Outback Excursion 1: The Camel Ride...

Last Thursday Clarice and I left for our much anticipated trip to the Northern Territory. Getting up before the crack of dawn, we caught our flight and arrived in Alice Springs, NT without much difficulty.

Six o'clock Friday morning, again before the crack of dawn, we were picked up by Paul - our guide for our 3 day camping excursion with 17 other people. Our group hade several French people, a couple of Germans, some Nederlanders and another American couple. Everyone was very nice and we made some new friends as the days passed.

Our trip map. Start at Alice Springs at the top right, then run clockwise.

Our first stop, a couple of hours outside Alice Springs, was at a camel ranch were, besides the needed bathroom break, we were offered the chance to go on a camel ride - a chance Clarice was happy to take advantade of:

After the ride we hopped back in the truck and drove another couple of hours to our day 1 campsite. The company we decided to tour with has permanent camping locations complete with tents, camp beds, sleeping bags and restroom facilities. Apparently Clarice did not even tell me about another option that would have had us sleeping out under the stars on the ground! Oh well, maybe next time.

Our first campsite and the ride...

Our first tent... they were all the same.

After a quick lunch, we loaded back into the truck and headed off to our first geological/Aboriginal location: Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta, called "The Olgas" buy the first explorers, is a formation of 36 large stones that are mostly composed of granite and basalt. To the Aboriginal people it is a "Men's Only" location. Women are not allowed. We hiked in a gorge between 2 of the largest boulders, taking in the beautiful red/orange color and the high, blue skies. The rocks are the red/orange color of the Outback desert because when it rains the rock becomes wet allowing blowing sand and dust to stick to the surface. Tremendous beauty.

I've got a beautiful wife

Last up for the day, a magnificent sunset at Uluru (Ayers Rock) - probably the most important Aboriginal site. Uluru is a giant monolith - made up of 1 large rock. While Kata Tjuta, less than 20 kilometers away, is a comglomerate of basalt and granite held in a sandstone matrix (cement), Uluru is one, single, large (HUGE) sandstone. The Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjara Aborignial people now "own" the entire park and run/care for the park in cooperation with the park rangers. Visitors love to climb the rock, but the Aboriginal people ask visitors not to climb it. The climb traces the route Aboriginal young men have traditionally taken to a ceremony/rite of passage. The Aboriginies do not share very much of their beliefs, so it is not entirely certain what the significance of the climb is to their beliefs, but they genuinely do not want people climbing. They allow it, probably because they get the income from park entry fees, but the frown on it. For this sunset though, we were there to take photos and bask in the gorgeous sunset.

Truely magnificent. If you do not see God's glory in His creation you are not looking. The pictures came out wonderful, but the pale in comparison to actually being there. My only "complaint" was there was no puffly clouds to broaden the colors.

After sunset we trekked back to camp for dinner and a frigid night. I slept just fine, Clairce was a little cold. We went to be tired and needing a good sleep in preparation for Saturday's 5:00 AM wake up call.

More tomorrow...

Jon