I’m a bit behind in my postings since I couldn’t post in the Outback, so I might be adding two days of postings today…one after the other… if I get back to the hotel in time tonight, so be on the lookout for yesterday’s and hopefully today’s adventures.
There are a few more things I want to say about our Outback camping adventure in this post.
First of all, the experience was almost spiritual. Wandering the camp with only a headlamp to illuminate the way and being under the canopy of stars, makes you realize how insignificant you are in this world.
We were sitting around the campfire, and most everyone had already gone to their tent or swag, only Tristan and Jessie were still at the fire. When I got up to leave they all said goodnight Irene. I said, you both are too young to know this, but there is a song entitled Goodnight Irene, and then I sang it softly for them. They said…that was just lovely. I thanked them and then I walked on to gather pillow and blanket for my evening under the stars.
And the only other comment I’d like to make about our camping is…they need to install at least one mirror in the campground. I took my shower at night… Of course no hair dryers, so in the morning my hair was a look… But not a good one. It would have been helpful to be able to tame my tresses with the help of a mirror. Our guide said no one wants to see what they look like after spending a night in the camp and I agree.. but I told her that some people might need eye drops and without the aid of a mirror, it would be difficult. She said good point. I never thought about that. So maybe there will be one mirror installed in the future. You’re welcome future Outback campers!
We had traveled the Stuart highway to arrive at our campgrounds, tracing the route forged by Scotsman John Stuart who managed to traverse Australia from north to south. The highway stretches almost 2,000 miles from Adelaide to Darwin. When traveling this road, you need to make sure you have plenty of water with you since if your vehicle breaks down, there’s nothing around for miles. A lot of the road as I mentioned yesterday is dirt, with deep ruts.
There is a service called the Royal Flying Doctor Service that uses the highway as an emergency landing strip and sections of the highway are used for that specific purpose. This is a service that provides emergency and primary care to people living in the remote areas of Australia.
Camels and kangaroos can be seen crossing the road although we never saw any. The landscape was breathtaking, changing every few hundred miles.
Camels you say? That story began in the 1800’s when the early settlers came to realize that horses could not be relied upon to transverse the unforgiving terrain, since water was not readily available. Hence the introduction of a few camels. The camels of course mated and eventually made their way deep into the Outback. Today, more than 500,000 to 1,000,000 feral camels roam the area.
So now, I’ll talk about today’s adventure.
We were again up bright and early and had breakfast at 5 and left the camp site before sunrise to drive to Kings Canyon. We wanted to take advantage of the cool morning for our three hour hike through the canyon.
Tristan and Susan were adamant about the amount of water we needed to carry with us. They weren’t being annoying… It is actually the law and you can be fined if the rangers catch you without the required amount of water on your person. Some of the folks opted to do the very challenging hike but because of my wonky foot, Allan and I joined the group that went through the lower canyon rather than hiking the more challenging upward climb.
Tristan added electrolyte powder to all of our 1.5 liter bottles. We were required to take one bottle for our hike, whereas the others needed two 1.5 liter bottles. People die every year in the canyon because of dehydration or from just being stupid and not walking on the designated paths. There are emergency phones along the way. You press a button and a ranger will answer and you tell him where you are and what the emergency is. Then help is on the way.
Our hike was still very challenging as we went over rocks and stones and we had to be careful of our footing. But the scenery was so worth it as you will see in the photos. It was breathtaking gazing up at the canyon walls.
After our hike, we set off for a picnic lunch at the Curtis Springs Station. On the way, we again stopped at the bushes along the way to pee, but I decided to wait for the next opportunity, which was a long hole toilet. It is called that because you can’t flush it. You do your business and everything just goes down and disappears into a long hole that goes God knows where. You have to be careful that you don’t drop your glasses or camera because…they are gone baby gone ! (And I’m sure if that happened you would say Aww Sh!t… pun intended!).
At the toilet, I met an Aborigine family. I tried to make conversation, but they just nodded and said hello and that was it. My guide said that the Aborigines are very shy and do not look you in the eye. As of 2021, there were 983,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, representing 3.8% of the total Australian population. Their culture is so interesting and I strongly recommend you research on your own.
They believe the grounds at many of the sites we have and will still visit, are sacred and should be treated as such.
We arrived at our hotel which is really a resort. We all took showers to wash away the Outback and then met for a delicious dinner in the restaurant.
After dinner Allan and I did our laundry. Washer and dryer was free as was the laundry detergent. While there, we met a lovely couple from India that were with a different tour group, basically following the same route we were taking. We chatted till our laundry was finished and the lady and man said they wished we were both traveling together. Such a nice sentiment.
sunrise at Kings Canyon
Emergency call box
My bottle of electrolyte water
Beautiful scenery
Looking at the canyon walls
The salt flats
Our first glimpse of Uluru… Ayer’s Rock
