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
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
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
Mick the Miner Statue at Cook’s Landing
James Cook Statue
Black Mountain

Day 12: Cooktown

I had more time today to explore Cooktown. It is a relatively small town made up by a handful of streets. You can easily walk around the town in half a day. It has a nice sea dock where locals and tourists fish. There’s also the Botanical Gardens and a couple of bays. I will try to go to the bays later at dusk to see if I can get some good shots.

There are few statues around the dock area. James Cook, Mick the Miner and even a Chinese sculpture. I guess Chinese must have a bit of history here as well. A retired lighthouse stands on top of Grassy Hill here. I read that it was built in England and it was shipped over and installed back in 1885. That’s one ‘old’ lighthouse.

Just 25km south of Cooktown, there is this strangest mountain range formed by black granite boulders, the Black Mountain National Park. You can clearly see this from Google maps using satellite view. It is a must see for anyone travelling this way.

It is a Saturday today, so a bit of crowd was around earlier in the day. There was a little street market, tourists were stopping over and having their lunch at cafes. It didn’t last very long before it all went quiet again except the local pubs. I suppose this is how small little fishing town like this works.

It’s been good spending a couple of days here. Tomorrow, I will be heading further north; not sure where I will be staying yet so stay tuned.

^_^

John @ Cooktown, QLD


Today’s images: 1. Mick the Miner Statue at Cook’s Landing; 2. James Cook Statue; 3. Black Mountain National Park
Cyclone Memorial
Lest We Forget

Day 8: Mackay to Townsville

I didn’t blog last night because I was too tired after all the driving yesterday. It was a public holiday in Queensland and everything ‘Shuts’. So didn’t get up to much at all.

Got to Rockhampton and hung around for a couple of hours, took a few pictures. I like the town, it has character and quite pretty. As for Mackay, it was OK. There are many memorials around the city. Got up just before sunrise and snapped a few photos including the one here, the Cyclone Memorial.

Got to Townsville and didn’t feel like driving to Cairns so decided to spend a night. I like Townsville, it has has a little bit of everything. I went up to one of the hill in the middle of town and it is a popular exercise track for the locals at dusk. They were walking and jogging up and down the 3km steep hill.

Tomorrow I will go to Cairns and there I will stay for a couple of days. Mainly to organize everything I will need for the first real adventure of this trip. Going to Cooktown taking the coastal route via Cape Tribulation. After that, I will be heading over to Weipa then up to Cape York if roads are open. Can’t wait!!

Nite all

John @ Townsville,QLD

 

bw_tree
farm_field
Moonbi_Lookout

Day 2: Tamworth – Coffs Harbour

Woke up quite early this morning. Drove into Tamworth CBD but shops weren’t open yet. So drove to the Golden Guitar and took a few pictures then went on for a drive around the out skirt of town.

Tamworth is not really a very big town and not much to do. So decided to head off a night before schedule. Drove another 300km tonight and just got to Coffs Harbour. However, have no booking for campsite. Guess sleeping in the car for the night and find somewhere in the morning.

Signing off

John @ Coffs Harbour, NSW