All posts tagged Travel

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
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , 0 0
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
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , 0 1
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
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 2
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
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , 0 6

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 🙂

13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 3
Devils Marbles
Karlu Karlu

Day 21: Alice Springs

After 2 uneventful days; things are looking up again. Left Tennant Creek early morning and headed for Alice Springs. Not far south of Tennant Creek, came across the Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu). There were all these gigantic granite boulders scattered across an rather large area. The boulders are balancing on top of each others making it quite a landscape.

The scenery started to change as Alice Springs was getting closer. There were more mountain ranges in sight. However, these mountains are all in ‘red’ and some are rather spectacular. They all made me more looking forward to Uluru and the Kings Canyon which I am going tomorrow for 2 nights.

Alice Springs is much bigger than I expected and full of people. First motel I went to was full then the second one just happened to have a rescheduled booking so I took it. I might stay here for couple more days on the way back from the ‘Rock’.

xox

John @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: Devils Marbles near Tennant Creek, NT
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , 0 0

Day 20: Goodbye Queensland, Hello Northern Territory

Have to admit that I didn’t realised some parts of Australia are so ‘flat’. It was a bit of a shock to the system after all the off-roading, mountain ranges in the last 2.5 weeks. To be honest, the drive in the last couple of days was pretty boring. The scenery didn’t really change much. But the most boring bit would had to be the Barkly Hwy after Camooweal. It was nearly 450km of ‘almost’ straight piece of road. It was like being on a treadmill without doing any running. I suppose I did expect this would be the case before the trip start so shouldn’t really ‘complaint’

Obviously I had heaps of time for my mind to wander about. A couple of things came to mind:

  • It amazes me that driving on a long road trip like this makes people a bit more connected. What I meant was that 8 out of 10 drivers from the on-coming traffic would respond to your waving gesture. They waved, I acknowledged or vice versa. Kind of like “better say hello because he or she probably is the last person I see for a while”. Try that in the city and see how many would wave back!
  • I swear that some animals are either suicidal or ‘plain’ stupid. They will just run, jump or fly right in front of your car. No wonder why I saw so many corpses on the road this trip. But then there are the smart ones like cattle and horses. They would ran back to the side of the road when your car is rumbling down the highway. So far, I have avoided hitting a few roo’s but did hit a few birds.
    One I hit today on the Barkly Hwy and later found it was stuck and hanging on the front bumper after I arrived in Tennant Creek. I felt really bad…. totally hate hitting animals …. it sucks!

After 5 long hours after leaving Queensland border, finally arrived Tennant Creek. Staying at a caravan park tonight for a good sleep then off to Alice tomorrow.

xox

John @ Tennant Creek, NT

Image: Border of Queensland and Northern Territory
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 0
Wallaroo at Undara
Wild Life at Undara

Day 19: Undara to Karumba to Gregory

There were so much wildlife at Undara that couldn’t help myself taking some shots in the morning. Undara was a pleasant unplanned surprise.

Left Undara only knowing that I was heading West so I followed the Savannah Way pretty much all the way. Passed through a couple of towns and there were really not much there in that part of Queensland.  My goal was to get to as close to the border as possible then go south to get on the highway to N.T.

Normanton was where I was heading. Not a bad country town or should I say cowboy. There were many ‘Rodeo’ signs around town.

Karumba, another nice surprise. Nice town just on the Gulf of Carpentaria. First thing I noticed here was the forever changing clouds in the sky as I am a self-acclaimed ‘Cloud Chaser’. Then I found out this is where you can see the ‘Morning Glory’ phenomenon just before the wet season begins. For those of you don’t know what M.G. is; it is a cloud formation can only be seen on the Gulf of Carpentaria and Gulf of New Mexico. (Google it if you want to know more 🙂 ) …. It is rather ironic to think that I like clouds and my work is around cloud as well.

Anyway, spent a few hours there in Karumba and had a couple of sandwiches in the picnic area… fed the birds that were hanging around… It was time to move on.

Basically, just drove until I was tired then stop on the side somewhere overnight. And the little town I stopped and slept in was…. Gregory. It was the closest that I can get to Gregory for a while.

John @ Gregory, QLD

Images: Wildlife at Undara Experience
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , , 0 0

Day 18 (Part 2): Undara Volcanic National Park

OK, this one just going to be a quick update…

The lava tubes are lot bigger than everyone thought and it is quite spectacular. It is listed as one of the 100 things to do before you die, so I leave it up to you. This place, Undara Experience, is nestled with all these old train carriages which they have converted into cabins, bar and eating area. It is a rather interesting idea. There are also plenty of visitors with their caravans; some are pretty ‘lush’.

Just had myself a rib-eye and a cold beer. Bit of luxury for the journey 🙂 Tonight’s entertainment, apparently there is going to be an open camp fire, trivia and singing along. Will be interesting and hopefully I can get some people shots which I haven’t done any this trip yet.

Image: Undara Lava Tube

 

13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 0

Day 18 (Part 1): Undara Volcanic National Park

So far, my favourite area is definitely the Atherton Tablelands region. IMHO, it is just breathtakingly beautiful. It is definitely an area that I would considered for our “retirement” one day. It was the only place so far in my journey that I would have stayed longer. However, I am keen to get to the centre so just have to come back with the family one day.

I am heading to Undara hoping to get on a tour to the longest continued lave tube in the world. On the way, stopped at Ravenshoe, the highest town in Queensland at 930m above sea level. There was this place called Windy Hill not long before Ravenshoe. I could understand where the name came about…. the wind was so strong that I could hardly held my camera steady. Windmills are the feature on the hills and there couldn’t be a better place for them.

Arrived at Undara shortly after midday and was glad that camping sites and tour are available. So booked myself in for the 3:30pm tour and a night of accommodation.

It is now 2:21pm and sitting here at the bar having a ‘Flat White’ and waiting for my tour; thought I would do a quick post. I will try to do a second post later on to tell you about the lave tube walk.

xox

John @ Undara Volcanic National Park, QLD

Image: Fruit Bat Falls at Cape York Peninsula
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 0
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