Australia

So sunset was a bit of a wash out but at 5am we got up in readiness the try the sunrise. They recently changed the viewing area in the park but hadn't put up any signs so after a few wrong turns and heated exchanges we managed to find the right spot.

Uluru Sunrise

Sunrise was marginally better but still didn't live up to the hype. This may sound very critical but don't take me the 'wrong way, Uluru in daylight is a magnificent sight to behold and is quite simply breath taking. I had to stop several times to convince myself that I was at the sight of one of the modern wonders of the world.

Ayer's Rock

Once daylight had taken over we drove to a couple of the car parks to do a couple of walks around the base of Uluru.

Up Close

Our walks took us to several places where we could see rock art and also two important waterholes (important for sustaining life around the rock).

Old Artwork

A Waterhole

We then stopped at the cultural centre where we learned a little about the Aboriginal beliefs regarding the rock but not a great deal as their law forbids them from passing on the knowledge to anyone who isn't part of their language group.

They also had a collection of mainly pickled native animals including a snake but also a live redback spider ina jar. Thankfully I haven't yet seen a free range version.

We set off for Kings Canyon also known as Wartarrka and again reached the car park in the middle of the day. The temperature was now 36 and it was a 3.5 hour walk but it was a case of having to walk in the heat or do nothing.

The first part of the walk is sometimes called 'heart-attack hill' because of the steep ascent but I really didn't find it all that bad, the Devil's staircase in the Tongariro Crossing, New Zealand is also made much fuss of but then a clinb around a narrow ledge was far worse for me and in this instance the final segment of the walk was actually the toughest because it felt hotter and we were getting a bit dehydrated.

Anyway, this was the view from the top:

Kings Canyon 2

We walked through different rock formations and into open spaces, one described as a natural amphitheatre. The rocks themselves were silica sand dunes that compacted and turned to stone and are now red because they've effectively gone rusty.

Kings Canyon

Rock Formations

We stopped off at another swimming hole and that was when we had to start the final section which ended in my downing nearly a litre of water which is not necessarily the best course of action when in the direct sun and partially dehydrated however we had some crisps left over so I was able to qucikly redress the salt balance - who says junk food is bad for you!

On the way back to the roadhouse I realised that i'd not really taken many examples of just how green the desert was so I had to take this whilst we were driving.

Colour Check

We were staying at the dodgy roadhouse again and had to be careful of the nocturnal wildlife on the roads as it was getting dark. Thankfully we only saw one dingo and two kangaroos but luckily they didn't hop out in front of us.

The next day was our final day and we had to retun the car for Sietse to catch a flight back to Adelaide whilst I stay in Alice Springs for a few days. We found time however to investigate the Henbury Meteorite Craters which apparently were only fragments as big as a fuel drum but they caused a pretty big crater or set of craters.

Henbury Meteorite Craters

Meteorite Crater

On Monday afternoon we set off on our way towards the red centre stopping first in Port Augusta which was even hotter than Adelaide at 45 degrees. Although we had air conditioning in our room it didn't seem to make a great deal of difference.

The next morning however the temperature had dropped by almost 20 degrees and got even colder as we headed north into the desert. Then it began raining which we thought was a pretty welcome change.

The highway through the desert is fairly boring and very remote although the good thing was that being this was the only highway into and out of Adelaide which meant if something did go wrong you'd be fairly guaranteed to see someone else on the road as there is no mobile phone reception whatsoever.

Before too long we started to see the salt lakes - remnants of when Australia had huge inland seas.

Lake Gairdner

Lake Hart

We even managed to walk on one and saw the moth (salt) eaten remains of the old railway from where it was mined.

Salt Erosion

We carried on into Coober Pedy, the capital of opal mining and a town so hot that they have to live underground. They also only get 4 - 5 inches of rainfall a year. When we arrived it was still raining and it's was 19 degrees....

Subterranean Living

This was our dorm room for the evening, it may have just been a 2 bed room but there wasn't much privacy and wasn't much fun when a very noisy group of people decided to leave at 5am.

We were going to brave the rain but it was just too wet so we drove to the underground church as it was one of the few things still open.

The Underground Church

In the evening it did manage to stop raining so we ventured outside and managed to see the colours of the sunset before being almost harassed by a couple of locals.

Sunset at Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy Sunset

The next morning saw sunshine, clouds and a thunderstorm with no rain, so close that it hit a radio mast which wasn't too far from where we were. We'd driven up to the 'Big Winch' lookout for a view of the town having first decided that it wasn't sunny enough to try fossicking for our own bit of opal (that and every other tom, dick and harry had tried noodling there as well).

Coober Pedy Lookout

We left on our way to Erldunda and stopped to take in the massive amounts of rock piles where people had been mining. I also found it surprising given how they use the area around Coober Pedy for Mars scenes in films, to find it so green. It's amazing what a little water can do.

Coober Pedy

A surprising Plant

On our way north we stopped for lunch in a small town called Glendambo. I was densely populated... just not with people.

Glendambo's Statistics

Erldunda is a road house at the junction of the two desert highways, it had a lovely swimming pool (by this time it was 30 degrees so much needed) a resident lizard in our room and a lizard living in the rim of one of the toilets. We were also accompanied by lots of moths, flies, insects and a bat - thankfully only the lizard and one insect got into our room and the lizard kindly offered to move out.

True to desert form there was no drinking water available which meant we could crack open the 10 litre box i'd brought with us and fuel prices were sky high until we got 'down the road' to the next roadhouse and found it even higher so we began to appreciate the prices we'd previously paid.

Often initially mistaken for Uluru we stopped for a view of Mt Connor. The sand was incredibly red and the road was incredibly quiet.

Mt Connor

The Long Road

We could see our first glimpse of Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olga's) from about 50 kms away from the resort. It was quite breath taking to see it from so far away but when we reached the national park our first stop was actually Kata Tjuta. People who know about such things think that Kata Tjuta was once like Uluru just ten times bigger but erosion got in the way and created the domes that we see today. Either way it was pretty awesome.

Kata Tjuta

The temperature today was merely 34 degrees which meant the 'Valley of the Winds' walk (over 7km long) was open although given that it was lunchtime and hot, I was happy enough to just attempt the walk to the first lookout point 1 hour return from the car park. So after about 10 - 15 mins we reached the first lookout point. I'm not quite sure why there was such a big discrepency but i'd like to think that 2.5 weeks spent in Adelaide's heat waves helped acclimatise us to the heat.

Kata Tjuta Dome

In the Olga's

The first lookout wasn't particularly spectacular so we carried on towards the second coming across a stream - complete with water and tadpoles.

A Desert Stream

Further along it had frogs and beyond that we found a small oasis in the desert.

Desert Oasis

We had to climb up the waterfall and then male a final climb to the second lookout. I was beginning to wish i'd satyed in the pool but the views were worth the effort.

2nd Lookout Point

We didn't finish the walk choosing to have another swim instead but I think we probably saw the best bits.
Later in the evening we drove to Uluru for the sunset. In the pictures you see all kinds of colours but either it's all photoshopped or we just went on the wrong night as the rock simply turned dark and then faded into the night.

• NB All panoramic pictures are courtesy of Sietse.

It was an early start to get to the wildlife park as there was no direct bus service and a small private service only had a couple of pick ups from the interchange.

What this did mean was that when we arrived we were literally the first people there. The wildlife park is about 25km out of the city in Cuddlee Creek which is almost in the middle of nowhere.

We headed towards the first walk through enclosure and were soon greeted by a selection of kangaroos including some of the albino ones. They looked at you with such expectant faces that I had to run back to the kiosk and buy a packet of biscuits.

Waiting at the Gate

Big Red

As soon as we walked through and began to open the biscuits we were pretty much under attack.

Under Attack

Mmm Biscuits

Dr Doolittle

Eating Biscuits

We even spotted a mum with a joey in her pouch.

Mum and Joey

The wildlife park has a whole host of other animals although some including this one I didn't feel quite so disposed to feed by hand.

Emu

Into the second enclosure we saw Tamars and Wallabies and then I came across this little fella who had a very bad cold but let me approach with a biscuit.

Albino Baby

Carrying on through the park we saw all kinds of birds and evena selection of bats who seemed quite wide awake for the time of day.

Nora

A Good Old Stretch

Also some (I believe) Tamarin monkeys and an alligator who was living with a bunch of moorhens and their babies and I was a little surprised they hadn't featured on Al's dinner menu.

Cheeky Monkeys

Alligator

The main reason for visiting the park however was for the Koala cuddling encounters and at 11.30am we gathers in the handling area and waited our turn. This koala was lovely, she was really soft and I wanted to smuggle her out and bring her home.

Koala Cuddle

Just beyond the handlind area, the child of one of the handlers was wondering around with a snake around his neck. I figured if a child of about 8 could have it around his neck there was no reason why I couldn't touch what we later discovered was a boa constrictor.

Boa Constrictor

After the koala and snake encounters we finished looking around the park spotting a dingo and a very curious wombat who also fancied a biscuit!

Dingo

Wombat

We caught the bus back after lunch and because we had day tickets for the bus we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach.

Our final days in Adelaide were spent around the city and the art galleries to fill in some time and to help avoid the latest 43 degree heatwave before our road trip on Monday.

Happy New Year to one and all!

Christmas Eve saw a change in the weather and even a few drops of rain here in Glenelg but Christmas Day promised to be slightly better and so it was, although it was still too cold to swim but we did pretty much spend Christmas Day on the beach and in the evening enjoyed a sneaky and illegal drink on the sands whilst eating fish and chips and watching the sunset before heading to one of the local bars.

Glenelg Beach

A View From Glenelg Pier

Christmas Day Sunset

After Christmas we moved to a hostel in the city but the temperature quickly rose into the high 30's and early 40's so it's made it impossible to do a great deal as what is normally a 5 minute walk starts to feel ten times longer.

However we've visited the botanic gardens a couple of times where it's still fairly green compared to the rest of the city.

The Botanic Gardens

In The Gardens

This particular picture is one of Sietse's but his turned out much better than mine and we were amazed and how beautiful the flower looked given that the pond itself only had a couple of inches of water in it.

Waterlily

This one however is my attempt at a close up

Hibiscus

Adelaide is known around Australia as the city of Churches and there are plenty to be found dotted about. Some of the building ont he North Terrace look like churches but in fact are halls belonging to the University. The architecture is quite pretty so i've decided to include a couple of pictures.

Elder Hall

Bonython Hall

Just beyond the North Terrace is the river which also has a bike path leading to Henley beach. Unfortunately you can't hire a bike unless it's under 36 degrees which when we first tried hiring one, it wasn't which was a bit disappointing.

Torrens River

The Elder Park by the river was also where the fireworks for New Year's eve were to be held. There were a couple of free bands and some fire twirling entertainment which was actually pretty good followed by fireworks at midnight. Our room mate Tim also came along and afterwards we were surprisingly lucky enough to find ourselves a bar which had free entry, cheap drinks and was still busy!

Welcome 2010

Roomies On The Town

The new year saw a slight drop in temperature and when Sietse and I had recovered enough from the previous night we took a couple of bikes along the river (mainly so I could practise given that i've not really ridden for a good 13 years).

A couple of days later we decided to try cycling to Henley beach. It was 26km return and we were incredibly lucky to get bikes as most of Adelaide had very similar ideas and most bikes were hired out already.

Cycling To The Beach

By the time I got to the beach I was starting to struggle a little, the path whilst really good still had quite a few bumps in it and needless tosay I was in a little bit of pain when I rode over some of them. The path to the beach was quite pretty and from Henley we could see all the way back to Glenelg in the distance. The wind was too much that swimming wasn't really an option but it was nice to be out of the city for a bit.

Henley Beach

The worst part for me was definitely cycling back even though it was flat, so I took advantage of a few photo opportunities.

Torrens River Path

Qantas Over Adelaide

We've also been to the Haigh's chocolate factory which is still a family owned business with 6 shops in Adelaide, 5 in Melbourne and only 1 in Sydney. We got a good share of free chocolate but they wouldn't let us take any pictures. The factory is quite small and we saw them spinning the easter eggs, wrapping the easter bunnies and making chocolate coated truffles.

Yesterday we went to Gorge Wildlife Park but that is worth an installment of it's very own.

In stark contrast to yesterday’s 40 degrees it was raining and was 19 degrees!

We headed into the Grampians and glimpsed another wild kangaroo (this one was far enough away to stop for) before stopping at a local picnic site (Zumstein) famed for it's kangaroos. However as it was raining we only saw a couple and even they didn't seem to think too much to the weather.

Kangaroos Sheltering From The Rain

Wild Kangaroos

We couldn’t really do a great deal because of the weather so we ended up at the Cultural centre owned by 5 of the aboriginal language groups. It detailed some of the history of the colonisation and I wasn’t so proud to be British after reading it!

The rain subsided enough to let us view the Silverband Falls (‘the waterfall that disappears’) and Mackenzie Falls in the afternoon before turning sunny and nice right at the end of the evening.

Silverband Falls

Mackenzie Falls

Asses Ears

The next morning we were able to do the walks we couldn’t do the day before and walked to the Balconies, Baroka Lookout and then finally a walk to The Pinnacle which took you through ‘The Grand Canyon, Silent Street and then to the 'Pinnacle'

The Balconies

The Pinnacle

We crossed the border into South Australia to Mt Gambier which is built around an extinct volcano and we got to spend 2 nights in the old prison in a cell with an ‘in-suite’ toilet.

Mt Gambier’s main attraction is the Crater Lake which turns vivid cobalt blue between November and March.

Blue Crater

We also saw Wallabies, another Kangaroo and a Koala in the conservation park in the Valley crater and then went to the Umpherston Sinkhole where at night you can see the pesky possums come out to feed.

Umpherston Sinkhole

Hello Possums!

The next day we drove to Adelaide and have spent the past few days just chilling on the beach, I say chilling but it’s been 30 degrees at least and today is supposed to hit 40 degrees again. We're not quite sure what's happening over Christmas but this year it's really just another day and the highlight will probably be splashing out on a mince pie...

So this is probably my last update of the year so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all and I’ll have an update on Adelaide in 2010.