FriendBurst Blog

Day 13 – Tuesday – September 28, 2010

Weather:  Sunny & Hot

Destination:  Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Odometer Reading:  99807

Total Distance Traveled:  4464 kilometers (2773 miles)

Price of Fuel:  Ayer’s Rock – $1.58.0 liter, 49.35 liters, $78.16; Erldunda – $1.74.0 liter, 60.09 liters, $104.56

Route Taken:  Yulara to Curtin Springs to Mount Ebenezer to Erldunda to Stuart’s Well to Alice Springs.

Highlights:  Before we left Ayer’s Rock this morning, we did a little shopping, then we went back into the park and drove over to the Olgas.  I found that area to be more interesting than Ayer’s Rock.  I would have loved to spend the day wandering around there, but besides the hurt remaining from yesterday’s trek, we just don’t have the time.  So we walked up the one trail into the canyon a part of the way, checked it out a bit and then headed out for the highway.

We stopped at the scenic lookout and took a few more pictures of The Olgas in the distance.  It’s a much bigger and varied land formation than Ayer’s Rock and you just can’t fit it into one photo.  It won’t fit in five either, but here’s two.

There were a lot of different flowers and plants along the walkway and I took advantage of taking shots of them, too.

We drove back out the way we came and saw all the same scenery we did the day before.  Today, however, there was a camel walking along the side of the road.  We haven’t seen one live kangaroo since we left Adelaide, not even in the distance, but we see a camel at the side of the road.

We cruised back into Erldunda, just as The Beast was hitting empty.  We kind of forgot about that extra 110 kilometers out to the Olgas and back.  We thought we would be able to pick up fuel at one of the little towns along the road back to Erldunda, but every one of them were out and waiting for fuel deliveries.  Going in just yesterday they all had fuel.  Today they’re all out.  Surprise!

After Erldunda the drive was new again and The Outback is starting to change as we head north.  It’s greener than we ever thought it would be, with lots of trees, bushes and flowers.  It may be because it’s spring here, or because the dirt is red, but this seems a lot greener than our deserts back home.

We made it to Alice Springs as planned, well before dark, and headed to the campgrounds.

Stops:  After The Olgas, we were back on photo ops, diesel and stretch stops for our agenda.

Where We Stayed:  We were going to stay at The Big 4 campground, but that seemed to be where everybody was going and there was a line of camper vehicles down the street and around the corner.  We knew there were a few campgrounds in town so we drove down the road just a bit and ended up at the G’Day Mate Tourist Park.  We took one of their last powered sites for $30.00.  This was another older park, very well kept, with the small one way streets and it was crammed full.  Again, the birds were very friendly.

Where We Ate:  Dinner was in The Beast and we had our dose of the Bega Tasty cheese and crackers, fried peppered squid, and a little mixed salad.