So after lunch our adventure in the Outback continued. JJ had been giving us background information some of which I shared in the last post. However, this is where the learning really started. This is where we began to learn the true lessons of this region – the stories of the Aboriginal people, the heart and history of The Red Center.

Our next excursion began with a stop at the Cultural Center at Uluru where we spent an hour or so reading  and watching videos and learning a little bit about the Aboriginal culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to Kata Tjuta (Kah-tah Jutah).

Kata Tjuta (Many Heads) is a formation of huge red rocks about 30 kilometers or 18 miles from Uluru. It is also a sacred place for the Aboriginal people. It was the place where the men performed the ceremonial rite of passage – the place where boys became men. These ceremonies are holy and the Aboriginal people are a private people. Their ceremonies are not shared with the world or even with the opposite sex. Let me explain. In the Aboriginal culture, there was a clear distinction between “men’s business” and “women’s business.” The men were the hunters. They were ones that did the wall paintings that told their stories – their history. And the grandfathers were the ones who taught their grandsons.

The women were the gatherers, the ones who held the knowledge of plants – what was edible and which plant could be used for a stomachache, a burn, to promote or prevent fertility. And the grandmothers were the ones who passed this knowledge on to their granddaughters. More about this later.

 

We arrived at Kata Tjuta at around 4:00PM and the temperature was hovering around 102°, but it was a dry heat which made it okay – NOT. Despite the temperature, we hiked the 1.5+ kilometers into a small canyon where we learned a bit more about the area and its history and sweated copious amount of bodily fluids. I should insert here that JJ had passed out 2 liter bottles of water to each of us, at the first station we stopped at, and laid down the rule – “If you don’t have your water with you, I won’t allow you to go with me on the excursions!” It seemed a little harsh at the time – not so much now. We hiked back to the van and it was off to the next stop – Sundowners (cocktails at sunset) and a sunset view of Uluru – now that works for me!

We arrived at exactly the right time to get set up, get our snacks and drinks, and to prepare for the impressive show of sunset at Uluru (JJ is very punctual). Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not in the mood – there was a pretty thick cloud cover so watching the sunset on Uluru was not happening…heavy sigh. But wait when we turned around toward the west, we were delighted with one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.

The colors were beautiful and in the center there was a thunderstorm showing off with amazing lightning flashes. The crowd was mesmerized and we stood watching in hushed amazement for nearly half an hour until it faded. Wow! Thank you Mother Nature.

The next stop was camp, dinner – camel sausage (delicious and yeah, we rode a camel and ate camel all in the same day), kangaroo steak, salad, and desert – showers and bed by 8:30. We slept like the dead!

 

 

But not for very long, JJ had breakfast ready and was telling us we had 30 minutes until the bus left. That was at 4:30AM. We chowed down and left camp at precisely 5:00…ugh. We arrived at a hill near Uluru in time to watch the sunrise on the big red rock. In the still, early morning there was something majestic and magical about the place and we were to learn that this feeling is the spirit of Uluru.

Then it was on to get up-close and personal with Uluru itself.

We started out with a self-guided tour.  Reading the plaques and signs along the way we walked about half way around, about 5 kilometers/3miles. The rock formations are fantastic and it took us about twice as long as it usually would to walk it because I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

We finally met back up with JJ and the group at the designated time to meet with our Mala (one of the Aboriginal tribes) guide, Vincent. He would take us on the rest of the tour and explain a bit about the culture and history of the Aboriginal people and their relationship with Uluru.

The Aboriginal people had lived in Australia for over 33 thousand years and their numbers ranged in the 10s of thousands. They had developed a way of life allowed them to live and thrive in the harsh surroundings of the Australian Outback as well as in all the parts of Australia.

Vincent described more about men’s business and women’s business explaining that neither men nor women were dominant in the Aboriginal society. Each gender had its own jobs/”business”. They were dependent on each other and neither could survive without the other. They did not own the land but considered themselves a part of the land, a part of the natural order. For example, one of the practices the Aboriginal performed was back burning the land. They would set fire to the underbrush and large areas were allowed to burn. This practice served to get rid of dead brush, add much needed nitrogen to the soil, and it allowed the very hard seeds of the acacia plants and trees to crack so that they could sprout and grow. When the rains came, this bush area sprang to life with new growth providing food for the people and the animals of the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Aboriginal people were an integral part of the process and the land.

 

Vincent talked about how boys were taught and how girls were taught. He explained how various plants were used for food and medicine. He spent over an hour with us pointing out caves, plants, animals,

telling us the stories and explaining the sacredness of Uluru to his people.

    Using the ancient drawings and symbols, Vincent told us an Aboriginal story that was used to teach the children a morals lesson on honesty.

We left Uluru with a deeper understanding and respect for the people and the land.

Before we leave this part, I would like to point out that Vincent is college educated, a teacher, and for years, held an important position with a council that works with the Australian government in Aboriginal concerns. He works now to help his people and to educate those who come to Uluru.

 

After lunch we broke camp and headed to the next campsite in King’s Canyon. It was a pretty long trip with a stop at King’s Canyon Resort for a break and a swim before heading on.

We arrived at our campsite in time to set up camp, have dinner, showers, and again collapse in our bunks. This Outback exploring is hard work.

 

 

JJ showed some mercy the next morning and didn’t ring the breakfast bell until 5:30. We trouped to the mess tent and found breakfast and a container of scorpions waiting on the table.  JJ had generously collected them during the night for our perusal – thanks JJ. It gave me pause when I remembered trekking to the bathroom in the middle of the night in flip-flops…

 

We were off and running by 6:30 and at our next hike by 7: 00. This one was a hike around the rim of the canyon. The only trouble with it was that we had to hike up to the rim – 120m/500ft and it was already in the mid 90°s.

 

 

 

 

 

None-the-less, armed with our water bottles, up we climbed, and we spent the next 3hrs hiking the rim, taking in the sites and JJ’s knowledge of the land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sights were incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

About ¾ of the way around, we hiked down into The Garden of Eden. It is a beautiful ravine at the bottom of the canyon where we stopped for a break and snacks.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we had to climb back up the other side.

 

By the time we made it around to the climb back down the thermometer was registering 104°.  We made it back to the bus, barely. Was it worth it? After I’d cooled down and was back on the air-conditioned van – definitely. Seriously, it was incredibly beautiful and well worth the significant effort.

Then it was back to the bus, to camp for lunch, and then we were headed for the long journey home. But wait there’s more. I forgot to mention that this is the “rainy season” in Australia and so it is for the Red Center. When the annual rainfall is less than 2 inches per year, an excursion being spoiled by rain isn’t a big threat. We did get bits of rain every day on this trip but never enough to slow us down. That being said, we made a brief stop on the way home to look at a meteor crater. The skies were pretty clouded and just after we got off the bus the wind picked up and the skies opened up. The results other than getting wet were the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, a gorgeous double rainbow – WOW!!!

 Isn’t nature astounding!!!!!

and what a way to end our adventure – a promise of things to come.

Our journey to the Red Center was illuminating and awe-inspiring. I am truly grateful for the experience and thank you for letting me share it with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Center

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words but the Outback is too large to photograph.  So we’re beginning this post with a few definitions because to get the full experience there are some things you need to understand.

Alice Springs is a small city near the center of Australia and the only one within 1000 miles with an airport.

The Red Center – We have always heard and called it the Outback but Australians call it The Red Center. The soil in the center of Australia is rich in iron and, as you know, iron rusts even when it’s in the soil and in rocks so it is rust red. The distances are so immense that it is unimaginable. Even driving through the American Southwest does not compare. Imagine driving from Norfolk, Virginia to Kansas City and never crossing a river, going over a single bridge or highway, or seeing more than 5 or 6 other cars during the whole trip – that is The Red Center of Australia.

Cattle Stations – Even the poorest grazing land in the US will feed 3 head of cattle per acre.  The largest cattle ranch in the US is the Bishop Ranch in Hawaii at 225,000 acres or about 350 square miles.  In the Red Center it takes 3 acres to feed one cow.  Ranches are huge with some measuring more than one million acres or about 1562 square miles.  They are so large and far between that the owners have established their “Ranch Houses” along the highways as a type of truck stop.  They offer sleeping rooms, camping spaces, café’s and convenience stores to both tourist and drivers of Auto trains.  Auto trains are trucks pulling 3 full size trailers and are more than 175 feet long.  It is the only economical way of transporting goods over such long distances.

Uluru (pronounced oo-lah-roo) is the Aboriginal (native Australian) name, and new official name, for what was formerly known as Ayers Rock. It is the huge, red, flat-topped rock that marks the center of Australia. It is a sacred place. A place steeped in Aboriginal history and tradition. It is the Heart of The Red Center.

December 1, we flew from Cairns to Alice Springs – tropical rainforest to dessert – 80 degrees and humid to 98 degrees arid/dry. Alice Springs is a quiet little town and was the jumping-off place for our next adventure, and what an adventure it was.

We arrived early enough to do laundry and wander around a little. They had lots of little shops and pubs like The Thirsty Camel. They also had Target, Pizza Hut, and maybe some of you remember Woolworths – it’s now a large grocery store chain. Anyway, we were hungry for home cooking so we grabbed KFC (tastes like home) and hit the sack early – tomorrow starts early.

Before dawn, 6:05 AM, we were out at the curb ready to go. We didn’t realize at the time that this was a “late start” for this trip. Anyway, our mini (20 passenger) 4 wheel drive tour bus picked us up and here I’ll digress and tell you about our travel companions. There were 14 in our group on this adventure and we were an international group to say the least. We had a lady from Canada, another from Slovenia, a young man from Switzerland, a young woman from Sweden and another from South Africa, a couple from England, another from Belgium, a young couple from Sydney, a gentleman from Tasmania, and a couple from Virginia – that would be Tom and me. What an interesting mix which lead to some very interesting and enlightening exchange of thoughts, philosophies and world views. This is one of the many things that we really enjoy about traveling. We’re getting to know this world of our and its very diverse inhabitants. I left out the most important member of our group – JJ, our very knowledgeable and friendly guide/shepherd on this safari. JJ is a young man with a great deal of knowledge and a deep love and respect for the land and its inhabitants past and present. He explained what we were experiencing and gave us some of the history everywhere we went. He was terrific.

By 6:20 we were headed into the Red Center! I had always thought of the Outback as being a desert – very arid with lots of rocky sand and little vegetation. This land is very arid, an average of less than 2 inches of rain a year. This, however, is not a dessert. According to JJ it is, ”a semiarid scrubland” commonly known as The Bush – maybe because there were thousands and thousands of square miles of red, sandy dirt and bushes. Australia is rimmed by mountains and for the most part, the rivers flow inland where the water eventually disappears into the ground. “Where did it go?” you might ask. The answer is into two huge aquifers – underground lakes that supply the water for the interior, but it should be emphasized that both plants and animals have to work very hard to hydrate.

But I digress. As we traveled, 6 hours, we made several stops at cattle stations along the way. The first stop was a station and also a camel farm. (Camels were introduced to Australia early on by the Afghans. Being very suited to the climate and the terrain, the camels thrived. It is said that now there are more camels in Australia than there are people. Some are on farms but most are wild and free. We saw a small herd in the Bush as we traveled.)

Anyway, we stretched, visited the facilities, bought drinks (non-alcoholic) and of course went for a camel ride. That was interesting. It’s not a way I’d like to travel very far, but it was fun.

There was also an aviary with a variety of Australia’s parrot population as well as an emu – I took pictures.

Back on the van and on through miles upon miles of bush land.

As I said earlier, the trip took about 6 hours and we arrived at our campsite – a very long time since breakfast – in time for lunch.

 

In less than an hour we were off to our next excursion.  I’ll write more about that in the next exciting chapter of Tom and Charli Down Under.

November 25 – 28 The Northern Loop of the trip on the Coral Princess II.

We traveled during the night and tied up at the dock in Cooktown, Australia, a sleepy little village named for Captain James Cook who stranded his ship on a coral reef just off the coast of the town.  Stepping on to the shores of this town was like stepping back in time. We spent the morning in this pretty town which proudly displays its history with Captain Cook on plaques along a quaint little park that runs along the edge of the harbor and throughout the town.

After strolling through the park, John (one of our new found friends), Tom and I headed to Cook’s Lookout. It was a good walk up a pretty steep hill which, with the great meals on board the boat, we needed. Along the way we enjoyed the flora, fauna, and the plaques describing Cook’s time in the area. I mentioned fauna right? Well, I was taking a picture of the red flowered tree

and I heard a rustling in the bushes. I looked just in time to see a kangaroo tail disappear into the bushes – my first kangaroo!!! John caught a glimpse too and we were very excited. At the look-out we took pictures of the kangaroo statue and the quiet and lovely scenery before heading back.

As we walked, we heard another thrashing in the brush and out hopped a small kangaroo right in front of us! John was fast enough to get a couple of pictures – very, very cool!

Back at the boat we headed for our next snorkel stop off Lizard Island where we snorkeled from the beach. We dubbed the area “Clam Bay” because it was riddled with giant clams many of which were a meter or more wide.They were fascinating and beautiful.

We later learned that the color of the much of the coral as well as the edges of the clams comes from an organism called zooanthellae which, to quote Jacob, moves into the edges of clams and coral. It creates a symbiotic relationship – it gets a place to live and it produces food for its host – nature is so complex and so amazing.

Later that day we went on an excursion to the Lizard Island Marine Research Center. That was also very interesting.  Lyle, the director, took us on a brief tour and talked to us about the research that goes on at the center. People come from all over the world to conduct studies of the coral reefs, fish populations and the other profuse sea life on and around the reefs.

He also talked about the Crown of Thorns sea star – very pretty, but devastating to coral reefs. They literally suck the life out of the coral and an infestation of them can destroyed 30% to 40% of an entire reef.

Our next stop was Ribbon Reef #9 – isn’t there a song about that? Anyway, we finally got some sunshine and the views were breathtaking! This was by far the best snorkeling yet and we spent hours paddling back and forth trying to see everything – huge varieties of coral, copious numbers of fish and other sea creatures. It was wonderful!!!!! We went to bed very tired but happy.

The next day we arrived very early at RIBBON REEF #3 – the one we had been told was the best and it surpassed its reputation!

 Tom and I started the morning with a dive – yep we went on a real scuba dive!!! And it was spectacular!!!!!!

We both did really well and it was an incredible experience! We swam through schools of blue-green damsel fish and saw a little puffer fish feeding along the coral wall. The sea life was prolific and magnificent.

After the dive, I spent another hour+ perusing the top of the reef where several of us followed a medium sized black-tipped shark for a bit – awesome!

Then it was on to Escape Reef – the last snorkeling spot of our trip…heavy sigh. It too was spectacular and a great end to this part of our adventure – experiencing the Great Barrier Reef – check!

Today we left Cairns for the first half of our expedition of the Great Barrier Reef. With both of us being Pieces, we love sea life and snorkeling, so the Reef has been very high on the Bucket List since the beginning. Now here we are!!!!!!

The Great Barrier Reef is rather a misnomer. Jacob, our marine biologist, says that a more appropriate name would be the Great Barrier Reef System because it is made up of thousands of individual reefs which cover an area equivalent to the distance from New York to Florida. That’s a lot of reef which is a good thing because nearly 75% of our oxygen comes from coral reefs and algae beds.

Anyway, we left Trinity Peer and sailed to Thetford Reef where we went SNORKELING ON THE GREAT BARRIER REEF/System for the very first time!!!!! The water was warm and the views beautiful and I took about a million pictures. These are just a few.

We spent the next day at Pelorus Island and Tom and I took an “explorer scuba lesson” and went for a half hour dive – very, very exciting!

In the afternoon Jacob,  our marine biologist, set up a “touch tank” with creatures he’d collected from the reef. Here we are some of them.

 

 

The next day we bobbed around one reef and another ending up on Dunk Island for more snorkeling.

Jacob, explained the cleaner wrasse as the carwash guy. Other fish come to him to have bacteria and parasites cleaned from their scales and gills. The larger fish gets a “good cleaning” and the cleaner fish gets dinner.

Then we headed up the incredibly scenic and lush Hinchinbrook Channel which separates mainland Australia from a myriad of small islands off the coast. The channel is lined with miles of rich mangroves and its inhabitants include crocodiles, dolphins, turtles, dugongs, giant clams and soooo much more. The twisted roots and trunks of the mangrove provide shelter and a “nursery” for plethora of baby fish and turtles. Unfortunately we only got a glimpse of a dolphin but the scenery was tranquil and lovely.

Tom and I spent about an hour or so on the bridge with the captain. Captain Gary is very young, handsome, charming and friendly. He’s also Irish and talks with a lilting brogue. He chatted with Tom about the charts, technology, etc. and I took in the scenery. (I did get to drive the boat a couple days later for about two minutes. I backed it up about 10 meters to the right position for our next snorkel.

The next day we anchored off the Sudbury Reef. After a glass bottom boat ride, we snorkeled off the back of the boat. It was a sunny day – the first we’d had – and the snorkeling was fantastic. We saw profusion of fish, coral, giant clams, anemone, crabs, sea stars, sea cucumbers – beyond awesome!!!

Then back to Cairns to drop off our passenger friends who were disembarking and to pick up another group to continue on the northern loop of our cruise.