Day one was great, getting to meet everybody and all the other good stuff. . . . I am very pleased again to be the on English person on the trip! There is Simon the driver and 10 others (incl myself). The Swiss friends from the last trip are here (Roman and Fabiene), there is a mother and daughter (Juliette and Bibi – Dutch), a German guy called Jurgen, a few Danish, Simon and Camilla, and a couple of other Dutch girls, Anita and Karina.

It’s now the 18th. . . . I haven’t updated for ages, I know. . .

It is gonna be short and sweet, as I couldn’t really do any typing in the outback. . . . But I think the photo’s will tell the story better. . . Wow. . . What a fantastic time!

So day 1, we stopped at Port Agusta for lunch, a little sleepy village. We then went on and passed through a sheep station and one of the many dried up rivers. . . Did a walk and climbed up some rocks to some aboriginal paintings. . . Then went off to find the spot for camping out. . . . We set up camp somewhere in the Flinders Ranges. . . . And this was my first experience of sleeping properly outdoors. . . . We slept in Swags, they are like a big bag that you put your sleeping bag in. . . . Awesome, just you, the bugs and the stars. . . . !

Day 2, woke up bright and early, as we did every day! Had brekky and closed up camp. . . First stop today was Wilpena Pound. Here we took a nice walk up to some lookout points. Beautiful views of the valley below and beyond. . . I walked across a huge fallen tree over a dried up river, then got up close with a Skint (lizard) and got some nice pictures. . . The first of many very close photos sessions with lizards, skints and dragons. . . !

We did loads of driving, as you can imagine, as we needed to cover about 3500km over the 10 days. . . . We were on one of the many dirt tracks and found an abandoned hire car! Not sure what had happened to it. . . . It may have been swept down there when they had the heavy rain a few weeks back. . . . ?!?! Anyway, took some pics. . . Simon went a little crazy a raced the truck through some big puddles. . . . The guys seemed to like it, so he went back and did it again. . . ! Was funny! But we did nearly get stuck trying to turn round. . . ! Simon, was an excellent driver though, through some treacherous roads!

We did loads of stops, at certain points of interest. . . But I choose not to write every thing down. . . We did stop and look at some really old fossils, and a lookout over the Wilpena Pound for lunch. . . . Loads more driving up to a place called Iga Warta, where we were staying for the night! I very small Aboriginal place. . .

http://www.igawarta.com/iga2.htm

They had a pool, so we all jumped in and as you can imagine, it was a great feeling. . . hmmmmmm! Met a few of the coolio guys there Terry and Sharpy. . .

Sharpy took us off to a Oacha Pit. Oacha is what they use to paint there faces with. . . ! So sharpy, gave us the background to it all and then painted our faces. . . . !

We then headed back to camp and Simon had prepared the food. . . . Food was always good. . . . It didn’t expect much, but we always ate well. . . ! So we had dinner, then Terry got his guitar out and started telling us lots of stories, some through song. . . ! Was a really nice experience! We were all sat round the fire and he even got us up singing and dancing! Was funny!

We made some traditional Dampa bread, that you basically bake under the fire, then wack all the dirt and dust off. . . . It great with homemade berry jam and cream. . . .No, it was really really nice!

Not quite so traditional, but a few of the guys had the TV on with the cricket, so managed to watch a bit of that with my beer. . . . Was chatting to a English guy. . . . England won, which was nice. . . And all the aboriginal guys wanted us to win. . . . . They don’t like the Aussy’s!

Day 3, another great nights sleep and up bright and early again. . . We left Iga Warta, but just before we left, Sparky came over to me and said he thought I was nice and he liked the English, then gave me a beer holder. . . . I was touched. . . !

Loads of driving today, we passed a huge coal mine pit, so stopped off to stretch our legs. . . . . I got a cool photo of this monster truck. . . !

We stopped at the side of the road, as we saw a big Pirente dragon. . . Got some coolio pictures. . . . !

We then went to meet Talc Alf. . . . Some dude, who in my opinion has been out in the sun to long! He does sculptures and stuff with rock that you make talc from. . . . But the best thing is, he is a little eccentric and has a theory on the meanings of letters. . . . Now this is a little hard to explain, so you will have to just go with me. . . . In fact, no, I cannot explain it. . . . I will tell you over a beer when I get back, sorry!

Anyway, as I was saying Alf was a little nuts. . . . And in one of his sheds he has a washing machine, now this is not any old machine that you plug in. . . oh no, that would be too easy. . . No, he has got it all rigged up to a bike. . . . So basically, you are on an exercise bike, which has a number of pulley’s that work the machine. . . . Top bloke. . . !

Stopped at a place called Marree for lunch. . . . Then more driving. . . Saw a huge dried up salt lake and some crazy huge art sculptures in the middle of nowhere. . . . !

Simon then said, we can go to this natural Spa. . . . . Awesome I thought. . . I love getting into the water as much as I can. . . . Now then, this Spa was about the size of 2 bath tubs together. . . .hmmmmm. . . Was really nice, but I was hoping for a swim. . . . !

We then headed off to the pub. . . Happy days. . . . This crazy little place again in the middle of nowhere, called the William Creek Hotel. . . . Got some good pictures, but basically people leave things in there. . . and it is all pinned up around the pub. . . . I left my Big Day Out ticket with my name on. . . . ! Had a few beers and put some tunes on the dukebox. . . Could have stayed there longer. . . !

Drove off and made a camp somewhere next to a creek, made the fire and watched a gorgeous sunset. . . . ! Felt very chilled out and at peace with the world. We had dinner at sat around the fire singing a few songs. . . As ever I was the last to sleep. . . But was the first to get up. . . !

Day 4, We packed up camp and then headed off to Coober Pedy. This place is the Opal capital of the world.. . . . They love it. . . . ! Digging it up all over the place. . . We had a walk round, we were planning on staying round here for a bit, so spent 10 minutes or so, looking for opals in the free area, got hot and bored, so went for a beer! We took a tour around one of the mines and saw the underground living accommodation. There are loads of places underground here. . . A hotel for instance!

We were able to have nice showers and get cleaned up and had a great pizza for lunch. . . ! Only restaurant we did on the trip. . . . Everything else we cooked ourselves. . .

So then before we headed off, we stocked up with beers and then went deep into the desert country. The place looked like the moon, supposedly. . . It was called the Painted Desert and lots of films had been done there, including Mad Max. . . .

Talking of mad, Simon, went a little crazy after driving for too long and suddenly stopped the truck really quickly, jumped out and ran off into the desert. . . . . He then came running back and threw some mud at the truck, unfortunately me and Fabiene were in the front and his door was open, so we got muddy again! Doh! So much for the shower!

Next to the road we stopped again, as we saw another huge Pirente lizard and then again as we saw a large turkey. . . they are quite rare and Simon said he hadn’t seen one for a few years. . . . ! They are not like the turkeys that we know. . . . Gobble gobble. . . !

We got to camp quite late and had some really nice soup and bread for dinner, we were not that hungry. . . Well, I managed to finish off a couple of slices of pizza later on with my beers. . . !

We all crashed out again around the fire and Simon was in story telling mood again, so that was quite nice!

Some bad news though. . . My iPod decided it didn’t like the heat anymore, so packed up. . . Doh!

Day 5, woke up as normal at 6am and really needed to pee, so ran off into the bush. . . . We all got up and had brekky and packed up camp. We then headed off for a short walk in the Painted Desert Hills. . . . Saw some great views. . .

We did loads more driving again and stopped at a place called Centipede Creek. . . A great waterhole. . . Loved into. . . Straight in, diving in off a tree. . . Bit dirty and muddy, but who cares. . . . ! Not everyone liked to swim, but there were the usual suspects, me, Bibi, Simon and Jurgen. . . Jurgen, however did opt out on this one! We chilled out here for a bit and a few of us had a beer . . . Then we headed off to the next town called Oodnadatta. . . We were given the keys to the railway museum, so had a wander around there. . . Wasn’t really a museum as such, but had some good history and lots of work from the local kids. . . The photos were nice. . . everyone always smiling. . .We should learn something from that. You don’t need much to be happy!

We had lunch here and a swim in this great pool. . . hmmmm nice! Again the usual suspects in attendance! We had a beer and a sing song with one of the villagers . . . Had was a little retarded, but a great guy, really friendly and called all men John. . . ! We then headed off to camp at a place called Eringa Waterhole. . . we got here early , so chilled out for a bit. . . I read my book, played a bit of footy and oh yeah, went for another swim. . . Today was good for swimming! Me and Bibi went for a good swim up the creek and stopped under a tree for a break before heading back and within seconds, the little Yabby fish were nibbling at us. . . felt a bit strange, so we legged it back. . . . !

We all chilled out again around the fire and Simon played some tunes on his guitar and told some more stories. . . . He also explained the song Waltzing Matilda. . . .

We all then had a very weird conversation about trumping. . . . ! hmmmmm. . .

Day 6, we left camp and walked up the track for a bit and simon caught us up in the truck later. . . Stopped at one of the cattle ranches (Mount Dare) for fuel and stuff and signed the visitors book. The guy there made me a really nice (huge) ice coffee. . . . We left there and crossed over into the Northern Territory. We saw the Finke river. . . Which is supposed to be the oldest river in the world. . ! We did loads of driving so I finished my book, then gave it to Fabiene to read. . . She seemed happy wit the present!

We stopped somewhere for lunch, but it was very very hot, so moved on pretty quickly. . . Stopped at a small place that had a pool and yes, you’ve guessed it. . . I was in like a flash! Chilled out there for a bit, before heading off again. We stopped at the side of the road, as we saw a traveler with his camels. I really old German dude who came over here years ago. . . He has been walking around Australia for over 5 years. . . We had a good chat with him and took some pics with his camels. . . Simon fixed his radio for him. . . All he had was like a gipsy cart, but he had a solar panel on the roof for power! I thought he was a really nice guy, so went to the truck and got him a couple of cold beers. . . . Simon gave me a courteous nod of appreciation. . . . Lots of driving again today, but on some better roads. . . Stayed in a really nice area in amongst the trees and stayed up late chatting with Bibi watching the shooting stars. . . !

Day 7, we were off to Uluru (Aires Rock). Great place, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t really like it here. . . You wanna know why? People. . . . There were lots of tourists. . . . gggrrrrrrr! Loads of little Chinese people running around taking photo’s. Now, as some of you maybe aware, the Rock is a sacred place for Aboriginals and therefore they asked you not to climb. . . However, due to government funding, you are allowed to climb it. . . They just ask you not to. . . Please don’t climb. . . What bit of that don’t people understand. . . ? It made me cross that people would ignore the request and still climb. . . . Anyway, enough ranting. . . The place was lovely. . . We walked around the whole base (9.4km). It was very hot though. . . My feet we on fire!

We then headed off to a resort. . . The proper camp ground with facilties and stuff. . . Again. . . I didn’t like it for the same reasons. . . . They did have a nice pool though!

We then headed back up to a very area to watch the sunset over the Rock. . . Popped the Champagne (I had some beers instead). Was fun. . . ! I also bumped into Alicia and Marilee again, which was nice and had a good chat with them!

We then went back to the resort and had dinner and a few of us headed to the pub. . . . !

Day 8, we got up really early, just before 5 am and headed off to the Olgas mountains to a lookout to watch the sunrise.. . . . Was very nice with the Rock in the distance, etc. We then walked the base of the Olgas (8km), again very hot!

Then back to the resort, some more swimming, bit of lunch and a chance to wash some clothes. . . We then hit the road again and camped out properly again! Yippeee!

Day 9, up early again (5am), to get to Kings Canyon. . . What an awesome walk. Proper trekking up into the rocks, etc. . . . Got up close and personal with a few more lizards and got some great photos. . . ! Yes guys, I did take them pictures. . . in some cases, I was 2 inches away! We had lunch then headed to Glenn Helens Resort. . . A small place with a pub. . . . hmmmm they had Guinness. . . Well not by the time I left. . . hahaha. .

There was a gorgeous waterhole there, so as ever we went for a swim and I was diving in off the rocks. . . great fun! We didn’t camp here, we were 5 minutes drive away next to the Finke river. . . . Me, Bibi and Anita did however walk back later for some Guinness. . . Cool 20 min walk. . .

Day 10, last day. . . Got up early and walked back to Glenn Helen’s, as I had decided to take another Helicopter ride over the Macdonald Ranges. Was great fun again!

We then chilled out for a bit and filled in the tour questionnaire and I burnt a few cd’s for the guys. . . We then headed of towards Alice Springs, stopping at a gorgeous waterhole for the last swim. . . ! Well not quite, I did swim again in Alice Springs!

At Alice Springs we got dropped of at our respective spots and agreed to meet for dinner at Bojangles. . . Great place. . . I had the Aussy mixed grill. . . Crocodile, Buffalo, Kangaroo and something else (can’t remember). We also had a play with a snake (see the photos) and the needless to say I also got pretty drunk. . . ! Top Trip. . . Top night! I also gave Simon $50 and said thanks. . . Great guy, made the trip a great experience! He said no but I insisted. . . !

So, now I am in Alice Springs. . . It’s not that nice here, a little intimidating. . . But hey whatever! Soon be off again to the great outback again up to Darwin. . . Can’t wait. . .

Ciao for now people!