Part II: The Camper Van

This post finds me in Melbourne at the St. Kilda Library using free internet!!! I have an hour and that will save me a whopping $4. On to the post...


June 3- Susan and I had to get up at an early 5:00 am to catch the train to the airport for our 7:10 flight to Alice Springs on Qantas. I must admit that I broke my boycott of American fast food chains and ate at Hungry Jacks (known as Burger King everywhere else). I was a bit ashamed but needed the food before the trip. The flight for me was quite uneventful (I slept nearly the entire journey); however, for Susan, she had some real trouble with her ear. From what she said, she was in pain the entire time and for a couple of days afterwards.

When we arrived, we took the shuttle to Apollo Campers and met Emlyn. As the camper was only for two adults, we left Susan around the corner and picked her up after an hours worth of videos, demonstrations, paperwork, and all the other red tape associated with renting a camper van. I took the driver's seat and fortunately did not kill it on the way out. After picking up Susan, we drove to the nearest place, a bakery, to sort everything out. We decided to head out to Simpson's Gap. We went so I could have a bit of practice driving (a manual, on the left hand side, and the big camper van). The Gap itself was beautiful, a brilliant red in the sun and our first glimpse of wildlife, wallabies!

I encouraged Emlyn to have a go with the van (he had his license but had not driven since he received it two years ago) and he ended up driving us back to Alice and to the grocery store. His driving met the standards/exceeded our expectations! We went on a massive shopping spree and purchased all of our food for the next week (six bags of crisps, biscuits/cookies, pasta, hamburgers, sausages, hot dogs, eggs, garlic bread...); I was in heaven!

From here we went to our first camper park and checked in. We saw even more wallabies before cooking dinner. With the park's provided bbq, we had sausages, fried onions, and fried potatoes...a glorious feast. We proceeded to set the camper van up for bedtime: turning the dining room into a bed for Susan and I and unfolding the second level for Emlyn's bed (suitable for a small child, but thankfully he managed). This unfolding may not make much sense, but our camper had an extended roof that allowed us to have a bed on the top of the van. The one downfall of this night is that I had no sleeping bag, we were only provided with two sleeping bags and two sheets. I used the two sheets and froze. Something would need to be done about this.

The next morning we woke up and had toast for brekkie. We made an early start into town so Susan and I could see a bit of Alice before heading to Uluru. We walked to the top of ANZAC Hill that gave us a view of the surrounding mountains and the small town of 24,000 people. I must address now the Aboriginal population. In OZ, it is a huge controversy. The fight was similar to the US's disposal of indigenous people and the government is going through similar issues. However, the state of the Aboriginals in Alice Spring matched the complaints I had heard from other Australians. We passed groups of twenty or so people just sitting and doing nothing (this is what people have said they do). Most do not have jobs and have substance abuse issues. The three of us were quite intimidated by the large groups of wandering Aboriginals. I will only touch on this lightly as it can spark massive debates, I am not well educated on the entire situation, and do not have the time to go into it (nor do I really have a stance on the issue).

During our ANZAC adventure, Emlyn went back to the grocery store for some more food. Now Alice Springs is not too exciting of a town; it is in the middle of nowhere and really has one street of shops. The town originated as a link for the telegraph between Adelaide and Darwin and has not really served much of any other purpose expect as a tourist hub for Uluru. Our couple of hours in Alice was plenty. On to Uluru (after stopping to pick up another sleeping bag).

Our five-hour drive was pretty uneventful. We made it to Uluru with time to spare. We drove into the national park and there was Ayers Rock: A monolith (a massive, single rock) in the middle of the outback. The sky was a bit cloudy, so Ayers looked charcoal. We decided to take a walk around part of the rock as we had about an hour before sunset. Susan threw on her fashionable fly mask, as the flies were a bit annoying (not as bad as they could have been). With a nice walk we headed back to the van and drove to the sunset parking lot. The clouds were even thicker than before so we were pretty bummed about missing the sunset at the rock. For those that do not know, the rock is infamous for being massive and changing colors in the sun. Both sunset and sunrise change the rock to a blazing red. As the sun was about to disappear, the rock slowly turned red, starting at the base and working its way to the top of the rock, lasting a spectacular 30 seconds. Class! We were so excited that it had happened! After those thirty seconds, we headed back to the campsite and had our first pasta dinner, which are always very tasty.

The same thing was repeated in the morning, up at 6:20, a quick shower and off to Ayer's rock, this time for sunrise. We had a cold morning but a well worth sunrise. We returned to the camp site for a quick brekkie and head onwards to The Olgas, 32 rock structures jutting into the middle of the outback. Following this, we drove 305 km to Kings Canyon...absolutely spectacular! Emlyn and I embarked on the 3.5 hour hike (completed in less than two hours) while Susan did the first part and then went a different route for her own little hike. Emlyn and I had a couple of really good chats on the walk and I saw the first, and only snake of the trip. I was only able to glimpse the last 40 cm of its tail, but was happy with that. After a great hike we headed back South to find a free campsite we had passed on our way. Getting here a bit after sunset, we settled in and had our pasta dinner again (our camper van had a gas stove, but we had no electricity at this site, so we fried up our garlic bread). After dinner I went out and stood in awe of the stars. Millions upon millions of stars and some only a meter off the horizon! Bed by 21:30.

The next morning we woke up and drove off another 155 km before breakfast (scramble eggs and jam sandwiches...no power). We did the dishes and brushed our teeth at a petrol station/homestead/rest stop before another 160 km to Marla. We had left the Northern Territories and entered Southern Australia, therefore had to chuck our fruit into the quarantine bin (as SA does not have fruit flies). Although if you know me, you know I do not waste food. Between the three of us, we consumed 18 pieces of fruit (apples, oranges, and bananas) in about 10 minutes! I had four apples, two oranges, and one banana, no lack of Vitamin C on this trip. Another 232 km to Coober Pedy, home of the Opal mining industry. Needless to say, this town was pretty much nothing. Dirt roads, one street, basically an outdated Centuria (that bad). Susan did some Opal shopping and we then left. After another 160 km we ended at Bon Bon rest stop, our second free campsite. Before getting here, we witnessed one of the best sunsets I have ever seen! Absolutely brilliant! For dinner we had some bangers (a bit smoky in the van) and boiled potatoes with sweet chili sauce. Again another night in the middle of nowhere and again I was outside watching the stars (plus doing a bit of running, stretching, and dancing to my I-pod as I had been couped up for far too long). Bed time!

A 9:00 wake up a off on the road we go. Our next port of call was Port Augustine for petrol. No dramas here. Onwards to Port Germaine, a small coastal town of 250 people and home of Australia’s longest jetty. We parked the van and braved the light rain to walk the 1.5 km jetty. Sometimes there are dolphins at the end, but not today. After a bit of discussion, we decided to stay in Port Germaine. We still had quite a bit of daylight and were tempted to drive on, but I think we all needed some fresh air, a bit of time to ourselves, and a warm shower, The camp site we had was right across the street from the ocean so we had a great view. We took a walk into town (a shop and a pub) and bought some more potatoes and bread. After this we took a stroll along the beach. The tide was out and the beach was about 1km. I ventured out, took off my trainers, and ran to the water. FREEDOM!!! My feet froze but it was well worth the beautiful sunset I watched behind the jetty. I eventually made my way to the jetty and walked up the stairs to meet Emlyn and Susan (I saw a beached purple jelly fish, so I was pretty excited). After this we headed back to our camper van and prepared dinner (after debating music and American travelling habits). Hamburgers on the bbq as well as two kilos worth of sliced potatoes. Dinner tasted great and the showers had high pressure and were hot! With a full stomach and a clean body (it had been three days) we headed to the one and only pub: Port Germaine Hotel. We had an unbelievable time. I will not go into too much detail, but it was the three of us and about 8 locals (Skins, Theresa, and Nicki, the owners and their 16 year old daughter; Nancy, Theresa’s mum; Karen and Steve (true townies); John; Carol; and Bev. Bar tricks, bar dancing, free drinks, jokes, and many other things followed. A truly good night in a small town. After closing, I walked to the end of the jetty and enjoyed some fresh air. We headed to bed at about 3:15 in the morning.

Since we did not have too much further to drive to Adelaide, our final destination, we slept in and took our time leaving. After a nice breakfast we drove the three hours to Adelaide. This was our first experience in a big city with the camper van and Emlyn handled it quite well. We located a very nice camper park and cooked up our last pasta dinner before heading into town. We caught the bus in and Susan and I explored the Migration Museum as well as South Australia's Contemporary Art Museum; it felt good to have a bit of civilized culture back in us. We met Emlyn at 17:00 and walked down to the river and through town .The city was alive and busy being a Friday afternoon. After quite a bit of walking and a nice detour to Central Market (with much sampling done) we stopped for a couple of drinks outside (nice and cold). We decided to continue on and had dinner at a take-away place (cheese hot dog for me). After some debate, we thought town was a bit dead and headed back to our camper for some sleep.


Saturday morning came and today was the day to return the camper van. After cleaning out the van, eating all of our remaining food, and showering, we checked out a bit late. The van did not need to be back until 16:30 so we drove to Glenelg, a beach side suburb. I drove across town and was a bit tense. All my practice went out the window as my nerves took over, but thankfully we made it there safely. We walked down the high street and strolled along the beach. The walk was nice but we needed to return the van. As I said in an earlier post, we returned it with no dramas!


We were now vehicle less THANKFULLY!!! All the burden had been lifted off Emlyn and my chests. With time to spare, we walked back towards Emlyn's concert and eventually back to the city (at least 5km). We said our goodbyes to Emlyn (Susan was really sad to see him go, as was I but knew I would be meeting him in a week) and carried on. Susan did not think she would make it but I tricked her into it! We again had some good discussion and the walk was great closure for this part of the trip.

Once back in town, Susan and I stopped at the supermarket and prepared for our overnight bus. Adelaide said goodbye to us with an arrested drunk and a drug sniffing dog.

On to Melbourne!

Unfortunately I was unable to read through this, but I wanted to get the post up...eventually I will polish it.