DAY 16

DAY 16

"We'll head down the centre of Australia towards the Southern Coast. We'll sleep in Gaol in Gladstone, and we will be taken to a ghost tour around it.  bunking at Gladstone"

During this trip my concept of a bus has changed dramatically; it's not just a long car.  It's the place to make friends, sleep, eat, have great conversations, watch movies and have the best time with  friends, and sometimes just sit for 10 hours.  :D

Or let me correct, maybe sit is not the best word to describe it, just take a look.  And this is not even  the  last day of the trip yet... :P

Anyways, we got to the jail early evening, where we just spent time till it was dark for our ghost tour. I'm not afraid of ghosts in general, but all the stories we heard about the gaol, people committing suicides in it, their spirits....oh dear.  And definitely didn't help when some smart-asses started scaring people.  The creepy stories alone were ok, but then there was the fear of someone jumping from behind the corner and scaring you.  Phew.  Night full of screaming, laughing to others, yelling, running for one's life and even tears to certain people, to be totally honest.  Well, we survived.

The corridor of our hotel:

Our room:

And the luxuries we got:

Lets call it an experience,

Liisa

DAY 15

DAY 15

"After heading East we'll head South, passing the oasis of the Marla Bore.  In the early evening we'll arrive to Coober Pedy where we'll sleep underground.  camping at Coober Pedy"

We packed our tents in dark and left the camp early this morning.  After watching the sunrise in the bus everyone pretty much fell asleep.  It's a hard life, aye!  :D

When we finally got to Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world, we did a little tour around town.  Can't be a big one as the population is around 3000!  We visited an underground church and an opal mine museum before we got ready to bunk underground.  

In beds tonight, ahh.

From sunrise to sunset,

Liisa

DAY 14

DAY 14

"Time for a day we'll never forget; visiting Uluru! Despite the wish of Aboriginals, we may be able to climb to the big red rock. We'll also visit Kata Tjuta, which is even larger rock landmark 25 kilometers from Uluru.  camping at Ayers Rock Resort"

A big day we've been waiting for; Kata Tjuta and Uluru!  Kata Thuta is actually more massive and in a way more impressive than Uluru, but still many people don't even know it exists, well now you do. (:  The distance between these huge landmarks is nearly 50 km, though in the deserts looks like they are way closer.

And then the most famous piece of rock: Uluru.  It's possible to climb it if the weather conditions are right, in the photo below you'll see 1/3 of the way up.  It sure is an exercise, but that's not the reason why many people don't want to climb.  The Aboriginals ask you not to as it is their sacred land, and any one coming on their land should respect it.  The decision was really hard to make, especially when there was a big group pressure on you.  At the end everyone was happy; the people who climbed enjoyed it and didn't regret, and the rest were happy with their great walk around.  (:

Month changes, but the trip keeps going,

Liisa

DAY 13

DAY 13

"After we've done a short ride on a camel, we'll head to Uluru. In the evening we'll go to Sunset Strip to see Uluru while sun sets on the horizon.  camping at Ayers Rock Resort"
This morning before leaving the camp we did a tiny camel ride.  It wasn't too bad, but nothing to get exited about.

While driving, this little piece of rock caught many peoples attention.  But no, it's not Uluru yet, still about 150 kilometers to go...

After arriving to the resort at about three o'clock we had couple of hours free time.  Then we drove past Uluru and Kata Tjuta which we would see closer tomorrow.  Then we headed to a spot where from we could see the different colors of Uluru while the sun set behind us.

Everyday is a new adventure,

Liisa

DAY 12

DAY 12

"We'll head to Kings Creek Station, and go to Kings Canyon, which is the deepest gorge in Central Australia.  camping at Kings Creek Station"

Long way from Alice to Kings Canyon, but that's what we were prepared to.  Oh, you'll have to see this, the highlight of our day!  :D

By Rebecca Bachmann

Wow.  That's all I can say.  After a six kilometer walk around (or a bit more if you got lost...:D) couldn't really do much else than be amazed with what Australia has to offer.

Already over half way,

Liisa

DAY 11

DAY 11

"This day will be spend driving around Alice Springs seeing the major landmarks. We'll also visit Reptile center where we'll learn more about Australian reptiles.  bunking at Alice Springs"

No camping tonight,

Liisa

DAY 10

DAY 10

"We'll board our flight and arrive to Alice Springs. This day is quite free, so we have time to explore the city and buy souvenirs. At the evening we'll make a musical and visual journey at Andrew Langford’s ‘Sounds of Starlight’ theater.  bunking at Alice Springs"

Big packing morning.  Ususally we would take pillows, blankets, cutlery bags and back bags full of things needed during the day with us in the bus, so we were slightly stressed to make it all fit in our blue bags.  At the end it was all good; we ended up putting the pillows and sleeping bags in the plane separately, so everyone was ok with the amount of stuff they had.

Bye bye coast and Queensland, welcome desert and Northern Territory ! ! !

After about two hours we were in totally different Australia.  We had some time to spend in Alice Springs, after which we got to our camping ground where we had our own 'house'.  It was so nice to have everyone in the same place and get to know each other a bit better.

Worth of notification; we got kebabs delivered, my first ever try.  haha  :PP

In the evening we went to see a didgeridoo show which was really entertaining.  And even I tried to become a dingeridoist (hmmm).  :P

And there happened to be a bloke playing Australian songs in our camp.  Sitting under the stars listening to music with locals, nice.

So different,

Liisa

DAY 9

DAY 9

"Our guide will take us up the spectacular Gillies Range and onto the tropical Atherton Tablelands. We also have an opportunity to explore the Cathedral and Curtain Fig Tree, take a rain-forest walk at Lake Barrine National park and swim at pristine waterfalls.  bunking at Cairns"

I thought couldn't be anything like yesterday, but actually I ended up enjoying this day as much.  We started our day with a tired and cranky exchange group, but partly because of our great guide the trip turned out to be a success.  Some driving around, games and awesome music in the bus, and oh, the waterfalls!

Little bush walk the massive tree:

Swimming break:

Swimming break number two:

Scandinavian style: 

Swimming break number three:

And just to be clear, we didn't come up with this great idea, it was our guide!  Kind of fun, at least if you're not the one people are riding on....ouch :D

I swam more in one day than I have during my whole time in here.  :P

Still in Cairns, 

Liisa