Australian Outback
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:09 pm
I spent September touring through the Outback of Australia with my girlfriend & one of my soccer teammates. Took a few thousand pictures, so weeding through all of them has been a pain. In short, we rented a Toyota campervan and drove from Adelaide to Darwin, close to 4500 miles in all.
A ritzy area of Adelaide (Glenelg):
The first of many Nissans:
The exchange rate sucked. Bad. Very close to a US$1:AUS$1 ratio. Everything was quite expensive.
Our first reminder that most of the world's deadliest creatures live here:
Looks like Utah to me:
A common lizard (huge!):
Okay, we have flies. Sometimes they are annoying. NOTHING is as annoying as the damned "Wot" flies in Oz. They were everywhere we went, and the kicker is that they go for the eyes, ears, nose & mouth. All those UNICEF commercials came to mind throughout the trip:
The greatest concentration of opal in the world is in Coober Pedy, and the majority of people live underground & some of the businesses & churches are underground also:
How about a 74-wheeler? These are known as "road trains" in Oz-a very apt name.
One of the thousands of parrots we saw:
Our first dingo:
Kings Canyon National Park:
Snorkels, awnings & rooftop tents everywhere:
Typical highway scenery:
This one still cracks me up. First Emu sighting-looks like he just filled up at the pump:
First sunset at Uluru, aka Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock):
We didn't climb to the top of it like the rest of the tourist sheep, but decided instead to make the walk around the entire base, which was great.
Daytime shot of the "Rock:"
Sunset shot:
Before dawn:
Sunrise:
The other part of the park containing Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Massive panorama shot using about 9 frames (shrunken for flickr):
Great hiking there:
Camping out in BFE most of the time:
A few of the local creatures:
???
White Gum tree:
Reflection:
Mural on the side of a supermarket in Alice Springs:
Tropic of Capricorn:
This was probably the best campground we stayed at:
We didn't drive between dawn & dusk, simply because all the kangaroos come out then:
Stork? It was one massive bird.
Camp mascot:
Took a boat tour and saw tons of crocs:
At the very edge of Kakadu National Park before entering aboriginal lands (4x4 & permit required). We watched a croc attack & slowly eat a fairly large fish:
Our 2nd boat tour, which proved to be a very awesome experience:
Gigantic termite mound:
When I booked the flights, I had the choice of either the 747 or the new Airbus A380. I decided I wasn't comfortable enough to fly on such a new plane, although that will probably change the next time.
I've only posted about 500 photos on flickr so far, with more to come. If you're interested, the link to my page is in my signature.
A ritzy area of Adelaide (Glenelg):
The first of many Nissans:
The exchange rate sucked. Bad. Very close to a US$1:AUS$1 ratio. Everything was quite expensive.
Our first reminder that most of the world's deadliest creatures live here:
Looks like Utah to me:
A common lizard (huge!):
Okay, we have flies. Sometimes they are annoying. NOTHING is as annoying as the damned "Wot" flies in Oz. They were everywhere we went, and the kicker is that they go for the eyes, ears, nose & mouth. All those UNICEF commercials came to mind throughout the trip:
The greatest concentration of opal in the world is in Coober Pedy, and the majority of people live underground & some of the businesses & churches are underground also:
How about a 74-wheeler? These are known as "road trains" in Oz-a very apt name.
One of the thousands of parrots we saw:
Our first dingo:
Kings Canyon National Park:
Snorkels, awnings & rooftop tents everywhere:
Typical highway scenery:
This one still cracks me up. First Emu sighting-looks like he just filled up at the pump:
First sunset at Uluru, aka Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock):
We didn't climb to the top of it like the rest of the tourist sheep, but decided instead to make the walk around the entire base, which was great.
Daytime shot of the "Rock:"
Sunset shot:
Before dawn:
Sunrise:
The other part of the park containing Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Massive panorama shot using about 9 frames (shrunken for flickr):
Great hiking there:
Camping out in BFE most of the time:
A few of the local creatures:
???
White Gum tree:
Reflection:
Mural on the side of a supermarket in Alice Springs:
Tropic of Capricorn:
This was probably the best campground we stayed at:
We didn't drive between dawn & dusk, simply because all the kangaroos come out then:
Stork? It was one massive bird.
Camp mascot:
Took a boat tour and saw tons of crocs:
At the very edge of Kakadu National Park before entering aboriginal lands (4x4 & permit required). We watched a croc attack & slowly eat a fairly large fish:
Our 2nd boat tour, which proved to be a very awesome experience:
Gigantic termite mound:
When I booked the flights, I had the choice of either the 747 or the new Airbus A380. I decided I wasn't comfortable enough to fly on such a new plane, although that will probably change the next time.
I've only posted about 500 photos on flickr so far, with more to come. If you're interested, the link to my page is in my signature.
