Alice Springs and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

By: Brendon

The day after our bus tour through the desert we woke up early once again to hop on our next bus tour to see Uluru (Ayers rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). This tour was 3 1/2 days and we were camping every night in Swags (a pretty Aussie thing to do). Swags are basically large canvas bags taht have sleeping pads and sleeping bags in them. The tour was really great and Uluru and Kata-Tjuta were absolutly beautiful but so was Kings Canyon which is much less known than the other two. We got to watch the sun go down twice on Uluru and also got to watch the sunrise twice. The first sunset/rise the weather was pretty cloudy but the other sunset/rise was perfect with not a could in the sky. During our tour we also did quite a bit of hiking. The first full day we had we did two hikes; One was through the Valley of the winds in the Kata Tjutas and in the afternoon we did the hike around the base of Uluru. Those two hikes together were around 17 km. The next full day we had we did a great hike in Kings Canyon which was around 7 km. All of the hikes were quite different and really enjoyable. The camping in swags was really nice. It was nice to camp right under the stars next to a roaring fire. The first two nights were a little cold but definitely managable but the third night was really cold and I was up most of the night and when I got up in the morning my sleeping bag was covered in a light frost. Kristin however was toasty warm as she had rented an extra sleeping bag and was the ONLY one on tour with two bags (everyone else woke up freezing)!!

Our swags around the fire at our firs ttwo nights camping spot.

Kristin at the base of Uluru.

One of the giant domes of Kata-Tjuta.

Some other people in our tour hiking the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta.

Kristin and I with the sandstone cliffs of Kings Canyon behind us.

Kristin and I with Uluru behind us at Sunset.

Uluru in all its glory at sunset.

Kristin and I in the Valley of the Winds.

Kristin ready for her WARM nights sleep in the swag!

Desert Venturer Bus Tour

By: Kristin

From Carins we decided to take a 3 day bus tour into the centre of Aus. We could have flown for the same price so thought it would be fun to get on a bus and drive the 2100km. There were 32 other people on the bus (mostly in their 20's and 30's) from all over the world..Korea, Canada (a couple from Montreal), France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, England, Ireland..so a really interesting mix. Each day we spent the whole day driving leaving before sunrise and getting to our night accomodation after dark (around 6:30 or 7pm)...so it was a driving marathon. But we had lots of chances to get out and do some short walks and see some small towns (and I mean small...like population 6) along the way.

The first half of the first day was driving south and west through the rainforest and Atherton Tablelands so very green forested areas and huge trees. The next day we had less and less trees, just little bushes. Then on the last day it was pretty much red sand desert for the whole day. To actually see the change in geography was really interesting.

Many of the roads we were driving on were dirt roads and they ran through cattle "properties" or stations or ranches. We saw some "ringers" (or cowboys) mustering some cattle. And we saw a helicopter mustering the cattle too. it is very common to use helicopters when mustering catttle because the properties are so big out in the outback (avg. 50 000 sq km). That was cool! All of us got out of the bus and pretty much took over the road as we took pictures (don't worry there wasn't any traffic)!

We stopped at a couple working cattle stations along the way for a short pit stop and to pick up snacks. These are the only places to get fuel and food along the way and you could also camp at many of the stations.
We saw many kangaroos, cockatoos and wedge tailed eagles along the way. And lots of red dirt! Our bus driver was lots of fun and organized some games for us to break up the many hours just sitting (and the tv was broken so no movies). The best game was bowling down the aisle of the bus with water bottles and an orange.

Crazy outback ute (pick up truck).

Paved road meets dirt road.

The bus on the side of the one lane hwy at sunrise.

At Wirrelyerna Station where we stayed the night and dined with kangaroos and puppies.

Flat as...no trees...lots of dirt!

We went on a "nothing" walk along this road and saw nothing.

Giant termite mound.

Tropical North Queensland

by Brendon:

After Cairns we headed north to Port Douglas (about an hour north of Cairns) to spend a few nights and do a day trip to Cape Tribulation. The whole area around Cairns is the Wet Tropics region of Australia so it is all rain forest. The whole area is also known for the saltwater crocs which are quite agressive and do kill a few people every year. On the way to Port Douglas we stopped into a croc farm/zoo which was really informative. We had a chance to view both salt and freshwater crocs.
Port Douglas was a nice seaside town but is very touristy and there are resorts and golf courses lining the streets. Cape Trib. was a bit of a drive and we even took a ferry across the Daintree River. There is not much development up in the Cape as it is all beautiful rain forest. We didn't have the greatest weather for our trip as it rained on and off all day but hey...I guess it is a rain forest isn't it!

These croc signs are everywhere warning people not to swim in the waterways of northern Queensland.

Some hungry Salties ready for there feeding. These crocs grow to
around 8m and way up to 1200 kgs.

Another salty trying to grab its lunch!

Well it's not Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) but this guy was
still crazy enough to get in the croc pen!

At the Port Douglas markets drinking coconut milk.

After drinking the coconut they cut open the coconut and shred the flesh and
we ate it with honey poured over it. YUM!!

This is Mossman Gorge where Kristin and I took a hike through
the rainforest of Daintree National Park.

The view of the mouth of the Daintree river from a look out near Cape Tribulation.

The beach right near the tip of Cape Trib. Apperantly it's a great walk along the beach but as you can see the weather isn't that great so we didn't do the walk.