The Red Centre - Alice Springs

On our first morning in Alice Springs we had a relaxing buffet breakfast, then quickly went to pick up some groceries to make lunch before we met Leanna and Daniel for our local tour of the area at 11am.  It was great to see Leanna (friend from my last synchro team) for the second time while in Australia.

Our first stop of the day was Ellery Creek Big Hole, about an hour west of Alice in the Macdonnell mountain ranges.  I had been really excited about going for a swim in the outback, until we got in the water and it was freezing cold!  Despite that I was determined, so off we went through the cliffs for a beautiful private swim.  Our timing was perfect because once we got out the sky got cloudy and about 15 people showed up.

My first international double ballet leg!  Thanks Leanna!

Next we went to Simpson Gap, which looked similar to Ellery Creek Big Hole but had almost no water.

In the later afternoon we walked up a hill in Alice near Daniel's house in search of kangaroos.  We had no luck with that which was unusual, but the views were beautiful.

Our last stop was to feed the rock wallabies at 5pm.  They were wild, but quite tame and knew they would always get fed at sunset so they come off the rocks and entertain the tourists.  Quite a few of them had joeys in their pouches, so we got a few glimpses of the babies.

Not feeling too adventurous, we decided to eat another amazing dinner at the hotel because we knew it would be great.  Not surprisingly we had another early night, but our excuse was that Daniel had planned a sunrise hike for us.

The alarm went off at 5am the next morning and we headed down for breakfast at 5:30.  Unfortunately we misread the time and it didn't open until 6am.  We also forgot our key in our room, and the hike got cancelled because of lightning.  We waited for breakfast to open since we were already awake, then went back to bed until 10am in hopes that a second try at the day would be more successful.

Ryan and I did some window shopping at the Todd Street pedestrian mall, and I think now we both have a better understanding and appreciation for some aboriginal art.  I always love going to art galleries with Ryan because it's fun to compare our favourite pieces and see what we both like.  After a much needed cup of tea on a rainy day we met Leanna and Daniel for lunch at a nice pub (that Daniel used to work at...oops).

Our indoor entertainment for the afternoon was the little local reptile museum, which was far cooler than we expected it to be.  We got up close to a massive crocodile, then we got kisses from a blue-tongued skink, hugs from a python, and had fun with Jessie the bearded dragon.

It really did give kisses, but no matter how hard I tried, or how many kisses it gave Ryan, I couldn't get the blue tongue in the picture.

We said goodbye to Leanna (who is visiting us in Adelaide again this week) and went back to the hotel for another glorious dinner.  We knew the menu back to front by this time, so this was the ultimate meal.  In yet another food coma we watched a documentary about the Big Bang theory, and they kept showing clips from the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, which was both neat and nostalgic.

For our last buffet breakfast I was really looking forward to indulging in some pancakes, but as it turned out they only had those on weekends.  I was very disappointed and had to gorge on chocolate mini muffins instead.  What a shame!

Before our flight we went back to the Todd Street mall to see some stores that were closed the day before, then headed to the airport to conclude a wonderful trip to Australia's Red Centre.

The Red Centre - King's Canyon

The next day started out slow, but somehow we packed up and made it to the Mount Connor lookout for breakfast a little over an hour away.  The lookout was okay, but the exciting thing was the dead camel we saw on the side of the road.  We were on the lookout for a wild one and keeping our fingers crossed that it would be alive.

After a long, uneventful drive, we managed to arrive at King's Canyon at 11am, which was unfortunately the peak heat of the day.  You'd think that we would have figured that out by now, but because of that we were unable to do the supposedly spectacular, 4 hour ridge walk around the canyon.  It was 34 degrees when we arrived, and we definitely didn't have enough water carrying capacity to do a 4 hour hike in the heat.  Instead, we did the lazy tourist thing and booked a hotel room at the resort and I bird watched from our balcony.  Later on we went to the campground to cook our salmon and veggies as a delicious "pre-dinner".

We were still hungry after that and could hardly wait until 6:00 when the restaurant opened for dinner.  As usual, we were the first and only ones in the restaurant for awhile.  Our second dinner was delicious (scallop salad and stuffed chicken), and we were early to bed again.  One night of partying was enough for us!

After a good night seep we packed up so we could do our short King's Creek walk by 9am.  Unfortunately, when we got to the trail I realized I had left my camera at the restaurant the night before, so we had to go back to get it.  UsuallyI would think that all signs were telling us not to do the hike, but we saw a wild dingo on our way to the hike for the third time so it was all worth it!

The hike was really easy and we regretted not planning more time for the longer ridge walk, but oh well.  The gorge was beautiful and I spent some time looking for a Mistletoe Bird without any luck.

I was "off the path" trying to track down the bird in the mistletoe bush with no luck.  Ryan found it hilarious.

Back in the car, we started our very long drive to Alice Springs.  The only noteworthy part of the drive was the wild camel we saw!  You've gotta love that just like in Canada the best way to spot wildlife is by watching for other cars that are pulled over on the side of the road!

We didn't get to Alice until 4pm that afternoon, so we checked right into our beautiful hotel, The Chiefly Alice Springs Resort.  It was actually a lot like a resort with palm trees and a pool with a (closed) swim-up bar, so we decided to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Man, it was good!  We had braised rabbit and pumpkin (aka, squash) soup for our appetizers, then a kangaroo fillet and macadamia crusted barramundi (fish) on ratatouille, and we shared panacotta and ice cream for dessert.  My mouth is watering again just thinking about it!

After dinner we re-entered our food comas, so I fell asleep during whatever movie Ryan was watching.

The Red Centre - Sounds of Silence Dinner

Out of all of our plans for the trip, we were looking forward to our Sounds of Silence dinner the most.  It was a fancy dinner in the outback, located between Uluru and the Olgas, including sunset canapés and a dinner under the stars.

We were picked up by bus from our campground, and then went to all of the other hotels to pick up the rest of the group.  When we arrived at the site (only 5 minutes down the road), we were herded out to this small patio and served sparkling wine and yummy snacks.  During that time there was a man playing the digiridoo, and everyone was taking pictures of the setting sun.  We were a but disappointed because this part was very touristy and annoying, but we made the best of it and enjoyed our wine and music.

Next we were called to the dining area where we were seated in tables of 10.  At first we were upset because we were hoping to enjoy the dinner without making small talk, but it turned out to be so much fun.  At our table we had 4 French Canadians, one Dutch guy, 2 Scots, us, and only one real Australian.  I got to practice my French a little bit, and had some fun with the old Dutch guy sitting next to me.  We were definitely the rowdiest table of the night, and we didn't stop laughing the entire time.  Instead of the typical small talk of "where are you from, what do you do, why are you in Australia…." it was more about everyone's recent travel adventures.

In amongst the wine was also a lot of delicious food.  This should be prefaced by saying that Ryan and I have completely changed our diets and are very strict about what we eat now, but we had decided that this entire night was a freebie. (Brett, if you're reading this, stop now!)  With that in mind, we almost cried when we ate the white dinner rolls with butter while we were waiting for dinner!  Dinner was served buffet style, and I had some of everything: crocodile caesar salad, kangaroo satay, lamb, barramundi (fish), etc.  Dessert was to die for, including a deadly brownie and cheesecake combo, carrot cake, bread and butter pudding, wattleseed crisp, and more.  It was the ultimate in indulgence!  Oh, and then I finished off with another bread roll….

After dinner and dessert they turned off all of the lights/candles and a guy did a star talk, pointing out different constellations and telling Australian astrology stories.  They had a telescope set up as well, so later we went and looked at Mars and even saw the rings around Saturn.  It was the perfect way to end off a memorable night.  In the end, the experience was more touristy than we were expecting, but it really was amazing.

The bus ride home was quite rowdy and a bit woozy, but surprisingly camping after that much wine wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  It must have been the food coma we were in!

The Red Centre - Ayers Rock and The Olgas

Last week Ryan and I hopped on a plane and headed to the Alice Springs area for 6 nights. 

Point "A" on the map is Ayers Rock.

My friend Leanna (who was on my synchro team in Waterloo) lives there with her boyfriend, and I wanted to visit her before she leaves in a few months.  We spent the first 3 days driving in the desert seeing Ayers Rock and King's Canyon, then Leanna took us around Alice Springs for the last few days.

Our flight to Alice was about an hour late, so we arrived around 1pm.  We got groceries and bought a cooler as quickly as we could, and then left town.  Unfortunately the map of Alice that we were using had North pointing down on the map, so my navigator (I won't mention any names) took us the wrong direction out of town.  Luckily there was a sign telling us that Darwin was 1600km away, so we quickly got the hint.  By about 3pm we were finally heading out of Alice Springs in the correct direction - towards Uluru/Ayers Rock.

Despite the speed limit of 130km/h, we still managed to get further delayed by giving a boost to some French girls stranded in an old car at a gas station.  The highlight of the long drive, though, was some graffiti on the back of a road sign that said "hello banana nose".  Seriously, it kept us entertained for days!  As it got dark Ryan took over the driving, and instead of watching out for the usual kangaroos, we really had to watch out for the cows on the road.    460km later we finally arrived at our campsite and set up our tent in the dark under the watchful eyes of dozens of rabbits.

The next morning we slept in until 7am (delightful, considering how early we get up at work), and had a delicious barbeque breakfast of lamb sausages and grilled veggies.  We also made our picnic lunch and got to the national park by 10am.  Ayers Rock is massive, and it of course dominates the landscape in the flat desert.  The morning light was perfect, and we enjoyed a few photo stops as we approached it.  It's obviously much harder to photograph from up close.

We were surprised how lush the landscape was in the area.  In many places along the drive there were actually large trees and shrubs, which didn't seem right.  As it turns out, the harshest Outback is actually near where I work.  Go figure!

After a quick stop at the visitor centre we did the short walk to the watering hole on the edge of Ayers Rock, since to walk around the entire thing would have taken 4.5 hours in the 36 degree heat.  The closer you get to the rock, the more massive it seems and the more you can see that it just goes straight up.  I honestly don't know how people climb it (even though you're not supposed to since it's a sacred site).

The heart-shaped erosion in the side of the rock entertained us for awhile, but none of the crazy pictures of me blowing "heart kisses" turned out very well.

Next we drove a little ways down the road to see The Olgas.

Ryan was surprised that they weren't sandstone like Ayers Rock, so then I learned about clasts, brecchia, and the matrix (not the movie kind).  We took another short walk in between two of the cones through a gorge, which was very hard to photograph but also very cool.  The mounds were going straight up on either side of us, and we were in a lush passageway between them.

We managed to time our walk in between two tour busses, so we had a peaceful moment to do some admiring and bird watching without a crowd.

I'm going to do a separate post later about the critters we saw on the trip, but this was a major highlight so I'm going to add it here.  We saw a Thorny Devil lizard!  It was just hanging out on the road, so of course I pulled over and we chased it off of the road so we could take pictures.  He's super hard to see, which obviously means he's doing his job.  He also wasn't very big either - only about the size of your hand.

We had a bit of spare time that afternoon, so we briefly checked out the facilities that the resort had to offer, including a supermarket, shopping plaza, and camels.  Oh, didn't I mention that Australia has one of the last remaining wild camel populations in the world?  No?  Supposedly the camels here are of such pure lineage that we export them overseas to the Middle East!  Crazy, right?!  Anyways, I got it in my head that I wanted to ride one, but unfortunately all of the camels were out on a long trek so I couldn't.  Instead we got to play with the babies that were left behind!

I think Ryan really misses his dog, because this camel got a whole lotta love from him.  Just as we were leaving, all of the riding camels came back so we got to hang out with them for a bit too.

After playing with the camels, we went back to the campsite to wash up for our Sounds of Silence dinner under the stars.  To be continued!

Cool Creatures in the Outback

We have some more trips lined up for the next few months, so I'm going to use this break to post pictures of some of the cool things I find at work.  I always have my camera nearby, and everyone here is trained to call me if they find something cool.  Everything I know about the following creatures I either learned from someone at work or the internet, so hopefully it's all right.  I know I should be scared of most of these things, but people rarely get hurt and everything seems less dangerous than a bear or a shark, so I just get right in there for a closer look.  Also, they're not in any particular order except the order I found them.  Enjoy!

Bearded Dragon - These guys puff up like puffer fish when they're provoked.  Also the red head is strange, so it might indicate that it's breeding time.

Praying Mantis - I think I was most excited about this find of all of them.  They're just so cool!

Centipede

Western Brown Snake - This was my first real encounter with a snake.  It wasn't actually very big (the next day they caught a massive one), but they are venomous.  Protocol is to have a trained snake catcher come to get it and bring it far away from site.  It took him forever because the snake curled up under some crates, but he eventually got him.  I've got a video of the capture below.  Later that week the guys also caught a baby one in a bucket.

Cotton Harlequin Bug (I think) - Despite the picture, they're not very big (maybe about 1.5-2cm long).

Broad Banded Sand Swimmer (I think) - I think this guy is a type of skink.

Frog - I'm not even going to try and identify which kind it is.  He's covered in mud because he emerged out of a giant puddle.  Supposedly these frogs just live underground until we get enough rain over enough days, then they emerge.  It makes sense, since that week we got the entire year's worth of rainfall in a few days (over 150 cm).  Poor frogs are going to be stuck underground for a long time after that!

Dragonfly - For a few mornings in a row, whenever we got to work there would be tons of dragonflies twitching on the ground.  I'm not sure if they were just cold, or had moisture on their wings or something, but eventually they would get up and fly away.

Redback spider eating a giant bug

Redback spider with a dead praying mantis stuck in its web

Bugs up here come and go in waves, and for a few days there were a bunch of these massive black beetles crawling around.  I don't know what kind it is though.  Right now we have these greenish bugs that supposedly stink really bad if you step on them.  I don't have a picture of them, though.

Triop - These things are really weird, and very hard to photograph.  They live in the water, so they wouldn't stop moving when we took them out.  They have hundreds of little legs(?) that move like a wave when they're in the water.  They're also considered "living fossils" since they have not changed very much since the Triassic period.

Scorpion - I had been really watching out for a scorpion ever since I heard they were in the outback.  They're the reason you don't leave your boots outside overnight!  When I saw one for the first time, though, I was surprised how small it was.  I was expecting a big black one, I guess like I've seen in movies.  Either way, it was still pretty cool!

Unidentified spider - This was a really tough one.  No one at work knew what it was so I had to consult and expert - Ryan's brother Bryce!    His best guess is that it's in the Zodariidae family and that it burrows into the ground and eats ants.  If I learn anything else about it I'll let you know!

Wolf Spider - I've been dying to see one of these!  We were just moving pallets and it was hiding in it.  It was much bigger than I was expecting, and also venomous!

That's all for now!  Hopefully I'll have lots more neat things to show you after our two trips to other parts of the outback.  

Coober Pedy Opal Festival - April 7, 2012

On Easter Saturday a few people from my team at work were asked to help out at the Coober Pedy Opal Festival.   This event was partially sponsored by OzMinerals, so 12 of us got on a mini bus and drove 2 hours from site to Coober Pedy to represent the company.

Now for some fun facts about the town!  80% of all opals worldwide come from Coober Pedy, and I believe they're lighter in colour than the other opals.  Also, parts of the town are built underground and many of the houses are built into the sides of hills.  Other than that, it is a very rough and basic town in the middle of the desert.

Our day started with a stop at the local pizza shop, which is exciting because that's the main craving people get when they work on a mine site.  While my pizza was cooking I ducked into the underground opal shop/museum.

By "underground" they mean "in a hill."

After lunch I also quickly checked out one of the underground hotels, which seemed like a major scam.  Some of the rooms were actually underground, but the rest of it just had fake rock walls.

To kick off the festivities we watched the Easter/Opal Festival parade.  It started with a guy running and carrying a fist-sized opal that they had found in the past 12 months.  This is an annual tradition.  Next came a wide variety of floats, including a mermaid/under the sea one and a tribute to Michael Jackson float.

Our crew was giving the kids on the floats OzMinerals balloons, which they seemed to enjoy.

Many kids in the parade were throwing chocolate eggs, so I got my Easter treats after all!

After the parade we went to the OzMinerals Oval (yes, we sponsored that too) where the festivities were taking place.  Throughout the day we helped with many of the competitions.  My favourite one of the day (that we didn't help with) was the kids boxcar races.  I cannot explain how cute they all were, so here are some pictures.

The kid on the far right decorated his boxcar as a redback spider - legs and all! 

Why wasn't I this cute as a child?!  I certainly don't think I ever had a matching hat with my mom.  She's almost as cute as my sister, and that's saying a lot!

Later we helped with some regular races, a tug of war, a throwing contest, and the "sack of opals" competitions.  The group had to hold the sack straight out in front of them for as long as possible.  It was super fun to watch and cheer them on, and it was much harder than you would expect.

The guy second from the left won.  You should have seen their biceps trembling!

I know it looks like we're playing soccer, but we're actually retrieving/marking distances as the competitors throw "sticks of dynamite" at us.  I don't look nearly as silly as I usually do when I run!

The final event of the day was a hilarious obstacle course, and the winners were crowned Opal King and Queen.

After a great day of "helping" a local community, we rode home exhausted from all of the fun.  Is there really any better way to spend a day at work?