Munster Express Online

Valerie Cosgrave reports

One of the most challenging trips I have ever made was an eight day tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs. We travelled 2,000km overland, visited sites with a geological history dating back millions of years and we lost all contact with the comfort zone.

It all started at 7.30am on an August morning when our taxi arrived to the hostel in Adelaide to bring the seven of us Irish to the Wayward bus, where at 7.45 we set off on an overland camping trip to Alice Springs through the outback. The bus was a 20 seater, towing a covered trailer, which carried all the food, cooking utensils and tents. We met ten others on the bus and the driver Robert. He was also the tour guide, tour manager, mechanic, chef and an all-round go-for.

After a few hours on the bus our first stop was a winery in the Clare Valley. We tasted all the samples, bought what we liked and then we got to know the other tourists on the bus. We drove all that day, stopping at a few interesting towns along the road. One of these was an old railway town called Quorn. It had a population of 12.

Our first night in a tent was spent in Wilpena Pound. Our driver Robert, slept in a swag but we declined the offer of this sleeping accommodation. A swag is a combination between a sleeping bag and a tent. You lie in it like a sleeping bag but it has a mattress built-in and has a thick lining with a canvas outer layer. You could get a wet head if it was raining though.

Next morning we set off after breakfast on a dirt road called the Oodnadatta Track. By now the landscape had really changed. It was very flat country with a few shrub bushes scattered here and there. In the middle of this nothingness we visited an unusual guy called ‘Talc Alf’. He was a lovely man but he had some very alternative theories on life. He sculptured chalk.

Williams Creek was our next overnight stop. This sprawling metropolis, with a population of 6, consisted of a camp site, a shack of a pub, a diesel pump and a solar powered telephone kiosk. We set up the tents and headed for the pub. Sitting on beer barrels we started up a sing song, the one barman joined in, singing and drinking. By 2am he was fast asleep on the dirt floor and the customers were still drinking and singing.

Next morning we set off early. After about two hours driving we stopped at a disused railway station in the middle of nowhere. Here, we loaded short lengths of railway sleepers onto the roof rack of the bus as we were running low on firewood for the camp fires at night.

Late that afternoon we emerged from the Outback into the beautiful and lush Northern Flinders National Park. We were looking forward to sleeping in a bed that night in Angorichina but alas, it was not a comfortable hotel bed. Our accommodation that night was in a hospital ward in a former sanatorium for men who had contacted TB during the First and Second World Wars. For dinner, chef Robert grilled kangaroo steaks. This was my first kangaroo meal and it was similar to venison. We lit the fire in the common room but went to bed early because legend had it that an inmate who hanged himself there, haunted the old building. Apparently, his shadow had being seen swinging from the ceiling in the common room. Next morning we woke to a beautiful vista – rolling green hills with towering gum trees and Aloe Vera plants.

That evening we arrived at the world’s largest opal mining town of Coober Pedy. The year-round temperatures in Coober Pedy vary from 0 to 47 degrees so most of the people live underground, in houses dug-out into the sides of the hills. The underground temperature is kept at a constant 18-25 degrees so heating and air conditioning is not required. We visited an underground Catholic Church and had a drink in the local underground hotel. We bought opals in the underground mine shop and we slept that night in an underground bunker. We took photographs at the first ever tree seen in the town, which was welded together from scrap iron. Coober Pedy was an eerie experience, the town felt odd. There was no one out walking the streets, except us and no sign of any children out playing. The night in the bunk house felt hot and claustrophobic but the opals are still lovely.

The Dog Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was built from 1880-1885 to keep dingoes out of the south-east part of Australia. The dingoes are kept to the north of the fence in cattle country as south of the fence is protected sheep country.

Have you ever travelled 800km in one day, across a desert, on some unsealed bumpy roads?

Well that is what we did to get to our next stop – Uluru. We spent two days in this area. The first evening we sat watching the sun set over Uluru. The sky was grey and as the sun went down the rock was suddenly illuminated a bright orange/red colour that stood out against the grey sky. The next morning we were up early to see the sun rise. As the sun came up the rock changed colour to a deep red which was completely different from the previous evening –it was magnificent to see.

We then moved on to our next stop which was the Kata Tjuta National Park to visit the Kata Tjuta. This is a striking group of domed rocks, huddled together about 35km west of Uluru. There are 36 boulders shoulder to shoulder, the tallest of which is 200 meters higher than Uluru.
Our second last stop was Kings Canyon. In the camp site here, we drove quads and got camel rides. It was here also that I tasted my first camel meat burger. Kings Canyon was beautiful, with 100 meter sheer drops into the gorge. We went on guided hikes here with Robert.
The tour ended in Alice Springs where we toured the Royal Flying Doctor Service headquarters. We also enjoyed an early morning Balloon ride followed by a Champagne breakfast.
This tour was an experience never to be forgotten. Luckily the only mishap we had was to the new jacket my husband wore. It came home with its front covered in burn holes as a result of standing too near the sparks emanating from the campfires on the cold August nights.