Hello everyone!
Major apologies for the delay in posting- the
past few weeks have been extremely hectic!
Each weekend, I’ve been in a different state, and I’m in the midst of
exam season- and there’s only 1 lab practical assignment between me and summer
(or winter, if we’re speaking Aussie seasons)!
In continuing the recap of my amazing mid-trimester break, today I'm
going to focus on my 6-day bus tour through the outback! 
Since the tour
started in in Adelaide, I decided to spend a few days to see what the town was
about. I spent one day on a wine tour through the Barossa Valley- known
for impeccable wineries! I got to try all sorts of wine and eat an
amazing meal. I would have to say my favorite were a red shiraz and a
pink moscato. The tour also stopped by a cute, little German town called
Hahndorf. It had all sorts of German restaurants, cafes, and shops.
By the end of the day, I was quite tired from traveling, so I knew it was
time to catch up on my sleep before beginning my outback adventure!
On first official day of the bus tour, I woke up
bright and early at 5 am to get to the Adelaide central bus station. I
found the Groovy Grape tour bus, along with the tour guide, and I knew right
away I was in for an adventure! Throughout the morning, we stopped by
several hostels in Adelaide to pick up other tour-goers. In total, there
were 20 of us. As we traveled throughout
the day, we stopped at Mt. Remarkable National Park, where we went on our first
hike through Alligator Gorge. It was
incredible seeing how vividly orange the stone was. At the end of the night, we stopped at a
motel in Quorn where we had an authentic Aussie meal- “sangers” (sausages),
chicken kabobs, and kangaroo meat. I was
actually quite surprised that I enjoyed the Kangaroo- 10/10 recommend!
The following day was another early
morning. In fact, there wasn’t a single
day of the tour that we didn’t wake up later than 5 am. We rode in the bus for nearly the whole day,
making our way up to Coober Pedy. Many
people also claim that Coober Pedy looks like Mars or the Moon it’s been the
landscape for many famous space movies. The town is known as the Opal capital of the
world, so there were mines and underground buildings and houses
everywhere! In fact, we stayed in an
underground motel that night. I was a little nervous about it at first, but I (clearly)
ended up making it out alive. That
night, we visited a kangaroo sanctuary where a couple takes in injured
kangaroos found on the road or joeys without mothers. 
The third day was our biggest day for driving- 9
hours on the bus with plenty of small stops along the way as we made our way up
Stewart Highway to get to Watarrka National Park area for the night. This was our first night not sleeping in a
proper bed. Something I particularly
enjoyed about my outback tour was sleeping under the stars. We quite
literally slept with nothing but a sleeping bag and “swag” (no tents!) but it
was incredible being able to see the beautiful night sky as we drifted to sleep. 
The next morning is when the adventure really
began. At 7am, we arrived at Kings
Kanyon to begin a 5K hike. King’s Canyon
was absolutely gorgeous and breath-taking.
The first 15 minutes… not so much.
The first part of the hike involves “heart-attack hill.” While it was definitely a stiff hike, and I
was more concerned with getting a heart-attack from the terrifying view when
looking down. I think the experience
helped me in getting over my fear of heights, though (at least a little
bit). Following the hike, we began our
way to Uluru in the town of Yulara. When
we arrived, we visited the Aboriginal Cultural Center. It was really interesting admiring Aboriginal
artwork and learning more about their culture, especially the significance of
the Uluru rock.
The next day was probably the busiest we’d
experienced. In the morning, we walked
all 13K around Uluru- taking about 4 hours, but it was well worth the time to
be able to get up-close-and-personal with the rock’s beauty. The view was incredible, and it really gave
me a strong insight on Aboriginal culture and beliefs, as many of the sights
were sacred and included stories of what the areas
were used for.
After the Uluru walk, we broke for lunch, and
I ended up riding a camel- rather interesting.
A few hours later, we continued hiking by visiting Kata Tjuta. The view of the valley from the second
lookout was amazing- and the bottom was quite a long way down! Our evening came to a close as we watched the
sunset- with cheese and Jatz.
Day 6, our last day, finally came, and at this
point, we were so exhausted from all the hiking and driving. Our final adventure included driving up to
Alice Springs (on Easter Sunday) where we were able to get a little nap in before
going to the bars as a group for one final night out. The next morning, I boarded the plane back to
Armidale to get back to studying and finishing assignments.
Something unique about Australia is the amount
of emus (ostrich-like birds) that roam around.
In fact, years ago, the birds were so heavily populated that Australia
actually had a war against them, but lost, so they still continue to roam. This one didn’t look too happy to see me. During the adventure, the long bus rides were
not too dreadful, because often times, we were able to see some pretty cool
wildlife. What I loved about the
Northern Territory is how many unique lizards there are crawling around (blame
Magnetic Island for stirring up my reptile-island). Also, we saw wild horses and wild camels
roaming around, which was so cool because it’s definitely not something you see
everyday in New South Wales, where I go to school. Overall, I am so thankful I took the
opportunity to visit the outback because it reiterates the point that the different
parts of Australia
are so unique and the whole country isn’t just like Sydney.
Speaking of Sydney, I’m currently at the Sydney
airport, getting ready to head back to Armidale after yet, another extended
weekend adventure. I promise to be back
on the blog later this week to outline the rest of my other weekend adventures.
Cheers,
Hallie
