Uluru and Cairns

When you’re thinking Alice Springs, don’t think Palm Springs. It’s more like Yellowknife with palm trees.

We stayed in Alice Springs the nights before and after our camping trip to the Outback, so we got to spend a chunk of time there. After hearing a number of white Australians tell us about how Australia has abolished their Reserves and handed back land to the Aboriginal people since the mid-1980s, we saw things here that made us think the situation hasn’t progressed quite so much between the whites and the Aboriginals. There seemed to be a lot of unemployment, homelessness and general poverty amongst the Aboriginals. This was in stark contrast with the droves of young Brits and other Europeans snatching up tons of jobs in this city where work seems to be abundant. It wasn’t clear to us though whether this was also because of a reluctance on the part of the Aboriginals to assimilate to the European ways, given the richness of their own culture and history. All in all their situation does not seem that different from the North American one; with a people who have lost their way of life, but the alternatives are not necessarily the right choice for them either.

OK, now about our camping trip to the Outback.

We woke up dark and early at 5:30 am, which unbeknownst to us would be the same time we would be waking up for the next few days. We loaded up our small packs into the bus, picked up a few more people and headed to the Outback. Along the way we stopped to “gather” fire wood, which seemed conspicuously easy to find – almost as if it had been laid out for us ahead of time in large quantities (we wondered....). Our travel companions were absolutely lovely. We were the only native English speakers on the trip; the rest were French, German and Spanish. OK, there was this one weird French guy from Lyon, who seemed to behave like a rebellious 12 year-old, despite being in his late 30s. He needed to be faster than everyone on every hike, would talk to his friend when the guide was explaining things, had his ear buds in at all times (perhaps to drown out everyone else), went too close to cliff edges – to the point of being reprimanded by the guide,....and on the last day took off his shirt and was swinging it around, showing off his skinny, mediocre body and giggling with his friend.

On the first day of the trip we went to Uluru (formerly known as Ayer’s Rock) – a 348 metre tall flat top rock (monolith) that is 9.4 km in circumference sitting in the middle of a very flat desert. It is the result of millions of years of sand accumulated from inland seas and compressed, followed by erosion. We started with a visit to the cultural centre and read up on all of the religious significance of this site, along with the art gallery where we could see local Aboriginal art work, most of which was in the pointillism style. Next we did a hike around the base of Uluru. The Aboriginals encourage visitors to see it in this way; and they discourage climbing Uluru itself. The Australian authorities, however, give a mixed message about climbing it. They have this precarious old chain from the 1950s that you can hold on to as you climb up the rock with no safety fencing (atypical for Aus where safety is always evident). At the same time, they have signs and guides telling people of the dangers of climbing it (many have died) and that it’s disrespectful to the Aboriginals. Needless to say, 100s were climbing up and down Uluru....We did not.

That evening we watched the sun set behind Uluru, colours changing as the light faded. We sipped champagne with our European traveling companions. Olivier, a suave young French guy from Marseille, gladly popped the corks for us, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth – fulfilling any stereotype one might have about French guys.

Did you know that it gets cold in the desert at night? Really cold. As in freezing cold. The first night we stayed in pre-fab tents each with two single beds inside, an electric lamp, and a wooden floor. And we froze our asses off. The second night we slept under the stars, on the ground around the campfire in these Australian sleeping bags called “swags”. And we were toasty warm. The swag is like a cocoon with a canvas outer shell that zips you inside. It contains a mattress, and full bedding- and it warms you simply by trapping your own body heat inside.

When they originally asked us who wanted to sleep in the swag, Rob was hesitant, afraid of the wildlife at night – you know, snakes and dingos and the like. When Diane, Aviva, Aaron, and Noah raised their hands, along with a 9-year old girl called Laura, 12 more of the 22 people on the tour followed suit...and finally, succumbing to peer pressure, Rob did too. The next morning, Rob said “This was the best sleep I’ve had in my life”. The bonus to sleeping outside was that we slept under the mid-August Meteor Shower, and got to wish upon shooting stars- although most of us fell asleep after only a few, simply exhausted from our action-packed days. Our other expeditions included seeing the sun rise at Uluru, and hiking Kata Tjuta (A.K.A. The Olgas), as well as hiking the King’s Canyon.

Our tour guide, Jess was outstanding. She possessed a wealth of knowledge about history, geology, plants, culture, politics, you name it!

If we hadn’t already had enough of Alice Springs, the next day after our camping trip, our flight was delayed by 4 hours, and we got to spend another day there. This allowed us to take care of a number of errands, including taking Noah to the hospital to deal with a minor eye infection. After, at the airport, we reunited with half of our tour group, and with Qantas giving us each $25 food vouchers as compensation for the delay, it was a party!

Next stop Cans – Oh! You didn’t know? They pronounce Cairns “Cans” over here. So from the desert centre, we moved into the tropics, and the next day we did a hike in the Daintree Rainforest. We learned a ton about this, the oldest rainforest in the world. Majestic trees, with vines spiraling around them, buttress themselves by spanning out huge root systems to stabilize themselves in the moist soil, and to increase the oxygen to their roots.

True to its name, the rain forest rained on us throughout the hike. Everybody remembered to bring a rain shell...except for Rob, who sheltered himself with one of our towels and his Aussie Outback hat.

The next day a cold, which had started with Rob back on Kangaroo Island, had now caught up with a few more of us. So we opted for a quiet day on the beach. With frequent clouds breaking up the sunshine, we were perhaps a bit negligent with our sunscreen. But clouds or no clouds, this is the tropics man and UV gets through, so guess what? We all got burns!!!

While here we’ve learned a lot about, and seen several examples of controlled fires. The Aboriginal peoples did this for tens of thousands of years. The controlled fire was a form of early agriculture: the Aboriginals would burn a section of land, yielding new growth to be harvested as well as bringing animals to the area, making it easier for the hunters to catch them. With the Europeans managing the lands, the controlled fires ceased, causing uncontrolled bush fires. In recent years the old ways of controlled firers have been reinstated in this area. In Queensland (near Carins), they also use fire to manage the crops and we have driven through a few smoke filled patches of highway when passing the sugar cane plantations.

We are now en route to the Whitsundays for a boat trip. Our drive has been long with a few stops along the way for hikes in more rain forests and a couple of interesting eateries. At one café in particular a roadside sign advertised home-made scones with cream and jam along with an art gallery with works by the owner/baker. Said owner/baker turned out to be an eccentric, curmudgeony older British lady, who served us our scones and cream admonishing us to not put our used spoons or knives back into the tub of cream (like we actually would have?!?). She had signs explaining how to use the toilet “flushing is compulsory” “closing lid after use is compulsory”, etc. To top it all off, when she learned we were from Toronto, she replied, “My least favourite city,” then added, “in Canada”.

We’ve got to catch a boat for the next coupla days, so we’ll talk soon!
Love,
RANAD