AROUND AND ABOUT ALICE....

This is one of the most amazing places- Standley Chasm. The light at noon reaches the bottom of the chasm and bounces in all directions. The tree in centre is actually quite shaded, but the reflected light is beautiful.



This post is being done in haste, as I have officially finished here in Alice, but have been coming back to hospital to sort room , keys etc. I start again here on the 2nd July. I have my room secure now until March 2008 ! I still am able to use computer but don't want to push the boundaries too much. So I will put some photos of some of the touring I have been doing in the past few weeks.

The rocks are often standing alone, at random in the landscape-

reminding me often of the Maniototo.

The landscape here changes every few kms, always red, but with different vegetation-varying from trees to low scrub.

red rocks everywhere.......

Yes I am here....thought I had better prove I am in this wonderful red land. This is a place called Emily Gap. There are gaps all along the McDonnell range where in time long gone, rivers broke through. Makes for spectacular scenes.

Another view of Emily Gap....

And just to change images- just outside Alice is a place called Desert Park. It is like a botanical gardens where one can walk and it has areas of all the different parts of a desert. Huge walk-in areas where they have all sorts of birds of prey, and desert dwellers,(birds, reptiles etc). I was of course in my element. This beautiful barn owl was charming me with her interesting face. She is lovely don't you agree?

I am having ongoing pedantic problems with Aust Institute of Radiography, as soon as these are sorted I will have work. At the moment it looks like I may go to Geelong for 6-7 weeks. Will be a bit different. This week I am a lady of leisure........will take my camera out walking.

Take care

UP AND AWAY ABOVE ALICE.......

The moon was setting as the sun rose....

As you have probably guessed I did a hot air balloon ride earlier in the week above Alice. It was amazing. It is not the first time I have been up, but it was different as we had another balloon up with us which made for great photos. It was a very still morning and we were up in the air before dawn.

A blast of light just 'cos he could..

Up, up and away.....

the first rays of a new day....

We rose above the flat ground silently apart from the few blasts of hot gas that kept us where we were !!! We had a wonderful over view of the East and West McDonnell ranges that stretch East and West (obviously, sorry!!) beyond Alice.

The McDonnell ranges stretch so far, and are so diverse I will do a blog on these later this week.I have the use of a car for a couple of weeks-wonderful-so spent the weekend tiki touring Westwards and Eastwards. Really amazing landscapes.

Coming in for a landing..very gently..and we stayed upright...

This blog will be brief- the computer connection seems to be extremely slow, there must be something (gremlin or emergency) in the system. Its taking an eternity to upload photos.

My 6 weeks' contract here in Alice ends this Friday. It has taken a while to evolve, but it is all final- I have a contract to stay here from July until end March 2008. Same pay rates but doing call and overtime, and still free accommodation!!! From Dec until March I will have a house+ swimming pool to housesit so if any of you want a warm summer holiday- please come and see me.....but you are very welcome any time of the year obviously. I am coming home mid Nov until mid Dec,(tickets booked tonight) so will catch up with a lot of you then. I have no work for the next 8 weeks, but there several jobs in the offering, just waiting to see whose offer is better :-)

take care....life is for living

Take care and keep warm- I hear it is getting cold in ChCh.

ADD-ON FROM YESTERDAY'S POST

This view is from the floor of the canyon, as I said there was too much water to walk through the canyon where it cuts through two sheer walls. I will just have to go back. This one above and below is looking into the canyon- don't you love the warmth of the rocks? Apart from the fact that it was about 36'.

That is all until later in the week. take care and look after each other.

ALICE TO KING'S CANYON

There are always some in every trip......

Part of our trip last week was a detour to King's Canyon in the Watarrka National Park. The Park is 300km n/e of Uluru. King's Canyon is a mighty chasm that cleaves the earth to a depth of 270m. The sheer red rock face of the Canyon soars over 100m above ancient cycad plants. The Park is an important conservation area, where rock holes and gorges provide refuge for over 600 species of plants and many native animals.

This whole area was an immense inland sea, so these rocks are compressed sand dunes. During our walk around the rim of the canyon , (no mean feat for this old tart!!), we saw many lizards of varying sizes. It took us over 3 hours to walk, but an amazing trek. I was slightly disappointed as some images I had in my mind weren't to be. There had been rain so we couldn't climb right into the bottom of the canyon.

I did enjoy the warm colours throughout the excursion tho. These images will show that. I haven't a lot more to tell- I will let the images speak for themselves.

For some obscure reason the canyon image has "fallen" off my memory stick. Thought I was so organised. Never mind, I will add it randomly to a post next week.

This presumably is of the solanum family-thriving even with a coating of red dust.

To totally change the subject- this is for those petrol head friends of mine..... these Falcon XJ6 's belong to the local constabulary- check out the number plates-they must buy them in bulk. They are not turbo- but I was told on good authority that they had been tampered with !!

I will let this fellow have the last laugh.....

cheers and take care.

FROM ALICE TO ULURU...and return.

the Domes of the Olgas

Firstly many, many thanks to all of you who have sent me feedback from this blog, via email, and via "comments".I am glad you are enjoying it as much as I am writing my adventures.

I got back last night from my camping trip through Kings Canyon, to the Olgas and Uluru. I will leave reporting the Kings Canyon part of the trip until later in the week.

View through the Olgas.


Our group consisted of mainly young people-2 Poms, 7 Germans, 1 Portuguese,5 Aussies, a Dutch couple, a middle aged German couple, and a mature Kiwi Grandmother!! moi!! I really had forgotten the fun when many different cultures live together.Even if just for 3 days. Our mighty leader- (Hi Kate) was a great driver, tour guide, exquisite chef and a lot of fun to be with. We slept 2 nights under the stars, in swags, in the middle of nowhere one night, and in the Ayers Rock camping ground the other night. The camping ground has been shifted from the infamous one of dingo and baby fame.No Tony, there were no dingoes....and no babies.... The stars were so clear and bright- we do forget to look up so often eh!! I could relate stories for pages, but I will put some of my interpretation of images of the Olgas and Uluru.

Both the Olgas and Uluru are in the Kata Tjuta National Park, as the crow flies about 20km apart. The Olgas are a collection of domes, and as you know Uluru is one single rock.

This was my first view of the Olgas....from our lunch site.

Walking up through the Domes- I really enjoyed the Reds of the rocks and the dull greens of the surrounding scrub,(spinifex mostly).

By the way, the rocks etc are red because the limestone has high iron content, and when iron oxidises it turns red- voila red everything.

Sunset over the Olgas.

Beause of the time of year, the sun set behind the Olgas and I think maybe stopped some of the wonderful colours famous on Uluru at sunset. We waited for the sunset but it did not colour as spectacularly as I have seen images of. Where we waited there were at least 20 large tour buses, plus assorted smaller groups such as ours.The tourists on the big buses were served bubbly and had little stools to sit on..and were told exactly where to sit...it was very amusing to see.

My sunset over Uluru (not bad huh!!??)

Sunrise nearly didn't happen for us any way....we slept in....but we managed to pack swags, get up and dressed, and onto bus in about 14 mins....We joined hundreds of others for sunrise, and I was not disappointed.

This is my sunrise...I looked up and saw the moon was still up....

About an hour later we walked around the base of Uluru, and I noticed the moon was till there...

I have about 2 G of raw images of sunset/sunrise over Uluru....I definitely will not bore you with any more...

Hope you enjoy these- I had many breath taking moments....

Getting to know Alice...

I have now been here 2 weeks. Not having a car makes getting around a little difficult. So yesterday I thought I would do the hop on/hop off bus thingey that we have all done in London/Paris. Yes..they do have one here in Alice. It was good to get my bearings and visit some of the out of town sights.

One place I really enjoyed spending time at was the Telegraph Station.Those of you who know me well know my love of old buildings.These ones are in a pristine condition.They were built in 1872 . All the building materials, furniture etc was brought 500kms by camels from S.A. Horses were kept for transport on the Station, and for the linesmen who tended the line. The line was a single wire and stretched 2000km form Adelaide to Darwin.The enormous Red River gums all around the buildings took my eye, they were planted in the 1870's and are spectacular. The buildings are made from local stone, with very thick walls to keep out the heat.

There were a lot of people employed here, and it became a popular stop.There are still stables, blacksmith's forge, school house, staff barracks and a huge 'battery' room.The battery room powered the Alice section of the Telegraph Line. Messages telegraphed along the Line were boosted by huge wet cell batteries.

The Station Master became the local post master, he held court at the Station, and even acted as Doctor via instructions telegraphed from Adelaide!!

The buildings were built with defence in mind, but the local aborigines were peaceful...
As you can see I enjoyed my history trip, I hope you have too. I had no idea all this history existed.

This is the Alice Spring-it has great significance with the Aboriginal people. It also became a very popular watering hole for travellers and their camels.

The rest of my day I spent meeting these critters, and I can also say I have "cuddled" a snake!!! They are quite soft. The geckos and frogs fascinated me. The colours/patterns on each one is unique. Some wonderful proof of camouflage(?spelling).

Here endeth today's bulletin from the Outback.

I am heading away over Easter down to Uluru...I am really looking forward to seeing it.Even if the weather doesn't cooperate, at least I will know where to go when some of you come over to visit me..........

I hope the NPS trip to the Otago Peninsula goes really well. Rod has put a lot of time into the planning. I look forward to some images from you all. I will be with you all in spirit.. ( a G &T thankyou Stephen ) :-)