Australia's Red Center
Trip Start
Dec 04, 2005
1
Trip End
Dec 08, 2005
Alice Springs, Australia
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Alice Springs reminded me of a desolate town in the middle of the Arizona desert--very hot and dusty. I went to the Desert Reptile Center where they had four of the top ten deadliest snakes in the world. It was feeding time so I witnessed a couple of snakes eating white mice. It was also home to a croc, many kinds of lizards, tarantulas and other deadly reptiles.
Alice Springs has a branch of the Royal Flying Doctor's service, which is a service established to provide emergency medical to those in the outback where there are no, or minimal, medical services. It provides benefit to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal.
While in Alice Springs I stayed at a hostel called Melanka's. It was horrible. The night before having to catch the tour bus to Uluru at 6:45am, I'd gone to bed at a decent time, 10:30pm. Around midnight the music at the hostel bar about two buildings away kicked into full volume. Though I had my earplugs in I could still hear the thump, thump, thump of the bass until 3:30 in the morning. Bloody party bars.
On Aboriginals
Having read a few books related to Aboriginal people and their culture-and having been highly fascinated, I was curious to interact with the native people. It's estimated that their culture and way of life has existed without outside influence for anywhere from 10,000 to 60,000 years, depending on different expert speculation. That blows me away, especially in this day and age. Arrival of the Europeans, especially the British colonists, in the late 1700's wrought havoc and decimation to a great number of Aboriginals. Who says all humans need to be brought into the 21st century? I find their culture beautiful and extremely harmonious with the flow of the natural world. Modern society has a lot to learn from many of their ways. Unfortunately, our superior attitude and lack of respect for those different from us stunts our ability to grasp the messages others are here to teach us.
I wasn't really able to have any direct contact with any Aboriginals while in Alice Springs. Due to basic cultural differences there is not much interaction, even for local Australians. Currently there are some suffering from alcohol abuse. Aboriginals most 'down and out' are those stuck between the two cultures. Outside of the Reptile center in a grassy park I did see several groups of about 5 to 10 people relaxing and talking. I tried to imagine them thousands of years ago in the outback, where streets, gas stations and reptile centers were nowhere on the horizon. Imagining a time when we had deeper respect and connection with our fellow humans. Where ego and self were not the dominant element in life as they seem to be today. The ego can be a strong bulldozer. I often ponder the current state of humanity and wonder where the freight train is taking us. More on that subject in a future entry....
We did stop at the Aboriginal Cultural Center for about an hour, just near the base of Uluru. I'd recommend at least two hours to really absorb as much as you can, as there aren't very many places in Australia where cultural elements are documented and explained. The Aboriginals are actually a fairly secretive and elusive people.
On The Outback
I went on a 3-day tour with 19 others into the outback. I got to know a few who were very nice. We rode in a large van, stopping at the major sights along the way. We camped in permanent tents (see photo) and cooked meals on grills and in "bush ovens," which is just putting raw food in big steel pots with lids, placing them in burning ambers and covering the lids with ambers as well. Surprisingly we made biscuits in one of the pots and they turned out pretty well.
I rode a camel for five minutes at a small camel farm. There are thousands of feral (wild) camels in the outback. Last century they were used for transportation and labor, released into the wild in around the 1920's. We saw emus, dingoes and kangaroos in cages in a few of the gas station complexes along the way. The flies in the outback are horrendous and incessantly bothersome. Some wore bug nets over their faces and heads.
Probably the highlights were:
- having champagne and watching the sunset at Uluru
- watching the sunrise over it the next morning and walking around the base, where it's much more varied and interesting than typical photographs of it
- hiking through Kings Canyon, where parts of "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" were filmed. It's very "picturisque" (reference to 8th grade geography presentation). We went swimming in a very tranquil watering hole there.
- hiking just up to the edge of Kata Tjuta, along fascinating geological formation
As it's quite a journey to get there (either 3 days by bus or a $300 return flight), the typical question is, "Is it worth making the trip?" My answer is, "It's the only place in the world where such a geological structure exists. It holds a strong spiritual significance for a culture that has existed on the land for tens of thousands of years. It's ruggedly beautiful, especially as it stands in the middle of nowhere. It changes color during sunrise and sunset. Yes, I'd recommend a visit."
Comments
the bellybutton of the island continent
I guess my question wouldn't be, Is it worth the trip? but Is there anything in between if you take the bus? I love this entry, and the photographs are awesome. The bush oven sounds similar to a dutch oven, which is rested on coals or embers and covered in them as well. It's a common way of baking on camping trips.
Uluru looks like the bellybutton of Australia. (An outie, of course.)