Alice Springs - Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy is the opal capital of the world and an 8 hour bus journey from Alice Springs. Apart from the opals, the interesting thing about Coober Pedy is that many inhabitants live underground in dugouts. The hostel we're staying in is 6m underground!

It's quite an isolated place - halfway between Alice Springs and Adelaide - in the middle of a desert. The landscape around the town is dotted with 1.5 million holes in the ground and a similar number of piles of excavated dirt from the mines. It's so other-worldly that even an abandoned spaceship doesn't look out of place!


We toured an old opal mine and underground home and went out on a star gazing expedition. Out in the middle of the desert the stars are much more visible than in town where the light pollution is higher. Unfortunately the moon and patchy cloud hid some of the fainter constellations - but we did get a couple of close up pictures of the moon through the telescope.


While we were in the tourist info office, we got the offer of a lift into the Breakaway hills near Coober Pedy from a retired couple called Bob & Diane. We took up their offer with our usual gratitude and also got a glimpse of the world's longest dog fence (over 5000kms long end to end). They are bringing the frog with them to photograph at all the scenic lookouts they stop at.


Just before we left, we tried to get a look at the underground church, but apparently the priest was away exploring the nearby wilderness (reminds me of uncle Fr Paul).

Adelaide - Alice Springs

We stepped aboard "The Ghan" in Adelaide with about 24 hours of rail travel in front of us. The train was practically identical to the "Indian Pacific" - although the scenery was a bit different: orange sand and scrubby bushes all over the place.



The Ghan is a shortening of Afghan. Apparently Afghan camel teams were pivotal in the establishment of Alice Springs as a settlement. They carried cargo and passengers up to Alice. The train was named after them - which is why there is a statue of a camel and rider at Alice Springs station.


We stepped off the train in Alice Springs into the blazing sunlight of the "Red Centre". We were met by the hostel bus (they remembered this time :-) and were taken back to the hostel for a well-earned rest, curry and beer. In the morning (6am to be exact) we were picked up by our tour bus, destination Uluru.

On our tour we took in such sights as Kata Tjuta and King's Canyon. We saw various rock formations, valleys, chasms, outcrops and aboriginal sites. Each night we stayed in tents around a camp fire.


Uluru


Kata Tjuta


Kings Canyon

We also added dingos and emus to our "seen in the wild" list. We also were able to spot wedge-tailed eagles and whistling kites.

All in all the whole experience was wonderful. We met some really friendly and cool people on our tour and hope to keep up with as many of them as possible (and get a hold of some of their photos too!). Last night we had a post-tour dinner and wound up drinking all the Coopers Ale in the whole bar!

The photos will follow shortly. Once I find a computer that lets me upload all my photos to facebook I'll put them all up there for general perusal and provide a link.

Sydney - Adelaide

Back in Adelaide at last, we've experienced the highs and lows of train travel in Australia. We took the Indian Pacific here from Sydney. On the whole it was a nice experience - there was a louge car where we could grab a table, spread out and play some cards. Unfortunately, we had to sleep in our seats (not always easy) so I only got about 5 hours sleep. Also, despite bringing our own food, I cracked and got a coffee from the buffet car. They tell me it was coffee anyway.

We arrived in Adelaide and checked into Annie's Place which is a lovely hostel on the west side of town. It's not far from the YHA where we stayed last time. It's quite cool though because it's closer to the train station (that's good because we had to walk). We were supposed to get picked up by the hostel, but we wound up walking because we'd just spent the best part of 24 hours sitting down and it felt good to walk. Also, there were a few other people walking into town too, so we had a good chat with a German girl who was going the same way. Also, we got a free night's stay because the hostel woman felt bad that she said she'd pick us up - and we got a room upgrade too. So all in all I think we came out on top!

One of the things I am quite keen to do on our world travels is see various sports that we wouldn't see in the UK. I was pretty chuffed therefore to track down tickets for an aussie "rules" football game (I use the word 'rules' - but I still can't quite figure it out). The game involved Adelaide (Crows) playing Richmond (Tigers) at AAMI stadium. There was plenty of cheering (for the crows), booing (of the opposition as well as the ref) and mocking (of the Richmond players missing goals). See the report here. Anyway, despite not knowing most of the rules, it was a great spectacle and we had a good time.


Just before we left, the heavens opened and it pelted down with rain. It's nice to see that the weather here can have its nasty moments too!



We're now in Alice Springs - in the middle of the continent and surrounded by desert (that's sandy desert, not sweet desert...) looking foward to going to Uluru and King's Canyon. More about that when we get back.

Finally, I hear from a certain little bird (Tamble) that Mars will now be veggie again. Hooray! I still won't be eating them anyway, but at least I can if I want to...

RIP Bellevue Bill

RIP Bellevue Bill, a wee sweetie who loved his tucker and often made us smile with his friendly, gentle, inquisitive manner. Everyone at the Koala Hospital did their best to save him. I'm gutted that he's gone, but I'm happy to know that he was kept as comfortable and happy (and well fed!) as possible during his time there.

Here's to Bill!

Sydney in a nutshell (not literally)

So we've had our week in Sydney! It's flown by. The highlight for me has definitely been meeting up with Louise, who I hadn't seen in two decades! Louise and Mark, thank you for spending some time with us! Let's not fall out of contact again...


Other than seeing Louise and the comedian Iff mentioned below, we mostly walked around a lot, soaking up the atmosphere and getting in some quality dog stalking. Loads of people walk their dogs around Sydney! Brilliant. We walked along beaches too, which meant lovely scenery and many dogs to ogle.

We've found some "literary" gems here too, and they're free! One is a magazine called British Balls, written for UK people over here, and it's hilarious. The other is a daily newspaper (like Metro in the UK) called mx which includes a few puzzles to keep me entertained. Genius! So we've mostly been walking, ogling dogs and reading. Not bad. For a place that's supposed to be a constant party, we've been pretty chilled in Sydney.

The downside of our week in Sydney is that the Nine Inch Nails concert has been postponed to September, by which time we'll be in New Zealand. BOO!!!! Not impressed. Need another brownie sundae to get over the disappointment (any excuse!)...

A bit later today, we're getting an overnight train to Adelaide (part of the cross-country train to Perth). Along the way, we hope to enjoy a whistle-stop tour of Broken Hill; it's at some hideous time in the morning (ie before noon), but it's our only chance to see Broken Hill, so we'll try to make the effort.

I'm going to be an aunt! I'm going to be an aunt! WWWOOOOOO-HHHOOOOOO!!! www.bartthompson.com

Mars Attacks!

I was reading the BBC a couple of days ago and found this gem:

Mars starts using animal products (BBC)

Great. Now all varieties of Mars bars are going to be non-veggie - not only non-veggie though, but it looks like also non-halal and non-kosher too.

I'd urge anyone who generally buys these products not to. Even if you find yourself unmoved by the plight of those of us now unable to eat their products, ask yourself what else they will put into mars bars for no particularly good reason without telling anyone. It's not like you even NEED rennet in chocolate anyway...

Not related to our travels (directly), but I thought it was important.

Photo Albums

Those observant ones amongst you will have noticed the new "Photos" links on the right hand side.

They are links to my facebook photo albums. I will upload all of our photos to facebook so that if you are particulary interested (or have nothing else meaningful to do), then you can browse through our photos at your leasure.

At some point I'll even put comments next to them too :-)

If you are unsure about any pics then just email me - or post a comment here and I'll endevour to explain.

P.S. I managed to overcome the memory card virus. I'll promise to be more careful next time...

Bah technology!

Today whilst using some dodgy computer from a cheap as chips internet farm, the phone/camera picked up a virus! No antivirus software the idiots...

I think I managed to copy everything to facebook before everything disappeared - and luckily my ipod was OK - but I may have lost some pics and/or videos.

I doubt there's anything you'd miss, but let this sorry tale be a lesson to one and all about the perils of cheap internet usage.

Grrrrrrrrrr...

From mountains to urban jungle

So we've now reached Sydney - Australia's largest and busiest city. Sydney is quite reminicent of London, but with better weather - so far... The transport system is complicated but comprehensive, the roads are crowded with cars and taxis and people seem to be in a huge rush. There are also tourists and backpackers aplenty hereabouts - but overall it's quite an exciting and dynamic place - quite a change after sleepy Katoomba.


We've taken up residence in the seedy part of town (where else?) called Kings Cross. So far we have taken in the Opera House (SOH), the Harbour Bridge and strolled around a bit. We bought tickets to see Tim Minchin (a comedian who we know from his Edinburgh Fringe Teviot days) at the SOH and it turned out he was recording a DVD - so you never know - we may wind up featuring in a DVD...


On a sadder note, we were due to see Nine Inch Nails out here too, but they CANCELLED at the LAST MINUTE. Apparently you can be as good a singer as you like, but a sore throat will get ya same as anyone else. We're still waiting to see if the show will be rearranged, but just now we know nothing much. We compensated for this disappointment with chocolate fudge brownie sundae - so the whole evening wasn't a total bust...


I have been trying to get all of the photos we've taken so far (the ones on this blog included!) put up somewhere so that you can have a browse through and see what we've been up to (outside of what I've rambled on about in these pages that is). Anyway, I'm in the process of uploading all the pics to my facebook account. I'll put all the links over on the right hand side once I'm done, but those with facebook can find me (and the pics I've done so far) in there.

Port Macquarie - Katoomba

So after leaving Port, we travelled to Katoomba via an overnight stay in Sydney. In Sydney we had a pretty poor hostel experience including when they gave us a room that already had someone asleep in it! So if you are coming to Sydney, don't stay in the "Wake Up!" hostel - unless you want someone to "Wake you Up!" in the middle of the night.

Anyway, leaving Sydney and bad hostels behind us, we arrived in Katoomba and a nice little hostel called "number 14". We also managed to turn up a gem of a restaurant in "Niche Nosh" - but more on that later.


Katoomba - for those unfamiliar with the place - is a small mountain town with easy access to the Blue Mountains National Park - and various other smaller national parks nearby. The jewel in the crown of Katoomba is the "Three Sisters" - a rock formation of three sandstone spires said by the local indiginous population to be three beautiful maidens turned to stone for all eternity (they're always beautiful, these maidens in stories. Noone bothers turning ugly maidens into stone pillars...). Anyway, the views across the valley are stunning and there are many scenic walks and hikes around the cliffs and valley.



Katoomba is also the site of the world's steepest railway - an impressive 52 degrees to the horizontal. There's also one cablecar (with a transparent floor!) stretching over a gorge and another which decends into the valley itself.


Yesterday we hiked to the "Ruined Castle", a rock formation in the middle of the Jamieson valley. It gets its name from a series of rock spires that jut out into the sky looking like ruined turrets of a medieval castle. From the top of these spires are stunning views of the valley and the surrounding cliffs.


To get to the "castle" we had to hike for 3 hours through fern draped rainforest and rocky scrubland. The place is alive with birds of various types, from lorikeets and parrots to lyrebirds and brush turkeys. Tracy keeps calling me a brush turkey. You make your own mind up.



One of these pictures is me and the other is a brush turkey. Which is which?

Niche Nosh is a small veggie cafe in the middle of Katoomba. We have eaten there pretty much every day because the food is so good - and so cheap. I'd like to thank Gordon Brown for the strength of the pound against the Aussie dollar because we can make our money go pretty far over here. They have such delights as polenta squares, tamale tart and colcanon pie. All their food is so good is hard to choose, but with today being our last day, we only have time to grab lunch before we have to leave.

Today we head back to Sydney to look around there for a few days before we start a long migration West.

Koala Notes

Some notes on a couple of these koalas Iff has mentioned...

Bellevue Bill is indeed my favourite koala. They're all gorgeous, but he stole my heart when I learned how sick he is and also when I fed him formula for the first time. He's a wee gentleman. Whereas some koalas see the formula coming and grab at it and slurp it down, Bill just politely sniffs at things. He doesn't spill a drop of the formula, provided it's fed slowly to him. And when I'm refilling the syringe, he likes to lean in closely to watch and sniff at the formula, and he sometimes licks my hand like a little cat! He's just precious. I'm so glad he's in such good hands at the koala hospital.

Now, look at the picture of Ellenbourgh Nancy. Despite looking rather appalled in the picture, she's an adorable, wee, fluffy thing. She's also Iff's nemesis. She's the one who tried to climb him and bite him during our first morning at the hospital. Ha! Gotta love her!

If you like of these koalas, you can adopt one at http://www.koalahospital.org.au/adopt/

Ciao for now,
Trace

Last Port of Call

So we're leaving Port Macquarie finally. The last month here has been terrific - really enjoyable and educational as well. By the end of the month I was teaching Australians about their native wildlife!

It's been great to feel like part of a group of people - they've really taken us into the fold and we're really going to miss everyone at the hospital.