and just sift it through my hands. Once we crossed the border between South Australia and the Northern Territory, a big smile grew on B's face and it didn't take long for me to remember why.........there is no speed limit on the highway in the Northern Territory. And boy did we take advantage of it - in a completely safe manner of course - when I climbed into the back seat with the camera ready to snap a shot of the car doing 230 kph (143 mph), I was sure to hold on tight and not distract B as he was maneuvering the car past shocked bystanders on the side of the road! It was exhilarating to say the least! And we were again made aware of the danger of driving at night by the high number of dead cows and kangaroos that were on the side of the road the next day!

Needless to say, we made it to Ayers Rock Resort quicker than planned, and had some time to settle in and relax a bit before the evening got started. For those of you who don't know what Ayers Rock is, it's the largest monolith (single rock) on the world. It's as well known as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to Australians, and lies almost smack dab in the middle of Australia. It's believed that 2/3rds of the rock is actually underground. It holds spiritual significance to the Aboriginal people and stands out like a glowing giant in the middle of the otherwise flat Australian Outback. Because of the popularity of this rock, an entire community was created about 25 kilometres away that houses about four hotels, a petrol station, grocery store, post office, campground, and other bare necessities. It's formed in one big loop and reminds me of a large "big brother" type complex. It's the only settlement for hundreds of kilometres, in fact, there is a sign that states that there is no fuel for 815 kilometres after this community - and you guessed it - I have a photo of that sign as well :-)

Anyway, B and I really enjoyed this little community, known as Yulara, and the place that we stayed was enjoyable as well. It was called the Outback Pioneer Resort and definitely complemented the feel that you really were in the Outback! I think our favorite part of this hotel was the Outback Pioneer BBQ, which offered lots of different raw meat that you selected and then cooked yourself on their large grills. Just to give you an idea of the food that they offered.......kangaroo skewers, emu steaks, lamb shanks, crocodile skewers, and the normal beef burgers, steaks and chicken. We had a great time grilling our meat, drinking beer and enjoying the Outback!

The next day we actually were making the quick trip to see Ayers Rock (known as Uluru to the Aboriginals) and the nearby Olgas (another rock formation known as Kata Tjuta to the Aboriginals). Considering that this area gets about 30 days of rain per year, we were very unfortunate that two of them were while we were there. That meant was that we didn't get to climb the rock or see the magnificent changes of color of the rock at sunset, but we enjoyed it anyway. As part of learning about the history of the rock, the Aboriginals have set up a Cultural Community Center that was very interesting and informative. B & I took a stroll through there and learned about how the Aboriginal people used to live. We also drove to the Olgas and went for a quick hike through a gorge. There are several beautiful photos of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, but the photos can't really capture the splendor of either of these rocks!

After our two nights and days at Yulara, we headed further north to Alice Springs (known as "the Alice" to the locals), which is the only decent size city in the Northern Territory Outback. It was refreshing to be back in a city and get to walk around shops and eat at cafes. Before we left Melbourne, I had read about this restaurant in Alice called Bojangles. This place is an Outback saloon of sorts and B & I decided to go there, if for nothing else, but for the extensive and interesting menu. Just in short, these are the things that we actually ate while at Bojangles:
kangaroo, camel, emu, crocodile, bush pig sausage, wallaby sausage, buffalo sausage, and razor back ribs - can you believe it? I was so shocked that I actually tried everything that I had to call my dad that night and let him know! Only in Australia........

Bojangles also had a live radio station and live web cast on while we were there, and B & I were lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be interviewed live while we were there. After B told the host that I was from Texas, I was asked if I could do a little boot scootin' to the Shania Twain song that we had requested, but I somehow got out of it, thank goodness!

The next day we tried to fit as many things as possible - trips to the nearby Simpsons Gap and Standley's Chasm (where I hand-fed a rock wallaby, after eating one the night before!), a trip through the National Transportation Museum (where B got to read all about the road trains) and a camel ride (after eating one of those the night before too!). We did an hour long sunset camel ride through the Outback. My camel was an ex-racing camel affectionately known as Greyhound. B's camel BJ, was....well..... just HUGE! When you look at the photos of us with the camels, his looks nearly twice the size of mine. We really enjoyed the ride and got to see some wild kangaroos hopping along side us for a bit. Alice Springs was a nice end to the holiday part of our trip - now we just had about 2400 kilometres to drive before we got home!

The next two days were straight driving. We clocked up about 1,250 kilometres (~777 miles) the first day, which was about 14 hours, taking into account the stops for fuel and food, and a bit of sightseeing. It's a good thing that I like B so much :-) The next day was much of the same, but at least we knew it was the home stretch.

Overall, our 8 days in the Outback were spectacular! So many people only want to go to exotic, tropical places for holiday, but there is no feeling like driving for hours through the Outback without passing another car, or looking out into the horizon, and seeing nothing but red dirt. It was amazing for us to be together in one of the most inhospitable environments in the world. You hear about the Outback in movies and books, Survivor did a show there, the Crocodile Hunter makes a living there, and we were standing in the middle of it! If anyone gets a chance to take this trip, I highly encourage it. You can fly to Ayers Rock from any major Australian city for about $600 round-trip, or do what we did and experience the great Australian Outback in a car. Just make sure that it's not going to break down in you! :-)

I hope this email finds you all well and that it was at least somewhat interesting to read about our Outback adventures. My family is over in less than two weeks now, so the next email will probably be discussing our adventures at the Great Barrier Reef. Until then, take care and let me know how you are doing! I always enjoy hearing from everyone.