Thursday, March 31, 2011

I’D WALK A MILE FOR A CAMEL

March 28, 2011
Today began with a coach ride from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock.  Along the way, to break up the six hour bus ride, we made several stops.  The first stop was a camel farm, where Jane and Deedee rode a camel around a track.  These were one-hump dromedaries, and both were thankful the ride only lasted about five minutes.  (Those Bedouins must be on something to ride those things all day)  We also saw a few wild camels along the roadside.  Camels, kangaroos and rabbits have overrun the country and culling them creates quite the debates.  Roos are native here but the others were imported.  Quite a surprise for us that there were so many ferrel camels here.  Seems these “ships of the desert” were brought here is the early settling period to provide transportation across the continent.  Once the Ghan railroad (named for the Afghan camel handlers) was developed and there was no need for the camels the handlers were instructed to take them into desert and kill them.  Having grown attached to the large beasts of course they could not and turned them loose.  So over the last 100+ years the camels have done what they still do best…populate.  The biggest problem is that they eat the grass that the cattlemen want for the cattle.  Competition for food with no natural predators creates a hard life.
Our next stop was a traditional Aussie road house called Mt Ebenezer.  We had lunch and everyone tried the meat pies – sort of like a pot pie and the typical lunch for the Aussies and Kiwis and for desert lamingtons…sponge cake covered in chocolate and coconut.
 Our final break was at Mt. Conner – a large red rock formation with resembled a toothbrush.  We also were able to see the salt lake, which actually had water in it.  This area had experience a 12 year drought, but the rains this past year have greened-up this normally barren desert. 
ROCK OF AGES
This evening, we experienced the sunset at Uluru (Ayers Rock was the British name).  Because this is sacred ground to the Aboriginal people, areas of the rock are off limits and photography is prohibited in of some areas.  The Aboriginal people have shared some of their history, but much of what Uluru means to their culture is their secret.  We did visit a cave area where paintings are visible, a watering hole, which is unusual in the desert, and the area that is available for climbers (weather permitting).  Uluru was part of the inland ocean once inhabiting this area 500 million years ago.  Uluru is a monolith, made of red sandstone (a fun fact for you geology geeks). 
After touring the rock, we drove to a viewing area to watch the sunset.  While the changing colors are subtle, we felt like Oprah as they treated us to cheese, crackers, canapés and champagne!  Once the sun set, we went to the small town in the resort area for dinner.
The downside of the outback is the pesky little flies.  They attack your eyes, ears and mouth – so wearing a fly net on your head is essential.  The nets do stop the flies, but made drinking the champagne a challenge (which we seemed to overcome)!  We sooooo overcame it that Andrea, our CGT guide, told us she had never had a group that finished all of the champagne before. (she also never met the travelin’ trio before)

No comments:

Post a Comment