Darwin to Alice Springs Day 1

Wednesday, May 20th

Road trip! Hannah and I decided to go with a tour for the 1,500 km from Darwin to Alice Springs. We booked on with Adventure Tours Australia which turned out to be a great idea. We got picked up at 5:30am (well, we were waiting outside at 5:30 but didn't get picked up til after 6 because of a flat tire, but met some nice people while we were sitting on the curb). 22 of us backpackers and all our stuff into a small bus with a trailer. The people on our trip were from all over the world- The US, UK, Canada, Belgium, Morocco, Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, Tasmania, Korea, and we had crazy Ozzy guides Scotty and Michelle.

We covered pretty much all the major points of interest along the Stuart Highway. We got breakfast in a small town who's claim to fame is being the home of Charlie, one of the start from Crocodile Dundee. After Charlie died they had him stuffed and put him in the pub! Lunch was at Edith Falls where we went swimming in a waterfall pool and went for a hike with lookouts of the area. Jeremiah from our group went on walkabout and we spent a few hours waiting for him. Next we went to a "culture camp" where and Aboriginal artist Manuel and his wife Jessica taught us how to do the traditional rock painting with the very precise lines. They typically only use 4 colors- red ochre, yellow ochre, white clay, and black charcoal because those are what they can find in nature, though many of them like Manuel use man made colors now. We got to try our hand at painting, and it is so much harder than it looks- and it definitely doesn't look easy! We also got to throw a boomerang, play a didgeridoo, and pet an emu (I called him Marley and he scared the pants off me. I didn't dare touch him for fear of getting beaked). We spent the night close by in Katherine at permanent tent cabins and got our first tasted of a cold Australian night!