Australia’s Red Center

After leaving Alice and its superb library behind we drove the remaining 450km to reach Yulara, with over 1,000 inhabitants the 4^th biggest town in the NT. Of course, Yulara wouldn’t be that popular if it weren’t for its two famous sights, Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

We spent 3 days in that area, got up early for sunrise at both Uluru and Kata Tjuta, did a few walks, attended some cultural talks and we were also lucky to catch a fantastic sunset  – the world around us slowly got dark but the rock started to glimmer in vibrant orange – magnificent!! The whole area around Uluru is so beautiful and has such a special energy to it, it was really amazing. 

Sunrise

Wookie (3rd from left) watching the sunset with a few others

Sunset

Cultural Dance at Yulara

Walking at Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta is pretty much the last place you can reach via normal, sealed road, from there a few hundred kilometres West you’d reach the WA border, a few hundred South and you’d land in South Australia. So, we had to drive back quite a bit to reach Kings Canyon which really surprised us as it was truly impressive. We climbed up to the canyon rim and did a 3hr walk around and absolutely loved it!

Kings Canyon I

Kings Canyon II

It's a long way down...

 

And there was more to see around Alice Springs; we spent 2 days hiking in the MacDonnell Ranges where we again were pretty surprised by how beautiful that part of the country is.   

West MacDonnell Ranges

 

Red Bank Gorge

Ormiston Gorge I

Ellery Creek Big Hole

Serpentine Gorge

Ormiston Gorge II

Simpson's Gap

Standley Chasm

We also got pretty close to nature again, camels next to the road, heard wild horses close to our van at night, had dingos at our campsite and of course the outback wouldn’t be the same without those little buggers:

Flies apparently love black

Flies be gone!

 

A few hundred kilometres North of Alice was another site we quickly stopped at, Devil’s Marbles; again a wonder of erosion:

Devil's Marbles

 

Yesterday night we stopped at the 'world-famous' Daly Waters Pub which apparently is the oldest pub in the NT and has also been named the best outback pub for several years. With live music, beer and delicious ‘tucker’ (=food) we had a really funny evening.

Daly Waters Outback Pub

Mataranka Hot Springs where we took a quick plunge on our way to Katherine - VERY nice!

We’re now in Katherine (Cadel Evan’s birthplace for all you cyclists out there) where we’re having a bit of an unplanned longer stop as Wookie’s oil needs changing. Btw, we’ve now driven 20,000km since we started in Perth at the end of January which is pretty amazing, a few thousand more and we’ll be done – ah we won’t think about that yet. We still have a few weeks of awesomeness ahead of us, including the Kimberleys, Broome and diving with the whale sharks in Exmouth (save the best for last, hey!)

We’re again expecting very patchy internet reception from here so there might not be another post before we’re back in Perth. How long we need to stay in Perth depends on our citizenship application and how quickly we get a date for the test. In case this takes longer and should we not be allowed to leave the country, we thought about heading over to the Christmas Islands; the diving there’s apparently amazing. But lets see :)

On the road again...