The red desert, the Outbook and Uluru, the biggest rock star on the planet, plus some of the strangest environments in the world.
Australian Outback - Uluru - Ayers Rock
At any time of day midget figures can be seen slowly creeping up the mile-long trail to the top of Ayers Rock. The Aboriginals would rather people didn’t climb it at all. They have lived in its shadow for at least 22,000 years and it has enormous spiritual significance for them. They have their own name for it - Uluru.
The best way to see the rock and to experience the nuances of its shapes and colours is to take the six-mile walk around its base. Or, in the heat, a more comfortable way is to drive around it, riding pillion passenger on a Harley-Davidson. Leather jacket, helmet and gloves are provided. Fantastic!
Australian Outback - Take the Ghan to Coober Pedy
It’s a short flight from Uluru to Alice Springs where you can board the legendary Ghan train, named after Afghani camel riders who, until 1929, provided the only way of getting goods and news of the outside world north from Adelaide.
Coober Pedy is one of the most desolate places in the world where people make their living from digging for opals. It looks like Planet Devastation. There are hundreds of holes in the gritty white landscape but there’s hardly a house in sight - most of the population lives underground in dugouts to escape the fierce heat.
Don’t let the work “dugout” deceive you into thinking these people live rough. Far from it, their underground homes are a real surprise; many beautifully furnished, with all mod cons, and best of all, a constant 21C (70F) year-round. Some of them offer B&B accomodation. A roadside sign says, “Caution - Koalas crossing”. Koalas? There isn’t a blade of grass in sight, let alone a gum tree. This is a deeply strange place.
Australian Outback - Arkaroola Wildlife Sanctuary.
Situated in a remote, scenically spectacular part of the northern Flinders Ranges, the sanctuary nevertheless provides modern motel-type accommodation plus a bar and a restaurant. You may be in the back of beyond but comfort is at hand.
Not so comfortable are the 4WD’s that take visitors along the narrow trails of the Flinders Ranges. The mountains are spectacularly beautiful and once you have adjusted to the bone-breaking ride over rocks and rubble there’s a lot to see, including more than 160 species of colourful native birds.
But like most places on this adventure trip to the Outback it’s the sheer scale of the landscape that gets to you. Range after range of jagged peaks stretch for hundreds of miles, in layers of soft shades ranging from deep ochre to misty grey and with no more than a handful of people living in their shadow.
Bush walking is one of the attractions here. Dried-up river beds are lined with stately Australian gum trees that are centuries old.
Australian Outback - The Sunburnt Country
It’s the sheer scale of the Outback that gets to you. The train journey allows you to appreciate its size, populated by no more than a handful of people.
The Australian poet, Dorothea McKellar wrote a poem about her “sunburnt country”, which almost every Australian seems to have learned at school. She writes of “a land of sweeping plains, ragged mountain ranges, an opal-hearted country of pitiless blue skies and grey blue distance”.
It can really get to you, this beautiful harsh land.
Related articles:
 |
 |
 |
 |
