Australian Outback

Leaving Sydney at 9 in the morning, I was on a plane to the center of Australia: Alice Springs. Here I would begin my 6 day adventure tour through the outback. It was something I knew I had to do before I left Australia, so I made sure to book the trip ahead of time :) I arrived in Alice Springs and took a shuttle from the airport to my hostel. It would be my first of four experiences of staying in a hostel while in the outback. If you don't know what a hostel is, it is basically a hotel for students: it is much like a dorm, you stay with anywhere from 4 to 12 other random people depending on what room you get, and it is REALLY affordable ($5-$40 per night). It is also a bit risky because you have no idea who you will be staying with. Anytime I was staying overnight in one, I didn't want to take my chances, so I often slept with my luggage at the foot of my bed and made sure I left nothing valuable in the room. It was quite interesting to say the least, I would do it again to save money but that would be the only reason.

Alice Springs: I was going to be in this town for the rest of the day and overnight because my tour picked me up in the morning, so I decided to explore.  Basically any town or city in the outback is going to have a large percentage of the population being aboriginal. It was a little bit of a culture shock walking around town. I probably made the mistake of walking by myself at night trying to find a mail box to send my postcard, lets just say I didn't get very far before I turned around and gave up looking. During the day I went downtown, to a few souvenir shops and aboriginal art galleries. I went to Anzac hill (easily comparable to a Veteran memorial/icon) and climbed up it to see a different perspective of the town.  I also went to the reptile center and held my first python which I was hesitant to do but it was actually pretty cool! :) Then went back to my room, I took a shower and went to bed because I had to be up at 5:00 in the morning.

Uluru/Kata Tjuta-3 day tour: Adventure Tours Australia picked me up at 5:45 in the morning and I started my tour to the Red Centre. There were a total of 25 people on the bus, from all over the world (Czech Republic, Poland, England, Chicago, Germany, and more). It was so cool to meet so many people and I ended up becoming close with a few of them because they were with me for the whole six days. We had 2 tour guides because one was in training: Chuck and Jerry (both women). They were very entertaining the entire trip, and I learned a lot from them. Jerry was in the passenger seat, so she made an effort to make sure we had a good time on the bus. We passed around the microphone to introduce ourselves as well as had a couple different contests on the bus. I will not go into detail because I plan on challenging my family and friends to participate in them once I get home...muah ha ha. Jerry also played music to make the time go by, and I was right up front so a lot of the time we ended up singing along with the music together :) We did tons of things within the three days which can be revealed in my pictures on facebook: like see a bunch of animals, and brilliant landscape. We stayed at a different camp every night, and I slept in a swag which I swear by!!! Anytime I go camping from now on, I want to sleep in a swag, they are the most amazing invention ever! It is basically a mattress inside a thick sleeping bag, then you have another sleeping bag around you. I got to gaze upon the beautiful stars before I went to sleep, and I was extremely comfortable and warm. Other people who stayed in tents complained about bugs and being cold, but I never once had that problem. I also got to try camel sausages and kangaroo steaks for dinner, they were both very tasty :) Our group did a lot of walking and hiking up and down steep rocky trails, although it was a lot of energy exerted in the hot sun, the reward was totally worth it. I hiked through Kata Tjuta, around Uluru, and up King's canyon. I saw breathtaking views I could never have seen anywhere else! I learned a ton of things about the aboriginal people of Australia, got to see the sun rise and set over Uluru (Ayer's Rock), and got to meet some extraordinary people. It was the experience of a lifetime :)

We went back to Alice Springs after three days and spent a night in another hostel before continuing the tour. Some people from our tour weren't coming all the way to Darwin, so they had to say goodbye, and sadly we were getting a new tour guide. So we all met up for dinner and drinks that night as a farewell and whatnot.  The next morning was also an early one (I was used to it by now).

Alice Springs to Darwin-3 day tour: Our new tour guide was Jason. He was very experienced and a great tour guide. We learned a lot from him but he didn't go above and beyond like Chuck and Jerry (but no one could top them!) He listened to a lot a 90s music and chick music (if you ask me) but I wasn't complaining, it was great! haha We had a lot more driving to do on this tour since it was about a 15 hour drive. We drove about 5 hrs each day, stopping about every hour or so at different places. We saw many different animals again, like wallabies, emus, camels, crocodiles, exotic birds, snakes, and kangaroos of course.  One place we stopped I actually got a chance to feed a croc, which was pretty much amazing!!! There were a couple of these really cool pubs along the way that tourists would just leave different items, so there was collections of stuff from all over the world, it was pretty impressive. When I asked the bartender if he had anything from Wisconsin, he didn't, so I felt it was necessary to change that. Unfortunately all I had was a bank business card from Ashland, WI but it was all he needed. I got to see Devil's Marbles, swim in natural thermal pools, hike through Katherine Gorge and swim in the waterhole there (not to mention jump off a really huge rock!!! what a rush!!)

Mandakini: So I met the COOLEST old lady in the entire world!!! Here name is Mandakini and she was also on the 6 day tour with me. Originally from England, she moved to Australia to live about 40 years ago, and she is a performer. I am not joking when I say this either: she is a rapper! She raps with her son and calls herself "The Granny Rapper," or more formally "Resurrection Mary and the Prodigal Son" She has youtube videos and everything! NO JOKE! Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tqOr0KU-S8 She was also on Australia's got talent, but unfortunately didn't make it past the first round. She is about 72 years old and she has SO MUCH energy. She did everything on the tour that I did, and she did it with spunk! Whenever she introduced herself it often began with "Yo yo yo whats up?" and ended with "Peace out!" I loved her!! We became good friends and she is officially my Aussie Grandma, I can't believe I spent an whole week with this incredibly kooky woman!
Darwin: I got spend a whole day in Darwin after the tour was over because my travel agent kind of screwed up my dates, but I was fine with it because I had a day to spare and I kind of wanted to check out the largest city in the Northern Territory.  The were a couple people left from our tour that were staying in the same hostel as me including Vit from the Czech Republic, Mosh from Poland, Bridget from Liverpool (Mandakini's daughter), and Mandkini. We all had a free day to do whatever in Darwin, so we decided to spend the day together. We went to the botanical gardens and walked along the shoreline of the city. It was very hot out, about 35 degrees C, witch is like 95 degrees F. Vit and I were hanging out together most of the day, he was a pretty cool guy and we got to know each other...I was mostly teaching him how to correctly pronounce words in English (which was something I hadn't done here at all since the Aussies usually think I am the one saying things wrong). We went to the Sunday night markets that evening and we both wanted to try Crocodile, so we went looking for it and had success. It basically tasted like a fishy chicken, it was alright.We all watched to sunset, and once the sun was down the temperature was gorgeous! It was a beautiful day to relax before flying back to school the next day.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better experience of the outback. I met wonderful people, saw once in a lifetime sights, and had a great time! It was a lot of driving, and a lot of camping....but I recommend it to anyone! If you want to see the outback, ATA is the way to go!