Outback Pictures Part #2

Outback Adventures Part #2

Hey Everyone,

We left in the morning from Hawker to do our hike in Flinders Range. The day started off beautifully, but unfortunately, we got hit with heavy rain halfway up the mountain. Soaking wet and cold, we took quick pictures at the top and hurried down. We than began our drive to Quorn, the second town in Flinders Range we planned on camping. Unfortunately, because of the rain, we scrapped that idea and decided to stay in a hostel in Port Augusta, a nearby town. This hostel called itself the Flinders Hotel, and actually turned out to be quite a bit nicer than any hostel I had stayed in whether in Europe or Australia. The next morning was an especially long drive through the outback to the opal capital of the world, Coober Pedy. On the way, we stopped at a Salt Lake that definitely reminded me of the Dead Sea. When we arrived in Coober Peddy, we found out that there was an aboriginal reservation right near by. This was my first time in Australia coming into contact with indigenous Australians. Coober Pedy is a fascinating town because it has a sizable population living underground. In fact, the hostel we stayed at was underground. We also visited an underground Orthodox church that was very interesting. I also met a very friendly Belgian student who was doing a documentary for his university on the underground homes in Coober Pedy. He took a group of us up to the highest point in the town and pointed out where the Aboriginal reservation was located. The next morning we took a tour of an opal mine and of a luxurious underground home. The mine was very interesting, there was a small piece of opal in the rock with a sign next to it indicating that it was worth about 40,000 dollars. The home was beautiful and had a wine cellar and a pool. The woman who had originally owned it had it built when she first moved to Coober Peddy back in the 1970's. We than made our way even deeper in to the outback towards Uluru (the Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock). The southern outback is incredibly flat with lots of brown shrubs and bushes. It stretches on for miles and miles west until you hit the mines of Western Australia. There were also stretches of highway where there was no one living within 400 miles of where we were. Over the horizon, a large landmass appeared. It was red and flat and seemed to be perfectly symmetrical. We got excited thinking that it was Uluru, but it turned out that we made the same mistake that thousands of other tourists make, it was Mt. Cook. When I read in the tour guide that Mt. Cook is three times the size of Uluru, I began to feel that I would be underwhelmed. However this was not to be the case. We arrived at the campsite for Uluru in the afternoon and immediately set up our tents. Since this is a popular tourist destination, there is a lot of space to camp as well as three hotels and a few restaurants. We than set out to seen sunset at Uluru, which is around a half hour from the tourist center. It was truly a special experience. Rising up from the Outback, Uluru looks like something from outer space. It is composed completely out of red sandstone, and is literally an "island mountain," the last remnant of a mountain range that eroded over time. We returned to our accommodations, and I decided that it was time for a shower. Lucky for me, the public showers were infested with insects. I saw centipedes, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, and a green praying mantis as I showered that night. That night we all slept in our 13 person tent, yes, we had a 13 person tent. The next day was the longest hiking day. First we woke up at 5 in the morning to watch the sun rise on Uluru. It started out beautifully, but than unfortunately, the clouds came out and it was a little bit of a bummer. We then all made our way to Kata Tjuta, or The Olgas, the other special rock formation in this area of the outback. The Olgas are a series of large, bald, domed rock outcroppings located about a half hour drive from Uluru. The hike was an easy 3 hour loop through The Olga's. The only two things that made it unpleasant were the flies and the heat. After recuperating at the Aboriginal Heritage Center, we began our late afternoon hike around Uluru. This hike was very enjoyable because it allowed us to see exactly what Uluru looks like up close. It is completely red and steeply sloped. There were however certain rock walls that had long cracks in them which I assume had been caused by water over time. Later that night, a few friends and I were upset to discover that the gas jerrycan in our trunk had leaked. While my bag had been closed, one of my friends got gasoline all over their clothes. The rest of the night was spent scrubbing the trunk and airing it out. The next day was our last drive, from Uluru to Alice Springs. On the way, we stopped to help some Aboriginals whose car had broken down. Their tire had to be changed, and they didn't have a jack. We then stopped at King's Canyon, a beautiful canyon with lots of native wildlife. The hike was very tiring, but was made very special when we found the trail down to the waterhole in the center of the canyon. It was one of the best moments of the whole trip, swimming in that water for that hour and a half or so. We made it into Alice Springs very late at night, around 11:30, and had to wake up the hostel owners to get in. The next day was rainy, but I took part of the day to walk around Alice Springs. Frankly, it was depressing. There were a lot of poor Aboriginals begging on the street. We were in a art store looking for authentic aboriginal artwork and didgeridoos when a poor Aboriginal woman walked in trying to sell a piece of artwork. The shopkeeper basically threw the woman out of her store in a very aggressive fashion. It was very uncomfortable. It felt like a larger Coober Pedy, but with none of the charm. And now, 3 cool stories out of Australia. Carl Williams, one of the Australia's most notorious gangsters, was murdered in Australia's most secure prison. Since it took prison guards 25 minutes to find him, there is widespread speculation that corrupt policemen might have been behind his murder. Australia recently passed their version of universal health care. Public hospitals will now be funded out of Canberra instead of by the individual state governments. In sports, the Melbourne Storm, a national rugby league team, were stripped of their championships in 2007 and 2009 because they cheated the salary cap. They basically hid the fact that they were spending an extra 2 million a year on their players. Australians are calling it the biggest sports scandal in the nation's history. More to come...

Outback Pictures Part #1

Outback Adventures Part #1

Sorry for the long break, but I have a lot of info to share on the last month or so. Passover already seems like it was weeks ago, oh wait, it was, but it is still worth writing about. Thanks to my mom and our friends the Paley's, I was set up with a nice family called the Schmerlings for the first Seder. Lane, her husband, and her three children, one of whom is already a doctor were all excellent hosts. They live in Carleton, and upper middle class suburb of Melbourne with a significant Jewish population. Their Seder was traditional but did not fixate on the order as much as Seders I am used to. This proved to be my downfall when I had finished eating dinner and realized I hadn't had any Charoset. It was embarrassing to realize it had already been cleared from the table. No one had told me it was served. Another plus for the Schmerling's Seder was it came in at a cool 4 hours, a perfect amount of time for a Seder. The second night of Seder was spent with the Schmerling's closest friends. They were wonderful hosts as well. Following the Seders, I had my week long Easter break to look forward to. My friend Kev and I organized a week long road trip to Alice Springs. The group ended up being 13 people traveling in three rental cars. My car included Kev, myself, our friend Joe from Rutgers, our friend Ali from Minnesota, and Dave, the frenchman. The second car was composed of Colleen and Ann Marie, both from Minnesota, Zsoka, a Hungarian from Budapest, and Latrisha, a German living in Ibiza, Spain. The last car had Kenny from Ireland, and Etan, Jonatan, and Edy, all Mexican Jews from Mexico City. Instead of going the fastest route from Melbourne to Alice Springs, we decide to go via the great ocean road and Adelaide. The trip ended up being a total of 1,403 miles, or the equivalent of driving from New York City to New Orleans and then driving another 100 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. The reason we took this out of the way route was because the great ocean road is one of the most scenic roads in the world. Highlights of the road include spectacular Southern Australia Coastline, and amazing natural land formations like the 12 Apostles and "The Gorge." The first day of the road trip was spent driving from Melbourne, along the great ocean road, to the small town of Warnambool. Along the way we stopped at the delightful seaside town of Lorne, where we took a beautiful hike that led us to an outlook overlooking the town and the coast. The highlight of the first day was seeing the 12 apostles. The 12 apostles are freestanding limestone rock formations off the coast of Australia. There aren't exactly 12, the ocean continues to destroy them, but they are still incredibly impressive. By the time we got to Warnambool, it was very late, and we were all very hungry. We found a place called Pinky's Pizza where we able to order two giant pizzas that sated everyone. The next morning, we began the long eight hour drive from Warnambool to Adelaide, the capital of Southern Australia and the "city of churches." We arrived in Adelaide in the late afternoon and immediately took a short walk through the city. I got to see Adelaide's university which was very pretty. It is located right on the River Torrens and is much greener than the University of Melbourne. That night we stayed at Cannon's Backpackers, a fairly nice hostel located in the center of the city. For dinner, my friends ordered "floaters," meat pies drenched in pea soup. Needless to say, I did not partake in this Southern Australian tradition. That night we experienced the night life in Adelaide. Unfortunately, some of my friends were foolish enough to wear flip flops. The bouncers rejected them at every bar until we finally found one desperate enough to let us all in. It was a fun night. The next morning, I woke up at 11:00 and immediately freaked out because check out was at 10. Lucky for me, it was daylight savings time, on top of that, Adelaide is in a timezone a half hour earlier than Melbourne, so I was fine. Our next stop in the trip was Flinders Ranges, north of Adelaide, and the southern region of the outback. On the way to Hawker, the town in Flinders Ranges where we would camp that night, we stopped in Woomera. Woomera is where the Australian army tests their missile and weapons system, when you arrive there, you understand why. It is small and dusty and has one store. It does however have old weapons systems that compose a very interesting outdoor museum. Once we arrived in Hawker, we took a short walk out of the campsite to see the sunset and were introduced to outback flies. They fly around your face and don't even try to bite you. They just attempt to enter your mouth, nose, and eyes. Very annoying part of otherwise gorgeous scenery. More to come tomorrow....