Ryan Down Under

Now that the big items on the list of things to see had been checked off, we headed to ends of other roads in the desert. The next 2 nights were spent in Watarrka National Park where Kings Canyon is located, among other things. We stopped at Kathleen Springs on the way for a walk and lunch. There is a permanent pool of water here and it used to be a big stop for cattle, emus and camels, but we saw none of that. This is another area of Australia that I had no idea about before the trip but it was also very unique. This is another one of the few spots in the outback where there is water all year round. This, and the fact that the bottom of the canyon is sheltered from strong sun, means that vegetation can grow, so there are lots of trees and thick bush in the bottom. This oasis is know as the Garden of Eden. The canyon wall in the photo is flat and lined the way it is because in the past few years, huge pieces have fallen off. In the background you can see domes everywhere. These are also pretty cool, since it used to be flat land and this is the way it has eroded because of jointing in the rocks. I think a few people have died here already this year, and I can see why since there are steep ledges all over the place.
The campsite had a pool that we actually used, but just barely since the water was so cold because it is still almost 0 at night. We were pretty isloated here, so we spent the 2 nights around the campfire being social.
The next day was just as sunny and blue skied as all the rest which is nice. We got on the bus for a few hours to get to Alice Springs, which is pretty much the hub for the outback with a population of I think 30 000. This felt huge after being in the middle of nowhere for over a week. It is in the middle of the MacDonnell Ranges and the entrance to the town is known as Heavitree Gap and is impassable if the Todd River is flooded. Check out this link for a cool sattelite photo of the gap. We camped just to the south east of the gap and climbed the mountain one night and had a cool view of the city at night.
There is a nice downtown area, but the weird part is all the aboriginals who just sit around all day. We can't understand them because they do absolutely nothing all day, like not even talk to each other. Of course they are getting money from the government but they must still be so bored. I bought a cool painting of a guy named Trevor Hancox. I think he is sort of well known on the artist scene, but I like that it was a original water colour paiting of a place I would visit the next day: Glen Helen Gorge.
One afternoon we went on a sunset camel ride which was pretty cool. Hayden and I rode the 2nd fastest camel in Australia, and we are posing with it's jockey, what a highlight! The funny part was that earlier in the day I had a camel steak burger at a restaurant in town. I also found out that a young unbroken camel fresh from the desert can cost about 300$ while a full grown tamed racing camel (like the one we were riding) can sell for up to 8000$.
Any time we weren't in town, we were out visiting gaps, chasms and gorges.
The photo of the huge rock is from Simpsons Gap. This rock was just cool because I could see where it had fallen out of the side of the cliff and it was massive to walk around. Where I am standing is the river bed, and there is a sign nearby that says 'No Swimming'.
Over the few days we also went to Standley Chasm, which was a narrow passage through the ranges that was about 3-6 metres wide, and we also went to Trephina Gorge which was nothing too out of the ordinary by this point.
The coolest gorge was Glen Helen Gorge where this photo is from. This is yet another spot where there is water all year around. You can see just how brilliant the colours are with the oranges and blues and then green vegetation. It was like this everywhere. A few of us climbed up the one side to the top and we could see the pond of water at the bottom and the bit of river leading up to it. From this view we could see small schools of fish under the water and also ducks dive underwater and chase them. We also came across a rock wallaby on our way up. These guys are smaller than normal wallabys and are extremely agile on the rocks. Fun to watch.
After celebrating Americas Independence day, we were up early to pack everything up and get ready for the long haul home. But first the Korean lady ran me through a set of morning stretches which was pretty funny. We left at about 9am, and stopped at a few road houses on the way south. We stopped for dinner for an hour in our favourite town of Coober Pedy as we lost light. This is the most dangerous time to drive because of kangaroos. Luckily, the other bus was in front and cleared them out of the way. They hit one kangaroo and busted their headlight and another one ran right into the side of the bus. I slept in the aisle quite well all night from 3am-8am at which point we were in Adelaide. We continued to Melbourne and arrived at about 7pm, so 34 hours of travelling. It wasn't bad at all since we were all in good company and stopped enough.
So that was the 2nd half of my inter semester break AND I still had a whole other week off. On top of this there were about 90 new international students, 4 of which I would meet the next day in my own house.

Here are the links to other photos from the trip.
Main page: http://centralaustralia.leuser.eu
Jonas' Photos: http://pictures.beinder.net
Daniels Photos: http://www.centraloz2006.shutterfly.com
Itinerary for the trip can be found here.