Archive for May, 2012

Last 2 Days of May

I had the most unproductive 2 days since I started the journey. So let’s go back to day 30…

Left Alice Springs early in the morning and destination was Cape Crawford. I had 2 ways to get there and they were pretty much the same. So I picked the route Stuart Hwy – Barkly Hwy – Carpentaria Hwy. I originally thought I would stop over half way overnight; but when I got to the Carpentaria Hwy turnoff it was just under 400km to Cape Crawford. The time was just after 3 so I thought I might as well get there so I have all day today to see the ‘Lost City’.

Arrived at this Heartbreak Hotel and where should I begin….. thought  drove close to a 1000km so got myself a room to rest. First the light switch in the room doesn’t work so used my own light. I could’ve ask for another room but was too tired to even bother. The gents was so shocking that I didn’t even want to shower in it. I just went to sleep…

Got up this morning on day 31, asked how to get to ‘Lost City’ and was told it was only accessible by helicopter tour for $160. Totally frustrated so I thought I would go to the Lost Cities in the Limmen National Park. After some 20-30km in… my primal instinct kicked in… it told me it’s silly to go because it was a 400km 4WD into totally middle of nowhere. I had no communications at all. They always say one should listen to their instinct and I did… Turned back and forgot the idea of ‘finding’ the lost cities. It just not meant to be!

Where to then? Katherine. That was another 600km of driving…. First I was a bit angry but thought such as life…. like anything there will be ups and downs… so I had a good week in the centre so just a bit of ‘down’ time to balance it all out.

It was funny in a way, I felt zen.. hehehe… In fact, I drove quite slowly and took my time getting here to Katherine. So sorry guys, haven’t really taken many photos the last couple of days. However, I did took a few on the Carpentaria Hwy near Tablelands. It was flat as a table and I kinda liked it. The sun was setting and I managed to captured some shots that I like.

Let’s hope June brings a good beginning 🙂

John @ Katherine, N.T.

Image: Sun-setting at Tablelands, N.T.

 

 

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Rainbow Valley
Self Portrait at Rainbow Valley
Sunset at Rainbow Valley

Day 29: Rainbow Valley

What can I say about Rainbow Valley? It’s OK. It must be because I have visited and seen some truly amazing rock formations and mountain ranges in the past week. Especially after Chambers Pillar yesterday. There was just not much to this place for me.

The rock is interesting enough as it looks like someone had a bite off of it. I believe it looks a bit different during the wet season or just right after. There is this rather big dried ‘lake’ looking thing in front of the rock. It would make the place come alive I think.

Waited around for the sunset, took the shots I wanted and decided to drive back to Alice as it was only under 2 hours of driving. Reason being that journey to the centre of Australia finally is over for me and I must start heading north tomorrow.

Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon and Chambers Pillar are definitely my favourite places so far as in history and culture concerns. There are just something magical about these places.

See you at the Top End..

John @ Alice Springs, N.T.

Images: 1. Rainbow Valley by Day; 2. Self Portrait; 3. Rainbow Valley Sunset
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Chambers Pillar
Me at Chambers Pillar
Sunset at Chambers Pillar

Day 28: Chambers Pillar

I had my first planned camp-out in the middle of nowhere last night. I went to this place called the Chambers Pillar. It is only accessible by 4WD and the road was rough. It took about 4 hours for me to get there and you can tell that you are driving toward the desert. The road is much more sandier than any other road that I’ve been on so far in the journey. This probably is the closest I get to Simpson Desert. Would love to cross it one day but definitely not attempting it ‘alone’.

From a distance, the pillar looked like a little match among all the rock formations around it. I kind of thought…. really? However, it looks totally different when you get near it. A sandstone column stands 50m tall eroded by wind and rain over millions of year.

John McDouall Stuart was the first European to see the pillar in 1870. He named the pillar after one of his sponsors, James Chambers. It is hard to even imagine anyone getting here at the first place. It was hard enough driving to it… let alone riding on a camel.

I wasn’t going to come back to Alice today. My destination today was Rainbow Valley. The road I wanted to take has one of the gates padlocked after half way in so couldn’t get passed. The only other way is to pretty much head back to Alice way and turn off just 11km outside of it. So I thought might as well come in to town to grab a coffee and also give me a little time to blog.

I will be leaving for Rainbow Valley about 2pm. The place is famous for it’s sunset. Looking forward to see what is it all about in a few hours. I will probably camp out there tonight again.

xox

John @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: 1. Chambers Pillar in Day; 2. Me at Chambers Pillars; Chambers Pillar at Dusk
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Amazing Formation in N’Dhala Gorge NP
Me at N’Dhala Gorge NP Entrance
N’Dhala Gorge National Park
Corroboree Rock
Jesse Gap

Day 27: East MacDonnell Ranges

After visited West MacDonnell Ranges yesterday; today I went to East MacDonnell Ranges. It was a completely different experience. It’s not that the scenery very different but it felt more remote and untouched. There were definitely lot fewer cars and visitors around which I appreciate.

First, I went to N’Dhala Gorge Nature Park. It is famous for it’s rock carvings. There are apparently close to 4000 of them but, of course, I’ve only seen a few. Needed to 4WD for about 11km after turning off Ross Hwy and it was very slow driving. Had to cross Ross River several times. It was kind of fun 🙂

The walk here basically follow the already dried river going upstream. You walking on all these rocks and stones dating back millions of years. You can’t help but just ‘wow’ in your head. I stayed in N’Dhala for a couple of hours and heade for Corroboree Rock on the way back to Alice.

Corroboree Rock is a column of dolomite formed over 800 million years ago. It’s not a really huge rock butdoes look rather interesting. You can walk around the rock in 10 minutes.

Last stop for the day: Emily & Jesse Gaps. I just stopped at Jesse Gap. I got back to Alice Springs about 4pm and checked into a motel for a good night rest.

The MacDonnell Ranges is one amazing place to visit if you have a chance. My trip to centre of Australia is coming to an end shortly. However, I still have a couple of places I want to get to  before heading up north. I will keep where I am going as a little secret.

John @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: 1. Amazing Formations in N’Dhala Gorge Nature Park; 2. Me at N’Dhala Entrance; 3. Inside N’Dhala; 4. Corroboree Rock; 5. Jesse Gap
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Bush Fire at West MacDonnell NP
Me Having a Dip in Redbank Gorge
Redbank Gorge
Ellery Creek Big Hole

Day 26: West MacDonnell National Park

I seem to be stuck here in the centre of Australia 🙂

There are just so many places to go. Today, I went on part of the Red Centre Way into West MacDonnell National Park. Although the mountain ranges are not the tallest I’ve seen but they just went on forever. It was quite impressive.

On the way to my first stop, the Redbank Gorge; I saw what I thought was a control burn. In fact, it was a bush fire starting up. I drove right pass the fire and see it burning away. Stopped at a lookout about 5km out and spoke to a guy who’s been camping there for 2 nights. He said he saw a little camp fire a couple of nights ago and the people probably didn’t put it out properly when they left. He saw the fire started to spread this morning due to the wind this morning.

After chatted to the folk for a while, I went on to Redbank Gorge. It takes a 2km easy walk along the already dried river. Once you there, these sandstone walls are towering over you. In-between them, there is the gorge. I can tell you that the water was freezing because I went in for a swim. You can get a sense of how massive theses sandstones are from the second image, me dipping in the gorge, and the third image, the Redbank Gorge itself (That little bit of water near the bottom right hand corner is the pool I was dipping in). It was very breathtaking.

After spending about 1.5 hour at the gorge. My second and last destination was Ellery Creek Big Hole (the forth image). It was just as breathtaking as the Redbank As the name goes, the water pool is lot bigger than Redbank and you can swim in it as well. By the time I looked at the time, it was time to return to Alice. The time just seemed to disappear when being in places like these.

On the way back, the bush fire had worsen and I could hear helicopter was dumping water onto it. The fire made quite a devastation in a few short hours that I went by. Friends, I am sure you do already but do please make sure your camp fire is out before leaving the site when camping. 🙂

John (stuck) @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: 1. Bush Fire; 2. Dipping in Redbank Gorge; 3. Redbank Gorge; 4. Ellery Creek Big Hole
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Dunes in Kings Canyon
Me on Edge
Sun Burst
Survivor

Day 25: A Day of Rest

I’ve done nothing today… just wanted to have a rest from all the driving and hunting for photo opportunities. Instead, just wandered around the streets of Alice Springs. It was freezing this morning when I got up. I believe it was 1 degree or something like that. It warmed up as the sun went higher up in the sky.

I noticed today that one of the back tyres looking a bit flat and thought it would probably be a puncture from the rough road coming back from Kings Canyon last night. It was rough and little rocks were all over the road. I did think it would happened. Took the car into K-Mart Tyres here for a check-up and, sure thing, there was a puncture. They fixed the tyre and did a wheel alignment… hopefully this will be good for another 10000km.

In my free time today, looked at some of the places or tracks for my journey beyond Alice Springs. It looks like a lot of dirt road and no communications again. So you know I have no internet if you don’t see me posting in the coming days.

Time is 4:30pm and I am just having a rest in the car, sorting through some of the pictures taken yesterday (too many of them) and staring at the Desert Park in front of me. It is a peaceful and beautiful day in Alice indeed…

John @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: 1. Rock Domes in Kings Canyon; 2. Me Sitting on the Edge; 3. I Love Sunburst; 4. Still Surviving
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Kings Canyon
Me at Kings Canyon
Dusk at Kings Canyon

Day 24: Kings Canyon

It was the longest I have been out of communication since my trip. Kings Canyon is wonderful if you like hiking. I actually do like it and did a 5-hour hike today. Thats with the walking and taking hundreds of photos. I am literally exhausted by the time I hiked then drove all the way back to Alice Springs.

I could’ve stayed at Kings Canyon but thought since I done the Kings Canyon hike; that’s pretty much all there is to do. So decided to bite the bullet and get myself back to Alice so I can have a full day there.

Please excuse me if I keep this post short…really need to get some rest

-_-

John @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: 1. Stone Stack at Kings Canyon; 2. Self Portrait; 3. Dusk at Kings Canyon
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Valley of the Winds
Sunset over Kata Tjuta

Day 23: Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Wow.. I love this place… it’s totally up my alley. I can easily spend a week or two here just doing all the tracks. Did one today and it’s called ‘Valley of the Winds’ in Kata Tjuta. I loved it. To be honest, I like Kata Tjuta better than Uluru because there are so much more landscape to see. It was quite spectacular. I made a little time lapse of it as well and will post it later on.

After the hike, came back to the camp ground and had a shower. Then went to supermarket bought myself some needed healthy food… lentils and chickpea salad + a punnet of cherry tomatoes. Took that to my planned destination for my last sunset shots attempt. As usual, took heaps just in case. I am going to be very busy when I get back to Sydney to process them properly. Some may even be good enough to print 🙂

Tomorrow heading to Kings Canyon and that should be just as good if not better.

Luv y’all

John @ Uluru, NT

Images: 1. Second Lookout at Valley of the Winds; 2. Sun setting behind Kata Tjuta
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Ayers Rock
The Climb

Day 22: Uluru

Finally arrived at Uluru after 3 weeks and over 10000km travelled. There is something really spiritual about this place. I first arrived at the bottom of “The Climb”. It is a climb if you dare kind of thing. I am considering it but is unlikely 🙂 The picture was just the top part of it.

Drove around the rock for a hour or so looking for all the picture taking spots. Took some during the day and at sunset. Will try again tomorrow. There are also many walks that I want to do around the rock so I guess some exercise for me tomorrow. I can see it is easy to spend days here. Hopefully I will get the pictures that I want tomorrow then I can go to Kings canyon on Thursday. Can’t wait for that one neither.

Ok folks… am gonna get some sleep now. Have to get up for some sunrise shots.

xox

John @ Uluru, NT

Images: 1. Ayers Rock; 2. The Climb
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Video: Alice Springs to Uluru

Thought I would try something different. Trying out time lapse. The driving bit is a bit long will try to adjust next time. For now, hope you enjoy 🙂

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