At Tennant Creek we flipped a coin: Heads we turn left and go towards Alice Springs and Ayers Rock or tails we turn right and head up to Darwin. You see, we were running a bit short on time so we had to decide if we should head up to Darwin or not and the only way we could decide was to leave it up to chance. Courtney flipped and I waited patiently for the result: HEADS. We’re giving Darwin a swerve this time!
Eyes, ears, mouth and nose. No, I’m not reciting the age old nursery rhyme ‘Head and Shoulders;’ I’m describing the places where flies in the desert like to penetrate and although a good portion of our days in the Red Center were spent swatting flies we did see and do a few other things. We had the pleasure of seeing the world’s largest, redest, most touristy rock, Uluru and of course we made a few detours on the way to some other cool spots. In this blog we’ll try to explain a bit of the aboriginal history surrounding Uluru and we also learned quite a bit about modern times around Uluru so we’ll chat about that too…if there’s time. At Tennant Creek we flipped a coin: Heads we turn left and go towards Alice Springs and Ayers Rock or tails we turn right and head up to Darwin. You see, we were running a bit short on time so we had to decide if we should head up to Darwin or not and the only way we could decide was to leave it up to chance. Courtney flipped and I waited patiently for the result: HEADS. We’re giving Darwin a swerve this time! We spent the night free-camping in a rest area just north of a place called the Devils Marbles; an area with round boulders that balance on top of each other in seemingly impossible positions. No, the name has no aboriginal significance instead the aboriginals believe that the boulders are eggs laid by a serpent, which was on its way to Uluru. The name Devil’s Marbles comes from an early explorer in the region. We left the rest area before sunrise to see the Devil’s Marbles light up with sunrise. Alice Springs was a good stop for a shower and to stock up on food, petrol and internet. We spent a night on the outskirts of the city in the cheapest caravan park we could find, it also happened to be one of the nicest ones we stayed at! The next day we drove through the West and East MacDonald Ranges, the mountain range closet to Alice Springs. It's was very pretty with a few nice touristy spots to stop off along the way. One in particular was a beautiful swimming hole with cool water where we enjoyed a dip. We enjoyed how at the Alice Springs info centre they suggested we go to a place just around the corner which really was a 200 km drive away. That's the thing, in the outback the distances get very skewed and extremely long. You also only think of two things when in outback Australia, 1.shade and 2. water. After Alice Springs and the MacDonald Ranges we made our way to Uluru, which many of you older readers would remember as Ayers Rock and also a couple other places along the way called Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). There isn’t a lot say about these areas other than that they were a sight for sore eyes in the desert. We did a few walks in the area and learned a bit about the aboriginal significance of the big red iconic rock. Certain details of the aboriginal legends surrounding Uluru are kept secret as a way for the current generation to preserve what has been passed down to them from their elders. Another 400km drive from Uluru led us to Kings Canyon, a spectacular canyon with walls 100 metres high and Kings Creek running in the valley below. Similar to Uluru there are parts that are sacred to aboriginals, one area was in the gorge and was designated as a man's sacred site. We were informed that aboriginals have designated male and female spots where their elders bring them to for dream time "story telling". These spots are still used today, therefore you are asked not to swim in the water, which was very hard not to do as it was HOT! All throughout the road trip we free camped, which meant we stayed in campgrounds, road side stops, rest areas etc. The camp area amenities ranged from having toilets, showers, running clean water to no water, toilets or showers. Each one was unique in it's own way and some were surprisingly scenic with extremely personable characters.
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Since we started SCUBA diving in South Africa we had wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef and really, who wouldn’t? Lucky for us we landed on the doorstep of the jump off point to the outer reef, known as the Ribbon Reef or specifically the Agincourt Reef. After island hopping along the northern Queensland coast we changed gears and booked a dive trip with a Quicksilver owned boat called Silversonic, a fast cat that went to the outer reef from Port Douglas. The trip was truly incredible and not only because of the diving but also because of the boat and its staff. Our dive master Justin and the rest of the crew -- we had the pleasure of being served by on Silversonic - were outstanding. The three dives we did during the day took us to three different parts of the Agincourt Reefs all of which were pretty spectacular. We didn’t have as much time on the boat as we were expecting what with all the gearing up, diving, gearing down and snacking in between. At the end of the day we were beat but still rockin’ big smiles after visiting the world’s largest marine park. The next day we hopped in Sheila and drove North into Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation. We only spent one night in Cape Tribulation but it was quite beautiful and we would have stayed longer if we had a bit more time. Once it got dark we set off on our own night hike through the rainforest, which really did come alive! Driving from Daintree National Park and the coastal rainforests of Queensland to the Atherton Tablelands provided some dramatic changes in scenery but it wasn't until we would venture into the Outback where we would witness the landscapes that Australia is famous for. Come on a little tour with us from the coast to the outback. Heading West the distances between places became longer as the populations decreased. The towns were quaint with very friendly, interesting Aussies who were always curious of where we were headed and where we had been. There was a shockingly high amount of roadkill including, kangaroos, wallabies and lots of cows. The farms that run alongside the highway aren't fenced so you've got to watch for wandering stock everywhere. Road trains (massive trucks with 3-4 trailers attached) can't stop or swerve for animals safety so inevitably they hit them, which can cause damage to the truck and obliviously the animal. On some of the developmental highways the road narrows to only be able to fit 1 car, as there isn't much traffic you're usually pretty safe. When another car does approach you have to slow down and ride half way on the dirt and halfway on the road. Passing a road train Although we weren't proper beachcombers for long, we did do it well while we were. Like everything else in traveling for a long time you do get into things. We really got into beachcombing. What is beachcombing you ask? Well beachcombing is the practice of exploring a beach that, you probably live on or very near to. Exploring the flora and fauna, finding buried treasure and just basking in the glory of it all. We jumped off of Hinchinbrook Island and headed a little ways North to Mission Beach where we boarded another water taxi and were dropped off on Dunk Island for three nights. Dunk Island is a small island mostly owned by the National Park except one small area where a beach resort used to run. In 2010 a nasty cyclone, Yasi, tore through the North Queensland coast damaging many towns and islands. Dunk Island got hit bad and the resort is now closed. Luckily for us the parks did reopen the park campground and day use area. There are currently 6 people living in the resort “maintaining” it, meaning living the life until the owner fly’s in on his jet, for the weekend. They have fixed a few private villas for when the owner comes in and there looked to be also running horse stables somewhere semi hidden. As the resort is closed we couldn’t freely walk through it. We’ll have to return one day when it’s open and take a sticky beak. The campground was amazing; we were the only ones camping and had free range of the great facilities including the BBQ/kitchen area, bathroom, hot showers and our own private beach front campsite for only $11.0 /night! Our next three days went something like this…eat, snorkel, relax, eat, snorkel, chat with yachties, eat, play cards and sleep. While on Dunk we ran into a couple of yachties we had met on Hinchinbrook island who were on vacation on their luxury yacht. We got to chatting and they invited us over onto their boat for cards and dessert. We had an excellent evening getting to know them, plus their boat was amazing. It is a catamaran that sleeps 8 people, had TV, WIFI, a full kitchen, bathroom and evening ice for our drinks! Check it out...http://www.whitsundaycharterboats.com.au/fleet/luxury-sailing-catamarans/razzle-dazzle/. The next morning Tiana gave us haircuts as she’s a hairdresser and thought we could use a clean up lol The following evening we met Carey a single man on a yacht doing a similar trip, island hopping for three weeks as he’s retired. Funny enough we ran into him on Fitzroy island and spent a evening on his wonderful boat, making dinner and chatting. Fitzroy IslandFitzroy Island is 29 Kms South East off from Carins, we took another water taxi which was much larger and fancier then our previous water taxi experience. Fitzroy Island is also more flash then Hitchinbrook and Dunk, the island has a nice resort and simple campground, where of course we stayed for 3 nights The campground wasn’t as nice as Dunk Island but the snorkeling right off the beach was fantastic! In one day we spent over 4 hours snorkeling! After arriving we set up camp then hopped in the water. On our first snorkel we saw a large white tip reef shark, a few sea turtles and Courtney spotted a massive Eagle Ray! The resort had a dive center attached and after finding out we could dive right off the beach pretty cheaply we extended our two-night stay to three nights and dove three times in one day. The first dive we went guided with a Dive instructor from the dive shop, the second dive we went unguided and the third was a night dive! Each dive was awesome! The conditions were nice and easy, warm calm water and a beach entrance/exit, a bit different from what we were use to diving in! It was great diving unguided, it allowed us to navigate ourselves and really take time on certain areas of interest. We saw tons of fish, manta ray and beautiful coral structures, a few nudi branch (smaller sea slugs), a sleeping sea snake and so much more! The night dive was unreal, we were already pretty tired from the first two dives but at 7:30pm we slid into our cold wetsuits, suited up and walked down to the jetty where we jumped into the dark waters and descended into the darkness. Right when you jump in you realize all you can see is what is in front of the dive torch (a powerful underwater flashlight). There were several lion fish, and then thousands of small fish really attracted to the light so as we swam they flipped and flopped right into us. We also saw a few big fish like a potato cod and some ????
We really enjoyed our time in the water on Fitzroy and it gave us some great diving experience for our next adventure diving on the outer Great Barrier Reef! |
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