Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Red Centre
I'm desparately trying to get caught up on this damn blog. All the touring and crappy internet cafes get in the way.
So I really couldn't go to Australia and not visit the outback, now could I? No, I couldn't. So I did. Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (Olgas) and Kings Canyon were on the menu for a 3 day camping tour in the red centre. This region is arid but not desert, but strangely enough, a good part of it is surrounded by a number of deserts. Uluru was big, very big. It was also a mass of swarming tourists. I did the 9km basewalk which although it was flat, was under the 35 degree belting sun and punished in a whole different way than Mt Sorrow. In the end, it was good, but I didn't feel anything more substantial than, for example, standing next to the rockies in Banff. It is humbling to be next to something that massive, but there was no spiritual force washing over me... perhaps that costs extra. Kings Canyon was a pure delight and my highlight of the tour. It was diverse in both landscape and flora. If you ever make it out here, take the extra day to see it.
Next stop: Adelaide and WINE COUNTRY! Oh baby, oh yeah, come to papa.
The Great Barrier Reef & Cape Tribulation
I arrived in Cairns on a flight from Brisbane. As a city, it sucks. I did a dive on my first day and got the hell out of town. The dive was very good, but not mindblowing. I have no pictures from the dive, but I do for Daintree National Park where Cape Tribulation lies. This park is lush rainforest, and it rivalled what I saw on Fraser. For the most part, it was downtime for me as I had travelled quite a bit for the past week, but I did get to climb Mt Sorrow. It was a challenging climb for me. 3.5km in and with a 450m elevation added in for kicks. The last 1.5km was 300m elevation, with leeches jumping on for good measure, so I was pretty messed up at the end, but it was worth it when I got to see the rainforest canopy leading down to the ocean. Have a looksee for yourself uhmkay?
