The Magic of Oz (part 2)
|
GREYHOUND PIONEER BUS FROM ADELAIDE TO ALICE SPRINGS
FEBRUARY 6-7
OVERNIGHT, 19 HOURS
My Greyhound for Alice Springs in the evening, loaded with backpackers. I was assigned an aisle seat. An old Aboriginal grandma sat next to me for a while and was eventually replaced by a female backpacker with no apparent heels.
|
Bus to Alice Springs
|
Every few hours the bus would stop. We'd all get out and have snacks, stretch out legs, or check e-mail.
E-mail was everywhere in Australia- even in tiny roadside rest stops. Just drop in a two dollar coin, ignore the old Aboriginal man begging for money and cigarettes, and voila, you're on Hotmail.
Camel rides for sale
The snacks, unfortunately, were not on par with the e-mail kiosks. Takeaway food in Australia seemed to consist of fried stuff and breaded fried stuff. Once I had the "chicken schnitzel," or fried breaded chicken cutlet, but it creeped me out because it was the chicken equivalent of having a hot dog for dinner. My other alternatives were French fries, meat pies, and anonymous dumplings.
The morning breakfast was the usual Aussie offerings -- egg and bacon on toast, beans on toast, or spaghetti on toast. Coffee was either white or black, and I couldn't convince anyone to give me black coffee with a tiny bit of milk.
Road to Outback
We finally reached Alice Springs in early afternoon, after enduring many a snide comment about the bus we were on. Seems the driver worked for McCafferty's bus company, even though he was driving a Greyhound. He made it clear to us that he though Greyhound buses were really crappy compared to the limo of buses-- his McCafferty's.
ALICE SPRINGS
FEBRUARY 7-9
|
Two nights of sleeping on public transport followed by the brutal heat of the Australian Outback had done me in. I splurged, and checked into the air-conditioned, en suite Best Western for $44. After a quick shower, I went out to see the town.
I had a hat already -- it was a cheap, cotton floppy hate with a big brim. Nothing stylish, but it kept the sun out of my face and squashed nicely into my backpack. Oleg, the Direct Kiwi Second Engineer, had instructed me to buy a black leather hat in the Outback -- the kind with crocodile teeth around the brim (think Crocodile Dundee). I tried it on -- it did look quite appealing. But fortunately, my rational side kicked in and stopped me from buying it. Where on earth would I wear a leather hat with crocodile teeth?
|
Marie Dundee?
|
I visited the ATM to get some money -- the good thing about Australia (besides internet kiosks and cheap prices) was that the ATM's are all absolutely free. I never had to carry around too much cash, because there was always a free ATM within a few blocks.
|
Alice Springs Center
|
Alice Springs was small, but it was the tourist gateway to the famous Ayers Rock. There were restaurants, souvenir shops, and aboriginal art galleries in addition to the standard K-Mart, McDonald's, Hungry Jack's (Burger King in the rest of the world), and Australia's own Red Rooster. Aboriginals were everywhere, and I stared furtively, having never seen a native Australian before. One old aboriginal woman got tired of the heat and removed her shirt, strolling calmly towards the library. Everyone else I saw was a backpacker, standing on the pedestrian mall no doubt thinking, "is that all there is to Alice Springs?"
The morning of the 8th found me in a tourist minibus, going to Ayers Rock with a driver, guide, and 11 other tourists. We stopped at Stuarts Well for bacon and eggs on toast (of course) and continued on through the Red Centre.
|
Ticket stub
The heart of the Outback is called the Red Centre because it's dry and the earth is a ruddy reddish-brown. Unfortunately, there had been an unprecedented amount of rain and the Red Centre was covered in lovely greenery.
We stopped at a roadside rest house for a steak lunch. I ate quickly and went outside to call Mark Norman from a payphone.
Mark worked at Perkins Shipping up in Darwin. I'd contacted him about getting a lift to Dili, and I needed to talk to him to plan my trip. He was himself in Dili, however, so I would have to call again.
There were kangaroos in a pen by the payphone. I got to pet them, and scratch them behind the ears, thus fulfilling my only mission in the Australian Outback.
Roo and joey
Roos
|
An hour or so later, we were at the Olgas, a rock formation near Ayers Rock. Paula, our guide, led us on a hike in Olgas Gorge. The heat was horrible and it was difficult to maintain interest.
I struck up a conversation with Paula.
"Do you know where they shot 'Survivor?'" I asked.
"That wasn't in the Outback. That was near Cairns. We consider that the rainforest. They'd never survive in the real Outback."
I agreed with her. I could barely convince myself to walk back to the minibus.
|
The Olgas
|
Unsafe to hike
Aboriginal cave art
Ayers Rock itself was impressive, but it really was just a big red rock. The Big Red Rock Eater from my childhood riddle book would've had a field day. At sunset, we stopped to view the changing colors of the rock.
Ayers Rock
No climbing Ayers rock
The parking lot was a madhouse, filled with busloads of tourists, their cameras, and champagne to toast the sunset with. The clouds came in, the colors were lost, and Ayers Rock stayed a muddy red-brown until the sun went down.
Crowd at Ayers sunset
Next: The Magic of Oz - part 3 (Darwin)