Blogs we like

Australia is a vast country and after spending five months here we were painfully aware how little of it we had seen. So it was time to say bye-bye to Melbourne and get back on the road.

Our first destination was about as different from Melbourne as you could get. Alice Springs is nowhere near the coast and its river dried up years ago. The feel of Alice is very different. With a population of just 29,000 it does feel like a small town, despite being a major centre for tourism and culture.

The cafe society is much less in evidence in Alice than in Melbourne, but the cultural scene is still strong thanks to the Aboriginal artists whose works are displayed in the town’s galleries. On the downside, social problems are very much in evidence, such as alcohol dependency within some sections of the local Aboriginal community.

Our first day in the Northern Territory was spent soaking up this culture, including viewing some excellent Aboriginal art and a visit to the Royal Flying Doctors’ museum. The following day was the start of the serious traveling – a 1,100km road trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock) via Kings Canyon.

We picked up our hire car at half nine before getting our pass for the Mereenie Loop Road – a dusty unsealed road.

After much deliberation we had decided to go for a 4×4, giving us more access to unsealed trails like the Mereenie, instead of restricting us to the Stuart Highway. This paid off as soon as we reached the unsealed stretch of the road. The 4×4 made the corrugated surface much more bearable than it would have been in a 2WD.

As we progressed the dusty trail turned a deeper shade of red, something we would have appreciated even more if the sun had been out. Despite the overcast sky, we were seeing things we would never normally come across – huge anthills, green fruits that looked like giant gooseberries growing on the side of the road and red, rocky ranges, stretching out for miles either way.

As we neared Kings Canyon, we stopped at Ginty’s Lookout. You could see the outback spread out before you, but the dominant colour was not red, but white and green from the grass and the trees.

We are overnighting at Kings Canyon resort before going to explore the Canyon itself. But a word of warning for those planning to stay at the lodge and use its kitchen to prepare a slap-up meal: the lodge’s kitchen has no equipment, so bring your own pans, cutlery and crockery.

If you don’t, you’ll either be dining in one of the resort’s pricey restaurants, or eating pot noodles like us!