Adelaide

Photos:

Rodney at St. Mary’s Peak, Wilpena Pound

Anthea with Patterson’s Curse, Warren Gorge

Our van near Ayers Rock with drying clothes

Ayers Rock from our campspot

Anthea at Cheesefest, Adelaide

Simon Bryant (The Cook & the Chef TV cooking show) cooking demo at Cheesefest

Us with Michael Angelakis (Out of the Blue TV cooking show) at Cheesefest

Rundle St Mall pig

Anthea next to fountain in Rundle St Mall

Tuesday 12^th October 2010

Today we did the Wilpena Pound walk. It took ages, and was one of the toughest walks we’ve done so far, mainly because I read that the walk was classified as ‘easy’, and also because St Mary’s Peak is1170 metres high.

Atleast no creationists had been through scrubbing out the numbers preceding the millions of years on the signs. At King’s Canyon, someone had scrubbed out the numbers in the signs saying how many millions of years ago the rocks were formed and things like that.

We had dinner at the pub with our friends Heath & Heidi. Looking around we were just about the only people, except the staff that were under 65. This must be the place everyone goes before they go to a nursing home. It was raining and wet, and spent much of the evening warning the elderly about the slippery floor next to our table.

Wed

Today we chilled out to get over the big walk yesterday. We set up our makeshift office at the outdoor table & chairs near our campspot. Then I cleaned the van. I noticed a mop near the amenities so I borrowed it and mopped out he red dirt from our van. Then it was time to go. Where? I don’t know, just drive.

We drove back through Hawker & stopped at Quorn. After getting some food we looked on the map for a quiet spot and ended up in Warren Gorge. It was up a 20km dirt road and a little campspot. We set up had a bbq & got out the telescope to see the moon and stars, while a possum with emphysemia jumped from tree to tree trying to scare the life out of us.

Thu

We got up early 7am and did the walk around Warren Gorge, 5.2kms. We noticed there were other campsites around the back where there were a few campers. After breakfast of plunger coffee with French toast we started to drive to Adelaide. My parents were there, on their way to a 4WD holiday so it would be good to catch up with them.

As we got closer to Adelaide my dad called to say to meet them at the Hospital. Everything was ok, Mum just had to get an x-ray for a chest infection she was getting over. So as we got there, Dad jumped in the front seat, and Anthea went to the back, then we got around the front of the hospital and Mum jumped in the van and sat on the front seat, and Dad went to the back. So I was now illegally transporting my parents in Adelaide. They had no seatbelts, there are only 2 seats. It was my parents fault I would say to the police officer who stopped me.

While Mum and Dad conducted conversations from the front of the van to the back through the privacy curtain I was busy trying to find my way around Adelaide. We decided to go to Glenelg.

After having a cup of tea and a late lunch we walked to the main street and did some retail therapy. Books, shoes and clothes were bought. Then we had dinner in a Thai restaurant before running back to the van in the pouring rain. We drove to my parents hotel and humbugged a free shower. After we left we found a quiet spot near the racecourse just on the edge of town and we stayed there for the night.

Fri

We had a busy day ahead of us. There were a few things we had to get. First of all was the Central markets, where we came a few years ago and had a real Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. They didn’t have it this time but we still had a good coffee. Then we enquired about a battery charger for our DSLR camera. We ended up getting a universal camera that charges the battery by cigerette lighter or mains, and also charges AA batteries and some other types aswell. Then we got a new iphone car charger, because the one I bought before I left in Sydney, and the other one we bought at Ayers Rock doesn’t work. We also went to Kathmandu to get the buckle on Anthea’s hiking pack fixed. He wanted to sell us a new waist strap for $50 but it was just a buckle strap we needed fixed. So I just bought the buckle because we were missing ½ of it anyway for $5 and moved on. We went to the camping shop across the road. The guy in there cut us a length of the nylon strap and threaded it through the original loops. This cost $3. It was a good idea but it still wasn’t sewn in like original so we went to Spotlight. They couldn’t do it so they sent us to a hemmer. They couldn’t do it because the foam was too big to get into the machine, so they sent us to a bag alteration place. They could do it. Great.

After that we decided to revive the Friday night movie tradition. Our friend Tina who works plays viola for us sometimes and works at Hoyts gave us some movie vouchers. But there are no Hoyts in Adelaide city. So we found one on my iphone and went towards there. But before we had to have dinner. The weather was terrible. We still haven’t cooked in our van. We don’t want sleep where we cook. With Anthea’s eagle eyes we found a free bbq in a park on the way to the suburbs where the shopping centres with cinemas are. We had chicken burgers. It cost about $10 all up. Chicken rissoles squashed down, buns, tomato, cos lettuce & sweet chilli sauce. And free bbq. We saw the movie The Other Guys. It was quite a funny movie considering I don’t particularly like Will Ferrel & Mark Wahlberg didn’t take off his shirt and take the piss out on himself.

Sat

Oh, the civilities of Adelaide. Anthea was on a mission to get her violin bow rehaired, coz that’s what you do in Adelaide, not Alice Springs, Cooper Pedy or Port Augusta. So we tracked down the violin guy who used to have a shop in Rundle St Mall in Regent Arcade (the equivalent of Sydney’s Strand Arcade). He was now a few minutes by car out of town. So we got there at 11am, and 2 ½ hours late we managed to get out. Dante the violin guy was very interesting. He has master degrees in Education and Music, and is now studying by scholarship masters of medical science. He also teaches Judo and violin making and his 3 sons are all Judo champions. He gave us a very good insight into the musical scene of Adelaide which was very positive. So hopefully the violin & bow will be ready in a week, as he is pretty busy with study. Later that day we walked through Rundle Mall where Anthea ran into someone she went to UNSW with. Of all places! Then we went to the Adelaide Royal Botanical Gardens. There we observed a string quartet playing at a wedding, which was pretty good. We walked around for a few hours before driving to Semaphore, a beach town about 20kms away for some dinner.

Sun 17th October

From our racecourse mobile hotel room we woke to Adelaide cycle club criterion races. It was a good view from where we were. We had breakfast and got our selves into town where markets were on in Rundle St. We strolled around there before the main event – Cheesefest. It was $15 entry each but it was well worth it. We got a real wine glass each (have to be careful as it’s just about the only glass things we have in the van, besides our new coffee plunger). We sampled many cheeses and watched a cheese making demonstration. For lunch we had a cheese sample plate with wine. Then more wine. Then a stout beer for me. Then we saw local celebrity chef Simon Bryant (the chef from The Cook and the Chef with Maggie Beer) do a demonstration. We saw him before in Alice Springs back in August. We bought a huge hunk of blue cheese. After the demo we got a very gourmet pizza, with special cheese ofcourse, then watched another cooking demo with Michael Angelakis. After that we went to the Coles marquee where they gave out little antipasto plates with a free book about cheese & coles vouchers. I don’t think I learnt much about cheese, but it was a great festival, similar to the one we played at in Launceston Tasmania, but on a smaller scale.

By the time we got out of Cheesefest it was about 4pm. We decided to go see some live music. The Gov is Adelaide’s answer to the Annandale Hotel, opposite the entertainment Centre. There we saw Toast, a tribut band to 70’s music (Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, etc) then 3^rd rock from the sun (a very good Jimi Hendrix tribute band with excellent sounding Jimi singing) and Funky Monks the Red Hot Chili Peppers band, who were also excellent. Feeling pretty old going out to see tribute bands, but we enjoyed ourselves!

8-11 Oct King's Canyon to Wilpena Pound

Friday 8^th October 2010

Last night after leaving The Olgas we drove for a bit and ended up at Curtin Springs on the Lasseter Highway to buy petrol at $1.88 per litre! They had a campsite there which was free. A hot shower cost $3. There was a hungry emu getting into someone’s food in one of these photos! We also met a desert frog at our campsite.

We got up early and drove up to King’s Canyon. There is nothing here except a resort (smaller than Ayer’s Rock Resort) and the canyon itself. It was a fantastic walk, about 3 hours long to walk right around. The waterholes were full and the garden of eden was very green. There were plenty of lizards around and few of the ancient cycad ferns which are estimated to be around 400 years old.

After King’s Canyon we drove and drove and drove until we got to the NT/SA border where we camped the night. There were a pair of nutjob cyclists camping there. They do about 150-200 kms a day… in the heat… crazy.

Saturday 9^th October 2010

We got on the road at 7.30am to head to Port Augusta. It was a long drive and got there about 6pm. We saw so much road kill. But we also saw a few live cows and and emu with 4 young. Port Augusta town was absolutely dead. The fish n’chip shop was closing just as we arrived at 7.15pm. We got the local prized King George Whiting for $6 each. We ended up staying at the motorhome place where you can stay for $5. It’s basically a block of land next to a sporting club, but only 4kms from the town.

Sunday 10^th October 2010

We woke up early and did the shopping. Then went to the newly developed foreshore for some breakfast. Heaps of campervans around. Local kids jumping off the jetty. We wanted to do fishing/crabbing but it was Sunday and everything is closed. There was a camera shop according to a brochure we picked up but it must of closed down. So all photos are taken on the 2mp mobile phone camera until we get a new charger, probably in Adelaide.

We decided to just got to Port Germein where we went before to stay a the van park, then get some fishing gear in the morning. But along the way we were thinking if Port Germein even had a fishing shop and so quickly turned off Highway 1 and decided to go to Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges.

So we got there about 3pm yesterday. There is a resort and caravan park here. But the van park is in the middle of the bush and you just go wherever you want. So we pulled up and started doing our washing. There was also a couple with a teepee tent here!

We met a bloke from the country here with his friend and we got talking and they ended up taking us for a 4WD into the ranges. Then we camped out for the rest of the evening around a fire. They slept in the open in a swag. They’re both from Adelaide but the guy does shearing and bar tending in NT, and knew everyone we’d met in Alice Springs. There are kangaroos around the park and we’re sitting in the middle of the bush doing emails, but our phones don’t work because they’re on Optus & broadband is on Telstra.

Tomorrow we hope to the the Wilpena Pound walk and up to Mt St Clair.

Uluru - Kata Tjuta.. That's Ayers Rock and The Olgas!

4 Oct 10 Monday

Saturday arvo Steve got the van started so we were actually hopeful he would have it ready today. We tried to sleep in a bit but the ragrats had to go to school and the brother kept bouncing his ball against his bedroom window where we were trying to sleep, waiting for mother to take him and the sister to sleep.

Big brother is 11. He is a state and national motorcross champion. If he is your big brother, he is the most typical big brother ever created. He never wears a shirt inside. he’ll fart in your face, and practice the latest wrestling moves on you. He’ll eat your food, make a talking face out of his stomach, bomb you in the pool and give you a wedgie. But he’s also very considerate. He cleaned up his room for us to stay in, made me pancakes, jumped on the bed and stole my doona when I was hungover.

Little sister is almost 7. She loves to talk, entertain and do girly things, inspired by her 16 year old sister (like shaving her legs). She loves Barbie, and if they don’t have the right size violin in the music shop she’ll be getting a Barbie laptop for her birthday. She stands up to her brother and enjoys crushing cans in the vice in Dad’s workshop. She is also into motorcross, and rides quad bike.

Big sister is 16, elusive and comes and goes as she pleases. Her “just friends” male friend drives her around town in a ute, and brings her home too late. The car Steve gave us is actually her car, but it so “uncool”!

We hung around the house watching some American prison show on Foxtel on the massive TV and drunk cups of tea. We did a few loads of washing. The clothes dry in ½ hour in Alice Springs. We packed up and went to the workshop when the van was ready.

A bit of work was still needed on the car so what better plance than to give an impromptu violin and guitar lesson to the big brother and little sister, since they were hanging around the workshop back from school. Little sister tried out Twinkle twinkle little star on the full-size violin while big brother tried out Smoke on the Water on guitar. It was the first time he was shy!

Once the van was ready we said our goodbyes, did some shopping and headed out of town down the Stuart Highway. We stayed at a camp spot on the Finke river about 2 hours south, not far past where the van blew up 6 weeks ago. The van went well, and with the engine watchdog installed I couldn’t help glancing every 30 seconds what the engine temperature was. It sits around 83-84 degrees and when it stops it goes up to about 90 because the wind and the fan aren’t cooling it.

For dinner we had a simple meal with chicken, canned tomatoes, fresh garlic and chillies.

5 Oct 10 Tuesday

We cleaned up the van a bit. As I was packing Anthea’s hiking pack I noticed one of the parts of the waist buckle was missing. It looks as if someone has cut it off. It’s pretty hard to carry a heavy pack without the waist belt securing it to your hips. We have no idea how this happened. Maybe it got caught on something? Very strange…

It was hard to believe the van was actually ok. We got on the road about 9am and drove towards Ayer’s Rock. We turned onto Lasseter Highway and stopped at Mount Ebeneezer Station to stretch our legs. It’s all tour coaches and campers around here. I saw a guy with a 30cm beard.

To go into the national park Ayer’s Rock the Olgas it costs $25 each and the tickets last for 3 days. As we approached the big rock it was hard to believe we were actually there. It is so huge, surreal and magical. It’s taller than the Eiffel Tower!

We decided to do the base walk. I climbed the rock when I was 13 like everyone else, but now it is being very discouraged as it is very disrespectful to the Aboriginal people. They are trying to educate visitors about the local culture and religion, instead of just saying don’t do it. Also Kevin Rudd refused to close the climb as he believed the tourism dollar was too precious. He did say sorry, but he wasn’t that sorry. I say why do we have to climb everything? We’ve got the harbour bridge climb, isn’t that enough?! The other reason ofcourse is that people die on the rock, and crap all over the place and leave rubbish everywhere, and when it rains it poisons the surrounding waterholes. If they close the climb, who knows, they might hollow out rock, build a hotel inside and put a lift in up to the top.

The base walk is 10km long. Along the way there are several areas where you are not allowed to take photos because they are sacred sites relating to secret mens and womens business. We got about ½ way around when it began to rain. We knew it was a bit gray but for some reason we didn’t think to bring our goretex jackets or anything like that. Soon enough it was pouring down and by the time we got back to the car it was very dark and fountains of water were falling from the big rock. Luckily we had dry clothes and towels with us so we got changed. Our shoes were soaked and I didn’t have a 2^nd pair of shoes because I’m trying to save space! But I think I’ll atleast have to buy a pair of volleys or KT26’s when I get to Adelaide. Atleast I had thongs. A 4WD was waiting for us to make sure we weren’t bogged in the carpark.

As we left the park to go to our free camp spot we were slowed by a convoy of campervans. A HiAce was towing another HiAce out. We knew how they felt. But it was pouring, dark and about 500 kms from Alice Springs. Huge puddles of water everywhere all over the road. Hopefully it wasn’t a major problem like a blown engine!

Our camp spot is about 25kms away from the rock. It rained all night so our clothes couldn’t dry. We couldn’t cook. We had our best meal yet. Spaghetti on bread. And a glass of Coke. No dessert. We stayed up playing guitar and singing 4 chord songs.

6 Oct 10 Wednesday

We woke up and it was dry. Coffee and muesli. We drove to the Cultural Centre and listened to a talk given by a talk given by a ranger to what we didn’t realize at the time was a bunch of kids on a school excursion. Ofcourse after the ranger explained for 10 minutes why they don’t wan’t you to climb the rock and why they won’t ban climbing, a bonehead teenager puts his hand up and asks whey don’t they just ban climbing? The cultural centre had heaps and heaps of information and we stayed for about 3 hours. They even had a Sorry Book. It was a folder full of letters from visitors who felt so guilty for taking a piece of Ayers rock with them that they decided to post it back and say sorry. Some of the letters describe being cursed by the rock. The kiwi salesman mentioned he got cursed by being bitten all up his arms by mozzies for impersonating an Aboriginal dance. Perhaps our van got cursed? But that was then, it’s all good luck from here on. We gave Alice Springs a healthy economic injection stimulus I reckon from our mechanic’s bill. That’s gotta be worth some good luck.

We headed back to the resort to do emails and have lunch. We discovered the business phone was in the bag we took on the walk yesterday. It was all wet. Anthea went to find a bathroom with a dryer in it to dry out the phone while I did the emails. Lunch consisted of tuna, tomato and cheese (a classic!) and a popper. During lunch it began to rain so we cancelled our plan to go to the Olgas this afternoon. Instead we hung around the resort, drinking coffee and visiting every single shop there. Souvenirs are so tacky!

Headed back to our camp spot and cooked up a curry. There are lots of people here. Unfortunately there is no toilet at this camp spot and Anthea involuntarily experienced her first ‘en plain air’ toilet experience. While she was away I was entertained by what I think was a bilby. It was about the size of a rat, had huge eyes, big back legs like a kangaroo and hopped around. Chocolate and tea. Four chord songs.

7 October Thursday

Today we went to Kata Tjuta – The Olgas. They are really surreal, more so than Uluru. We did the 8km Valley of the Winds walk. There are people of all nationalities around here. Italian, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese you name it. Oh.. and a few token Anglo Aussies! It's crazy weather out here. It's sunny and hot during the day, then it turns grey, windy and nasty in the afternoons and it'll probably rain again. It's not much fun walking in the rain. But atleast my shoes are dry.

Still in Alice Springs

So we went to the mechanic on Saturday & Steve was having major probems with the van. We told him we were staying in a tent at the caravan park and so he offered for us to stay at his place. We gladly accepted and he also have us a car to get around in. Steve and his wife have 3 kids and 3 dogs and the 2 of us made the place pretty busy.

We went out Saturday night with the travelling salemen. First stop was back to the caravan park where they had a cabin. Then we went across town to visit some Fijians. Then it was off to Lasseters Casino. After Lasseters we went into town to Bojangles. About 12 we headed back to our new home!

Sunday Steve cooked up big sand crabs he got from Darwin and we stayed inside all day and watched the rugby grand final.

Today we're hoping the van will be on the road. Steve got it started on Saturday arvo. He ended up putting the flywheel on upside down which the computer didn't detect. So fingers crossed!

Back to Alice Springs

Well we're back in Alice Springs. Flew in on Tuesday expecting to walk into the mechanic and drive away. 3 days later we're still camping out of our tiny hiking tent at the caravan park.

It's been pretty hot. High 20's and low 30's in the sun. We've been spending a few hours in the library each day to do our business emails and stuff. Bigpond mobile broadband really works well here.

Yesterday there was a bomb scare in the Todd Mall (part of the main st). So everyone had to go the pub until it was over. Before that it was a pretty slow news day as you can see by the photo here of the newspaper headline. Today's headline is 'Bomb Drama'.

Last night we met some Kiwi travelling door-to-door salesmen at the caravan park while at the communal bbq. They were in Alice Springs to sell water filters. the water here isn't the best so they might have a bit of luck. I didn't think door-to-door salesmen still existed. Their Kiwi accents and humour were more entertaining than Flight of the Conchords tv series and the latest NZ film 'Boy' put together. That, combined with telling our story about being held hostage by the local mechanic whilst drinking Jack Daniels out of an empty pineapple tin (our cups are in the van at the mechanic!) made interesting conversation.

So hopefully today will be the day we get to drive the van and sleep in a bed.