Melbourne - Naracoorte - Adelaide - Port Agusta - Coober Pedy - SA/NT Border - Uluru - Alice Springs - Darwin - Kakadu
We started off on the first leg of our road trip on Christmas eve at 7 in the morning.Hardest thing was to leave behind Hugo for 10 days but I knew he would have great fun with his pet sitter and her dog who I had found through Holidog.com.
I realized I was going to have plenty of time on this trip just sitting on passenger seat, I decided to write an account of my travel each day.This trip was something very unique and I hope there are others out there who may have wanted to do it or may get inspired from reading our account of it. Here you go:
So, Adelaide it is. Our car is pretty packed with mainly fluids and food for the way but it's also probably the first time we have actually used the space well. We have plenty of leg room and a bright sunroof over our head.We take off on the M8 highway.
Our first stop was for coffee in Ballarat. In hindsight, we should have had one last Melbourne coffee before leaving as no one does coffee like Melbourne. The caffeine still did its job, the diuretic worked and the toilets were just round the corner.
The next job was to get our hands on some ice to go with our drinks.No not that Ice.We stopped at a fuel station in Horsham and it was a done deal.So you know, we were carrying 30 litres of water and plenty of drinks in the boot to last us till the end.
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| Tip- screwdriver breaks the ice and pinch of salt gives ice longer life |
Music,drinks and all the gossip made the time go really quick. It was 1:40pm and we had already driven 500 km with 2 short stops.This brought us to our first major attraction on the way to Adelaide- the National Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves.These caves are a bit off the A8 highway but not-to-be-missed.The guided tour of the underground was fascinating and is a must do, specially if you are traveling with children.In 1890s an explorer crawled his way into a small vent and unraveled something so magnificent about our evolution.I read about fossils at the age of 10.Today I am 30, give and take ;) and I am still so amazed to think I am looking at a 10,000 year old preserved being that was walking the earth.
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| Mate from years ago!!! Mite, it's Stalactite!!! |
It's Christmas eve today and we check in to our boutique hotel at 8:30 pm . It's well lit outside, that's the beauty of summers here in Australia.You have bonus daylight at end of day. IGA stays open till 10 pm, so we head over and buy fruits and vegetables for our dinner that we prepared in our communal kitchen at the hotel.For those traveling for the first time to Adelaide, you can't bring fruits or vegetables into Adelaide to prevent fruit fly infiltration.Facts aside,our first day of road trip ended with extra long showers and on comfy hotel beds and puffed pillows.
We wake up to another beautiful morning, the day of Christmas. It's 8:30 am and 39 degrees .Continental breakfast is served at the hotel for additional $10 per head.And we leave for our next leg of journey Coober Pedy.
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| This straight road is kind of long! |
The drive has been fantastic on these very straight stretches of road,all you see is the road meeting the sky or diving into a mirage of ocean.More than seeing, you hear the silence of the arid land on either sides.
We get to Port Agusta in about 300 km, fuel the car, refill our esky with ice and head to the beach to stretch and enjoy our lunch.You can see the presence of police here, quite friendly as always.We meet some first land owners sitting by the beach and having a quiet Christmas. We share some cake with them and bid farewell. We swap driving hands and am back on the steering wheels.Music is on!! Thankfully we have plenty of CDs so haven't had to repeat music yet.
In another 200 km we are at our next stop,Pimba. Our stops are mainly where the next fuel station happens to be.But the Pimba fuel station was closed it being the 25th.We were right for fuel anyway, so we used the toilets and cooled the car for 15 minutes. While the speed limit on these highways is 110 but it is so easy to find yourself driving at 130-140.I was very inquisitive and wondered how far off I was from the takeoff speed of a plane.I wasn't taking off anytime soon.For those wondering, plane takes off at 240 km/hr.A word of caution here, even though the roads look tempting here, it is best to abide by the speed limits and watch out for Kangaroos, emus and sheep as the roads are not fenced.
Glendambo has a 24 hour fuel station.We fueled our car and got ourselves some icy cool drinks from the boot of our car and drive on. CP was around 250 km drive from here.We reached CP at 4 pm.The sun is right on top of us and therefore the photos are dark but a good time to take pictures of our shadows.
CP is a majestic town and also the World capital of Opal Fields. It could easily be mistaken for a set from the movie Unforgiven .As I write, I am told that CP was featured in Mad Max 3 and in Top Gear. People here live in caves, called dugouts, bored into the hillsides.The dugouts have cooler temperatures which protect people from harsh summer temperatures of 40 plus degrees. Aboriginals have had a long standing relationship with this land.After the exploration of Opal in CP, it had a huge influx of miners and hence the name Coober Pedy which means White man's burrow. We shared some smiles with the first land owners who cruised past in their cars waving at as and at a distance some kids played with their scooters and bicycles.
Our hosts were very welcoming.They moved to CP 30 years ago and enjoy their life very much and have never wanted to live anywhere else.They showed us to the room and checked on our food supply and even offered us some delicious homemade Panacota. It was a perfect day for some chilled beer but there is a supply restriction in CP, as an effort to improve the health issues related to alcohol abuse amongst the First land owners.
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| our cave for the night-CP |
For dinner we had 2 minute noodles (actually somewhat like 20 minutes) and sandwiches and then set out to enjoy a surprisingly cool breeze and the astonishing outback sky with millions of stars.The hosts who also were Opal miners, showed us some rocks in the nearby fields that glowed in UV light.These are the host rocks.
The next morning I bought myself the perfect Christmas present, an Opal ring.I am told that Opal should only be worn on its own or with diamonds, other stones cancel their positive effects.I read up on it later, Opals have powerful energizing and inspiring powers.So, it was perfect.
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| Someone dug this cave Church with hands and shovels |
We visited the underground church in CP and then headed off for Uluru. We had 800 km driving ahead of us.We were rested and ready to embark on our most awaiting destination. Our first stop was Marla, a busy town with trucks, and also the last stopover in South Australia, check out the art gallery there.The next stop would be in Northern Territory. A minute of retrospection here, Stuart highway is massive, stretching 3000 km from Adelaide to Darwin and the arid red center of Australia is mesmerizing in its own unique way.
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| Actually we reached much higher! |
What laid ahead of us was majestic, sacred, mysterious and 700 million years old rock- Uluru!!! We could have not had a better end to this day, watching the rock change its colors in the setting sun.I owe to the Anangu people of Uluru for letting us into their sacred land, for allowing us into their home.And I can proudly say 'I did NOT climb Uluru'.
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| The Rock! |
Uluru (actually Yulara) is very well managed and has lots for tourists.The hotels are walking distance to town center and all the activities are easily accessible. We booked the star gazing tour for the night and set off in the morning to walk the base of Uluru. We got a real close view of the rock in the morning and saw the rock art and read the stories of the inhabitants of the rock.The base of Uluru is a 12 km circumference. It was a very hot day, and recommendation is to complete the walk by 11 am but we started at 11 am.The way I wanted to do it was run, so I did with 500 ml water bottle that I rationed all the way.The rest of my crew walked.I came out better, much less tanned!!!We all survived the harsh heat except one.The car.
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| The effect of sun set on rock's colour |
Our car broke down in the unforgiving heat.The coolant box had cracked.The warning lights came on and the manual recommend not to drive the car in that state.We were a bit disappointed as we had almost come to the end of our road trip, the only last bit of driving left was some 500 km to Alice Springs and there on we were travelling by Air.There is a car carriage service in Alice Springs that we had pre-booked to return our car to Melbourne.Now the question was how do we get our car there?
We called the ever-so-reliable, always-there-in-time of need RACV. RACV organised for a car tow.This mechanic/towing service is the only service available in the 400 km radius.We were 4, he could only take 2 in his tow truck and there are no taxis in Uluru. So, his wife came along in her car to pick us all for some cash in return.We were very grateful.
Okay now that the car was at a garage and we were back at our hotel,we had some thinking to do before businesses closed down for the day. RACV organised a hire car for us to drive to Alice Springs, and waived off our car drop off fee as well.So, that was great news for us, we wouldn't have to interrupt our trip.We were certainly counting our blessing.In addition to RACV, we are thankful to Telstra for their reliable service which helped us connect when looking for help stuck on road.We did carry a satellite phone as well and I do recommend it as there are patches with no network connection.
As for the car, the mechanic would need to order the replacement car part from Adelaide. He was driving the next morning to rescue another family from Kings Canyon some 400 km away.Similar issue, actually a bigger one-their car's engine was cooked.We realized there was no need to rush.Whatever had to be done, would only happen after the 4th Jan, once businesses reopen.
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| Through the telescope lens |
It was now time for some star gazing.We headed out in a group with our guide to a space set with powerful telescopes on ground and a black sky above.We spotted different star formations first and then got a stunning magnified view of the blue and red color Rainbow star and the craters of the moon.I recommend the tour and Mark is a great guide!!!
Next morning we were in the hire car.So used to our spacious powerful car, that we all noticed what we were missing.Anyway, we laughed as we remembered how we had stuck our heads above the sun roof and screamed 'Dhoom macha le' a day before.
We couldn't leave Uluru without visiting the Camel far.Camel eyes have always amazed me,I'll throw a a quick fact for you there- they have 3 eyelids!!! I got to admire them so very closely.We ended up going for a ride on Camel back and this was the most I had laughed in days.It was bumpy fun!!!
Alice Springs is another world when you have been travelling through the desert for that many days.Like the springs, there was colour, beauty, green, hills and the dry Todd river.A beautiful town indeed.
The trip was coming close to a finish but our enthusiasm was high as we were looking forward to celebrating the New Year and meeting up with our friends traveling from Singapore to meet us in Darwin.
Darwin is a place of transient population.The crocs make the beaches unsafe so they have a wave pool in the city for people.This was the first thing we did the first morning in Darwin with our friends.Again I highly recommend it if you like water.
It was New Year's eve and the stage was being set in the park ground for the night event.We were just happy to chill in our high rise apartment with friends, playing board games and chatting away to glory.
After a very late night, we decided we wanted to see the Kakadu National Park the next day.It had rained heavily the day before so we needed to check with authorities if it was safe to drive along the wetlands.We got clearance with advise to drive with caution in patches flooded with water.I don't think we had realized the vast expanse of the National park until we entered the starting point.Our plan was to do the Yellow Water Billabong,one of Australia's bountiful waterways with fresh water crocs, seagulls, water snakes,fish,lotus and bulls.This time of the season, the land which is otherwise covered with bushes, is completely under water. Yellow Waters is approximately 300 km drive from Darwin city and therefore one needs to start early as it is a 6 hour drive both ways.
Our phone cameras did not do justice to this picturesque place so we tried to capture the beauty in our eyes rather than through the camera screen.We were just happy unwinding in the nature, watching the crocs swim past us and the birds drying their wings in the setting sun.It was a sunset to remember.Nothing gets better than this.Yes we were very late returning to our hotel.And it was a strife to find places open for dinner.But you know what, we had just witnessed something so Godly that we were not in a mood to whinge.
We were heading home next morning.Flying back with lifetime memories.My beautiful soul, Hugo,was waiting for us and I couldn't wait to hold him in my arms.
This trip wouldn't have been so enjoyable without our friends who were ready to venture out with us into the unseen and the unknown. Thank you all who made this trip so wonderful, you know who you are.
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| And one very special person behind the camera. |
