Palm Valley

I spent my last vacation day on a trip to Palm Valley, about 2 hours outside of Alice Springs. On our way, we stopped at Hermannsburg, which was a German missionary for Aboriginal people. It was dusty and small and pretty old.

We then drove some more and went on a short walk to a lookout. I love the desert scenery.



Then it was time for lunch and onto palm valley. These palms are called red cabbage palms and are found nowhere else in the world other than in this valley. They are also Australia's only native palm. The hike through the valley and up onto the rim was incredible, although the only wildlife we saw was a few lizards. This is probably because there hasn't been any rain in a long time, so the animals are spending more of their day sleeping and have been moving elsewhere in search of water.



So yes, great way to spend my last day in Alice Springs. Now I'm going to check out of my hostel and later this afternoon I am catching a train that will take me back to Adelaide, where it is FINALLY warming up!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!!!!!!

Alice Springs

I am now back in Alice Springs after my Uluru trip. I have two days here, and so I decided to spend today wandering around, and tomorrow I have booked a day trip to the Western MacDonnell mountain ranges. I really like Alice; when I step outside of my hostel the surrounding environment is nice and familiar, even if it does have black-footed wallabies in the rocky hills.

I woke up a little late and decided to go to the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, which I had heard good things about. I absolutely LOVED it. The setups were great, and I really enjoyed a lot of the signs.

This is a black-headed python. It is believed that their head is black so they can warm themselves up quickly by simply sticking their head out of their burrow. The black colour helps the brain warm up very fast, and so they don't need much time to bask to become active.

And this is the world's most venomous snake, the Inland Taipan. It is found in central Australia. Note that there are no flashy colours, no rattles, nothing. Just a simple black/brown snake that can KILL YOU. Its fangs are only millimeters long, though, so jeans are enough to thwart it. Take that, Inland Taipan.


Since I didn't get any pictures of them in Kakadu, here are two young frilled lizards. These are the same size as the ones we saw, and I found out today that they are just juveniles. You can see where the frill opens up.

Okay, so these guys are my absolute favourites and I have tons of pictures of them. I didn't see any in the wild, which sucks. But anyway, these are awesome animals. It's like nature said, "Hey, Australia, we have this niche we'd like you to fill for an animal living in a hot, dry climate whose entire diet is comprised solely of small ants. It should preferably be round-ish and have spikes." And Australia said, "All right!" and totally went overboard with the spike thing.


These are thorny devils, who have the awesome Latin name of Moloch horridus even though they are really sweet and don't deserve it. When they walk it is slow and jerky and they hold their tails up really high in the air. SO CUTE.


In the back of the thorny devil enclosure was an adult frilled lizard. This thing was HUGE. It wasn't as long as an iguana, but the head was definitely the same size. Just imagine that thing getting angry and suddenly hissing at you with its frill wide open. Oh no!

After the Reptile Centre I went to go book my tour for tomorrow, which I did in town. Mom asked for some pictures of the pedestrian mall area, so here are some!


After that I went to the Alice Springs Desert Park, which is like a really, really small Desert Museum. It was very nice, though. They had tons of birds flying around and a fantastic nocturnal house with a lot of animals on display that you would never see otherwise. I got this great shot of a galah as I was walking; you can't see in this small version but it's looking up in a very cute manner.

Also, there were wildflowers on the path.


I got back to the hostel around 4:30, and I took a shower and just hung out wishing I could watch the new Office episode for an hour, then decided to get some dinner. I was walking around the town area when I saw a sign for Keller's Swiss, Indian, and Australian Restaurant. The fact that all of these foods had been brought together was intriguing, but I was certainly not dressed well enough and was not quite willing to pay over $20 for something on a menu that contained kangaroo vindaloo (although it does have a nice sound to it), and got something cheap at a small cafe instead.

Tomorrow I am off to see the rare Palm Cabbage, or something. This gorge I'm going to is famous for having this plant that is only found in that gorge and nowhere else in the world, so I hope it's interesting.

Uluru, day 2

It is ridiculous, I think, to wake up at 4:30 in the morning for any reason, but today it was worth it. I got up and dressed in anticipation for my morning hike in the desert, and then ended up watching the sunrise half freezing to death. It was COLD, and I thought I might die. The moon was huge and orange on one horizon, though, and the sunrise was just as spectacular as the sunset, which made me not regret waking up at an insane hour to become a Popsicle.

I began my hike at the cultural centre, two km from the actual base of Uluru, and I am ashamed to admit that I did not necessarily go to increase my cultural awareness of the Aboriginal people but rather because I refused to hike until it was a decent temperature outside. Around 8 I finally decided to just go for it, despite the fact it was still not a decent temperature. The day was beautiful, with a clear, blue, cloudless sky and a slight breeze that kept the flies at bay.

You technically can climb Uluru, which surprised me as I hadn’t even considered it before arriving. The local Anangu people really, REALLY dislike this, as Uluru is a very sacred place to them. However, it is good for tourism, as almost all tourists come to see a sunset and climb the rock, and the government keeps the climb open. As I approached, I could see the line of people climbing up, and they looked like little ants. Either way, it was a straight climb up sandstone and back down again, and so I opted to do the 10 km hike around the base.

I am so glad that I did. The dimples and grooves that you see from afar turn out to be huge gorges and caves up close. As you turn each corner, the rock face changes and the scenery around it changes as well. One minute you will be walking through red dunes and there will be nothing but sand, and the next there will be green trees and savannah grasses. I could see goannas (large monitor lizards) in the distance and the birds were awesome.

After the hike I headed back to the resort for some quality pool time. I had a ring of red dirt on my legs, and so I thought it was just dirt, but it turns out that some of the color remained after I scrubbed and now I have a crazy farmer’s tan. D:

So that was nice and relaxing. The stars are really brilliant out here, and I had dinner on a picnic bench underneath them. I’m headed back to Alice Springs tomorrow afternoon, and I have two days there. I’m thinking of spending a day in the town, and then doing a day trip to the Western MacDonnell Ranges, some of Australia’s oldest mountains.

Sunset at Uluru

Wow.

Today I got up at 6:30 to catch a bus for the five-hour trip from Alice Springs to Uluru-Kata-Tjuta National Park. There is only one place to stay close to the park, a collection of hotels and resorts called Yulara. I got in at around 1 in the afternoon and booked a shuttle to the park for 3:30 to see the domes of Kata-Tjuta and see the sunset at Uluru itself. Kata-Tjuta is comprised of huge rock domes that rise straight from the ground.

The weather didn’t seem great when I got there; it was really cloudy and windy. I had wanted to do this hike that is supposed to be fantastic at Kata-Tjuta, but unfortunately I got there too late and it was closed. Instead I did a quick walk between two of the tallest domes and headed to the sunset lookout spot for Uluru.

It turns out that the weather made for a perfect sunset. The dark and moody clouds behind the rock provided a perfect contrast for the colors. The sun started out behind clouds, but as it dropped lower and started to hit Uluru, it gained this amazing orange color that looked like it was glowing from the inside. As the sun got lower, the colors changed from blazing orange to deep scarlet. I put together this little sequence of pictures so you can get some idea, but you really had to be there. Sorry there are an odd number.

Tomorrow I am planning to see the sunrise and go on a hike around the base. I’m so excited!

Mmmm, camel.

So here I am in Alice Springs, in the Red Centre of Australia. I am so glad that all of my airplane flights for this trip are now finished, hooray!!

I had a window seat for the flight, and it was awesome to see the scenery change below us. It really put into perspective just how much of Australia is untouched. As the landscape changed to vast, open red spaces, pretty much all signs of civilisation died away. Occasionally there would be a long, straight dirt road stretching off into the distance, and the dirt on these was so red it gave the impression of veins crossing the desert. Coming up to Alice Springs was a shock; all of a sudden there were paved roads and buildings coming up from the middle of nowhere.

When I stepped off the plane, the hot, dry air hit me in the face, and I almost cried because it reminded me so much of getting off the plane in Arizona. The dirt around here is all red, dotted with eucalyptus trees and shrubs. There are little skinks and lots of parrots everywhere. My hostel is a five minute walk from the city centre, and because someone decided to stay an extra night at the last minute, I have a single room for tonight! It's awesome after staying in dorm accommodation for the past ten days, although I'm going to dorms tomorrow and I'll be in the dorms here when I get back.

Anyway, a lot of people don't like Alice Springs much, saying it's essentially a big shopping mall in the middle of the desert. I kind of liked the pedestrian mall area, it had a lot of art galleries and little outlet stores that reminded me of Santa Fe. The sunset here was incredible and all of the surrounding rocks and even the dirt changed all different colours.

I decided to have dinner in town rather than cook at my hostel. There is a lot of catering to tourists here, so the menus have a lot of bush meat on them. I decided to be adventurous and ordered a 'Bushman's Plate', which was a small dish with crocodile, emu, camel, and kangaroo meat, as well as various vegetables and spreads with pita bread. Out of the four meats, I liked the emu the best. It was smoked and I liked the flavour. The crocodile was kind of strange, and the camel tasted a little bit like when you have beef the next day after sticking it in the refrigerator. That's the best way I can describe it, anyway.

So now I am here, and tomorrow morning I am getting up very early and catching a Greyhound bus to Yulara, the closest place to Uluru. I am very excited!

Kakadu Day 2

So to continue from yesterday...

We woke up around 6:30 with the birds and had a light breakfast around the fire. We then headed on a 4WD road for about 45 minutes to Twin Falls, which was not exactly a pleasant experience. There was a lot of bumping and jarring and a point where we drove the vehicle through a river.

We were told that if your car or truck breaks down in a river, you have to climb out onto the roof until someone comes along who can help you out. This is because it is dangerous to go into the water due to the crocodiles. Sounds like fun.

Finally we made it to Twin Falls, and after a short hike we were at the plunge pool. The rock walls rose up all around us and the falls were actually running. It was an amazing area, and we spent a good amount of time just hanging around.


Afterward, we headed back to camp to pick up our stuff and drove to an area with Aboriginal rock art. The art there has been dated at about 60,000 years old, which is just incredible. While we were there we also saw a frilled lizard, which was awesome, and a black wallaroo with her joey. This was an incredible sighting because these animals are very rare and shy.



We stopped for lunch at a billabong, filled with all sorts of incredible waterbirds and a fantastic assortment of flies. It was so hot that when we sliced the cheese for the sandwiches, it actually started melting into the plates. The birdlife was wonderful, though, and we saw a Jabiru, which is a gigantic stork that towered over the other birds.

Afterwards it was time to return to Darwin. On our way back we stopped to see one of the termite mounds that were all over the place up close. These things were incredibly tall (over 12 feet) and are aligned with magnetic North. They also have air conditioning! The termites create an opening in the bottom and one in the top of the mound to create cross-circulation of air that keeps the mound a nice cool temperature. Their building materials include poop and spit, though, so how advanced can they really be?



When we got back to Darwin, we didn't quite want to part ways just yet, so our group decided to meet for dinner at a bar in town. I didn't eat or drink anything, because it was after sundown, but we had a great time anyway. The bar had lots of games going on, including limbo and paper airplane races, which were a lot of fun. Our guide even joined us for a little bit. After the bar we went out for ice cream and exchanged e-mails. I am so glad that I was with a good, fun group.

So this brings us to yesterday, where I essentially just sat by the pool and got weird sunburns on my knees. Yesterday evening I went to the Deckchair Cinema, an open-air movie theatre on the water. They set up lounge chairs that are exceedingly comfortable and have a bar selling beer, wine, soda, salads, and curries, and many people bring their own picnics. The screen is the same size as in a normal theatre, and the weather is just perfect at night. The moon and the stars were shining, there were fireflies, and you could see the silhouettes of the flying foxes and they crossed overhead. I really enjoyed myself and even found my way back to the hostel.

Today I plan to go to the Mindil Beach sunset market, and tomorrow I am off to Alice Springs. I have less than a week of vacation left, and then it's back to school :(

Kakadu Day 1

Happy Yom Kippur, everyone! I am being good and fasting today, despite the 92 degree heat + humidity. I have secured myself an enviable chair by the pool, so I'm just going to give you a quick summary of my time in Kakadu. It will be more awesome when I can post pictures, anyway. Here is the first day; I will post the second day tomorrow (or later tonight if I feel like it).

At 7:00 AM I met the rest of my group and the tour guide, and we began our journey in a 4WD truck with no air con into Kakadu National Park. We drove through eucalyptus savannah and dry floodplains (it is, after all, the dry season; below is a picture), and ended up at the Adelaide River, where we were to go on a 'jumping croc cruise'.
Essentially this cruise is on a small boat that travels out onto the river and then dangles meat over the edge, enticing the saltwater crocodiles to jump out of the water. The biggest one we saw was 6 metres (18 feet) long! Although the jumping crocodiles was a little touristy, it was awesome to see them in their natural habitat, basking on the edge of the river or making their way slowly through the water. The one in the first picture is one of the smallest crocs we saw.






They can jump their entire body length straight into the air, which was awesome to see. The best part was once we were dangling the meat over the edge, and a sea eagle came in a dive out of the sky and grabbed it. It was an amazing bird; about the size of a bald eagle if not a little bigger, and all grey and white. There were also mudskippers on the edge of the water, and although I was excited to see them they didn't seem that interesting to anyone else. As we left, we were followed by kites, small birds of prey that swooped and dove past us.


After the cruise, we continued into the park, stopping along the way at billabongs filled with incredible birds. Our camp was beautiful, surrounded by ridiculously tall rock faces.


After we left our trailer at the campsite, we drove for fifteen minutes over a crazy dirt road filled with bumps and potholes and deep water and sharp turns to reach the Jim Jim Falls hike. There were signs everywhere warning not to swim because of crocodiles.


As we hiked (in the incredible heat), the scenery changed from relatively sparse eucalyptus to lush, rainforest-like foliage, with huge, huge, HUGE rock cliffs rising all around us. We followed an incredibly clear river and occasionally spotted small freshies (freshwater crocodiles, smaller, and not quite as dangerous) along the banks. After a long scramble up rocks, we came to a white-sand beach at the plunge pool of the dried-up-for-the-season Jim Jim Falls.


It was incredible to see, and the sheer height of the rocks surrounding us made you feel very insignificant. Apparently, this pool was also safe for swimming, as it was cut off from the main river by the rocks we had climbed to reach it.


The water was amazing and wonderful after the hike, but I still had a hard time relaxing *completely* after seeing all those crocs. There were these little frogs on the banks who, when they were scared, would actually hop on top of the water. On the way back, we stopped at an outcropping of rocks and watched the cliffs change color in the sunset.




After our hike, we headed back to camp and made a big fire. We wrapped potatoes in foil and put them in the coals to cook. As we waited, we grilled sausages, kangaroo, and made a big stir fry. After dinner, our guide taught us a bit about playing the didgeridoo and passed one around. It is HARD, but we had a lot of fun. I really liked all the people I was with, and I will tell you more about them and the rest of the trip when I do my post on the second day tomorrow.


Now, I'm going to go back to laying by the pool.