Category Archives: TRAILS – Camping & The Outdoors

Red Centre Trip – Day 3

Posted on by

On our last day we took a long hike across King’s Canyon. It was a great walk and the canyon itself was amazing.

Us, right at the start.

Once again, I was really surprised by the amount of water that was present. Admittedly it had been raining recently, but you really got the idea that the desert wasn’t endless sand dunes, it was far more hospitable than you would think.

I am still awed about how indigenous people thrived out here though.

Claire at the main waterhole

Funnily enough, the clouds came racing at us, and we only just got back from the bus before a large deluge. From there it was 5 hours home, a pretty successful and enjoyable trip.

 


I wish I knew who this couple were, I would love to give them this photo.

Red Centre Trip – Day 2

Posted on by

So we woke up super early and headed straight to Uluru. Our guide gave us the choice about either seeing Uluru at sunrise and taking a 5km around most of the base, or taking the full 8km around the base. Surprisingly we were the only people who opted for the sunrise, but how could you pass up this view?


Note Kata Tjuta to the left

The walk around Uluru was amazing. For whatever reason, I guess the timing, we basically had the walk to ourselves. Despite the photos everywhere else, tourists were everywhere. But around that walk, especially the first hour, we were all alone. It was amazing.

Amazingly, there was water all around the rock, and some great waterfalls and pools

Afterwards we headed all to the camp and King’s Canyon and we were treated for a great sunset across the ranges. Well, actually I did, Claire went to get a Diet Coke and it took a mite longer than she expected, and she managed to miss it! But it was still nice to hang out at the viewpoint. It was so nice that we came back to it hours later and saw the stars. Being so far away from natural light sources had them really come out. But I don’t know how to take good photos, so I guess they are for my memory only!

 


Sunset over King’s Canyon

 

Red Centre Trip – Day 1

Posted on by

Claire is currently based in Alice Springs and her and I had a week off from classes. So I flew up to see her, and we took a prebooked trip to see the red centre. Day one was about 5 hours driving, a view of Mt Conner, to a walk to Kata Tjuta, and a sunset view of Uluru.

The bus ride was fairly ordinary, but that will happen, and Mt Connor (often referred to as the fake Uluru was alright). We got to the camp and there was way too much stuffing around, picking up people’s whose flights were late, and we missed half of Kata Tjuta. Pretty ordinary of the company I thought. But it was great:

Next we were hurried away to see the Uluru sunset, which was very impressive

Great fun and we retired for the night at camp. It was cold, and we got to sit around the fire – great fun!

Grampians Adventures

Posted on by

Claire had booked us some cheap last minute accommodation at Hall’s Gap which is right near a section of the Grampians. Although I was disappointing not to be able to camp, I was keen to be able to discover this part of Victoria. Although I lived in Victoria for about 25 years, I didn’t think I had been. If I had, I couldn’t remember it.

Anyway we arrived on Tuesday afternoon and had a look at a few of the nearby lookouts. They were pretty good and it made me really keen for the next day where we would do a 4 hour bushwalk, plus stop by a waterfall and another lookout.

The next day we got up and went to the waterfall. It was nice. It was a little disappointing that swimming was not allowed, but I respected the rules, unlike a lot of hikers.

After that we stopped by a few lookouts before heading towards the main hike. Claire snapped this photo of me checking out the scenery in what I thought was the best lookout that we went to.

The walk took us to “the pinnacle” which was a much higher lookout. It was a lovely short bushwalk, and (unlike most paths in the NT) very well signposted. The view was nice, although probably comparable to the other lookouts that are driveable. I would only recommend the bushwalk if you really like them, which I do.

Not Claire, though 🙂

Phillip Island – Day Trip

Posted on by

This Autumn heatwave has been really nice, especially coming down from the tropics. We came up with the idea of heading down to Phillip Island for a random day. It is around 2 hours 20 minutes one way, which makes it as close as Litchfield is to Darwin. Definitely worth a swim in the ocean!

I am really loving being able to get back in the surf again. I have really missed the waves, and the freedom not to worry about crocodiles.

We went down there and headed to the forest caves, Claire and Trish had a look while I had a swim. We then went onto the nobbies, before having a picnic and checking out the penguin parade on the way home.

Claire loves the penguin parade more than anything. I have now seen it 3 times in the past 3 years.

And I’m sure, we will be there again in 2016… happy wife, happy life

Starting to trust the car again after all the trouble we have had… photo taken after Claire had decided to drive home 🙂