Yulara to Alice Springs, Alice Springs to Tennant Creek

Yulara to Alice springs was a nice short drive compared to the other days, it only took about 5 hours. 

We stopped in Erldunda to make some brekky, Freya and Seth had yoghurt with grapes and muesli, I had yoghurt with left over curry and grapes... It was actually quite yum! 

We got to Alice at about 11am. We drove around a bit then parked the car and wandered around to find a particular cafe we were recommended.. It's called Page 27, down a little lane way off a mall street. It's cool, we weren't expecting anything like that. The food was nice, we had a second breakfast/lunch. Seth had bacon and eggs, I got bacon and avo on toast. 

It was yummy, but I am a toast snob and I hate getting non sourdough at a cafe!! 

The coffee was good, and yummy fresh juice. 

Then we went to the movies and saw Wolf Of Wall Street, which we all loved!!!!! It might have been a combination of that we'd been driving for 5 days, the hot, hot weather etc but I just absolutely loved the movie! So funny. 

After that we went to this organic shop called the Afghan Trader to have a look. It's really good! It's so weird seeing all this produce that we get in our local organic shops, that are from Victoria.. Like Meredith goats cheese, Demeter BD milk, Mock apple cider vinegar, Quintessence soaps and much more... So much traveling! Seth talked to one of the ladies working there and she said all the dry goods come up from Adelaide, but they don't go straight there, the trucks go to Darwin first, then stop in Alice to deliver on the way back!! Seems so ridiculous. The fresh produce goes to Alice first though. 

The shop was so well stocked, but the lady said we came on a good day.. She said sometimes whole orders of things like chocolate will just melt on the way up so they can't sell them. 

They had all the good beauty products, cleaning, dry goods, bulk goods, books, seeds, everything! 

They had local Alice Springs dates!! They were just like Californian Medjool dates, but a bit smaller and lighter in colour. They were delicious, so caramel-y. Wouldn't it be great if we could get them in Melbourne! Certainly less food miles than from the states!! 

The veg was pretty expensive, except for a couple of things.. They had local organic tomatoes for $4kg!! And they were delicious. They also had big buckets of local green grapes for $5 a bucket!!!!!! 

We got some treats, then went to Dad's cousin Emma's house, she has just moved to Alice Springs for work. 

I was a bit nervous as I didn't remember her but it was so nice!!!! And so lovely of her to put us up for the night, and shout us dinner! We hung out at her house for a bit, then she took us to this absolutely delicious restaurant called Hunamans,  they have a sister restaurant in Darwin, and she used to live there so she knew the menu well, so she chose some dishes and we shared them all. I love being ordered for! It means I try things I don't normally order, and I'm always pleasantly surprised! We had oysters to start, then a duck red curry, Malay Kofta curry, and a barramundi curry with roti and coconut rice, and yummy wine. It was soo so good!!!!! So yummy. One of the best Asian dinners I've had. For dessert we had black rice brûlée and banana spring rolls. Yum! 

It was so fun, so nice getting to know a family member we haven't spent much time with. It's so good staying with someone who knows the area, otherwise we probably would have just camped in a camp ground and not been out much, but we walked along the dry riverbed to dinner in the setting sun which was so beautiful.

In the morning we went back to Page 27 for coffee and breakfast with Emma before she went to work. 

I really liked Alice Springs, it was totally different to what I imagined. 

After getting some supplies from the supermarket, we headed off again. 
We stopped in some strange towns that day.. We stopped at one general store that looked like it was from a movie or something... There were locals sitting around outside and all the walls inside were covered in photos and writing and there were flies everywhere and a bain marie with fried food that looked as though it had been there for days! I asked the man behind the bar "if i could please use the bathroom" and he just laughed at me "bathroom!!" and said i could use the dunny. 

In the towns we stopped in we asked about Tennant Creek, where was a good place to camp and all of that.. Most people said that Tennant Creek has a bad reputation and that it was pay day from centreline that day so the locals usually get pretty rowdy.. So we should be very careful, that we should stay in a fenced in camp ground and not just anywhere. This kind of freaked us out a bit, but when we got there we found a good camp ground with a pool and everyone was really nice. 

We went to the Devil's Marble's for lunch, we had saladas with cucumber, hummus, brie and dolmades. 
We had a little walk around the big rocks, they were so amazing. The formations were so beautiful. 
Just before Tennant Creek we stopped in a little spot under a bridge that a man at one of the petrol stations had told us about, where there was a creek to swim in. It was the first time in 2 years the creek had water in it. It wash't very deep but it was nice to have a cool off. There were hundreds of tadpoles in the water! It was so cool, when we were laying in the water, if we laid still the tadpoles would come up and nibble at us! It felt like how those fish must feel, the ones that eat your dead skin! It was so tickley and funny. There were so many that if you slowly approached them in the shallows you could catch one in your hands. 

When we got to the camp ground we had a nice dip in the pool then cooked up some sausages on the barbie for dinner with onions, salad and bread for dinner. Yum! Then more swimming, then bed. 

x Zannah

Adelaide to Coober Pedy, Coober Pedy to Yulara (Uluru)

Coober Pedy is a strange place! 

Yesterday was a really long day of driving, and we only left Adelaide at about 9.30 or so because we had to go see the aircon man. So a late start to our longest day wasn't very good, and probably the hottest too. I reckon it was about 45 degrees, plus the heater. 

After Port Augusta it's just hours on end of nothing... Or not much.. The stops are few and far between and water is scarce. We filled up our bottles at a few places but heaps of them aren't registered water providers and they say you can't drink from the taps at their shops. 

We had lunch in Port Augusta in a picnic area in the shade.. We ate pita bread and crackers with feta, cucumber, tomatoes, olives and dip.

We talked to a few people about the weather, they said it will probably get cooler in Alice springs and up north because its a southern heat wave here's hoping! Apparently this weeks forecast for Coober Pedy is between 40 and 50 degrees all week!! 

From Port Augusta all you see on the highway is dead kangaroos, dead cows, other miscellaneous road kill, and cars driving by. When we drive past the road kill the smell is so strong it stings your nose. 

There are some drive ways that must lead to huge homesteads or cattle stations. Imagine living out there!!!!! What would you do!! My mind can't even fathom it! 

We stopped for fuel and icypoles in Pimba and Glendambo. Already the towns are blurring together, I can't remember what Glendambo was like! 

We haven't been listening to much music.. We've got the windows down and it's really loud, so we bought ear plugs in Crystal Brook.

What we have listened to has been: Iron and Wine, Laura Marling, The National, Leonard Gregorian, John Mayer, Powderfinger, Midnight Oil, Moby, Patrick Watson, Radiohead. 

The land is so dry. We pass patches of just tiny little dry shrubs, then some has bigger trees, and dried up desert flowers. It's mostly really flat, which is good for the car. 

Getting closer to Coober Pedy there were some funny piles of earth dug up, where they do the mining. We got into the town at about 9pm, just after a beautiful sunset. We drove around to have a look at everything... It's such a strange place!! I admit I was expecting more underground houses.. All the buildings are so mixy matchy, there's no one theme for the town... And so many opal museums, and shops, and old mines. We didn't hop out of the car as it was late and we just wanted to be careful. It's so dry, if you lived there you definitely wouldn't be able to have a garden, you wouldn't be able to grow any veggies. You wouldn't really be able to eat locally or sustainably.  

The camp sites in the caravan park we stayed at are just patches of hard gravel that you can't put pegs into. It's so so dry. The camp kitchen and toilets were so flashy and new though, it was so strange! I guess a lot of tourists pass through. 

For dinner we made soup(!!!) with chicken stock Freya had made and froze, with onions, garlic, carrots, chard and kale from her garden, and cannellini beans. It was like being in a hot sauna in the kitchen and eating hot hot dinner, we were just covered in sweat by the end! But it has been good using what food we already have and not buying much at all.

The showers were 20 cents per 3 minutes, so we paid our fee and had 12 minute cold showers, which were not very cold at all, but still refreshing. 

The night temperature was about 38 degrees, so we just set the tent fly up and slept on our mats.. No Down sleeping bags needed! The sky is so beautiful out in the desert, the stars are so bright! 

We woke up at 5am and packed everything up and set off to try and beat the heat. Seth drove while Freya and I slept. While we were sleeping he saw lots of rabbits, 3 Brolgas, a white horse, and cows. 

We stopped in Kulgera for fuel, then in Erldunda, which is the turnoff from the Stuart hwy to Yulara (Uluru and Kata Tjuta). 

They only have opal fuel in Erldunda and it was $2.05 per litre! 

Apparently they had had some rain last week, so driving from Erldunda to Yulara was surprisingly green. The Lasseter highway goes through stretches of funny different She Oaks.. Some are really tall and skinny with leaves all up the whole trunk, some are like normal ones just up the top. 

We got to Yulara at about 1.30pm which was pretty good tuning! We set up camp, had a lunch of sandwiches with tomatoes, cucumber, tuna, cheese and artichoke hearts. It was so hot the cheese started melting on the chopping board. 

We went for a swim in the pool in the camping ground which was pretty perfect. We met some nice French people who are traveling around Australia for 1 year. Wouldn't that be cool! 

After our swim we drove to Kata Tjuta, (the Olgas), and then Uluru. It is so beautiful!!! What amazing places. So stunning, so special. All the formations in the rock are so amazing! These huge big eroded holes, and big valleys that look like dry waterfalls, and trees growing from the top of parts of the rock!! 

Unfortunately the walks were closed due to the heat. It was still special seeing it from where we did, we drove the loop around it, and stopped to have a listen, quite close up. So magical. 

We watched Uluru as the sun set, and watched how much it changes with different light, and did all the touristy photo taking :) 

That nights dinner was red thai curry with onion, garlic, tofu, pumpkin, potatoes, broccoli and carrots. It was really yummy but we didn't eat till about 10.30! 

The petrol station in Yulara is soo expensive! We didn't want to get opal fuel because someone said its not that great for the car so we broke the bank and got premium unleaded for.... $2.28 per litre(!!!!) and you have to ask for the key for premium because they lock up the pump. 

Sleeping in the Yulara camp ground was really nice, it cooled down a bit at night which was a relief. 

I'm off to bed now, but I have lots more to talk about :) 

x Zannah

Melbourne to Adelaide

It's been aaaages since my last post!
I'm going to do a bit of blogging on the road.

I am in the hot hot car with Freya and Seth. I'm writing this partly for my own documentation, but hopefully also for a bit of light reading for you folks :)

We are making the grand journey from melbourne to Darwin in a little Toyota corolla. Yep that's right.
So we left at about 7am yesterday from carlton. We had heaps of stops yesterday.. I think we're just getting used to being in the car for hours again, it's been a while since we've done a Byron or the likes road trip.

Meals so far: croissants for brekky yesterday, Vegemite on bread with no butter for snacks.. Almonds... Lunch was Brie I'd had in Freya's freezer, which was perfect by lunch time, with tomatoes I picked the day before from my garden, watercrackers, hummus, baba ganoush. More Vegemite bread for snacks.. Apples.. Jelly beans... Lots and lots of water.... Then dinner was bolognese I'd had also in Freya's freezer, with spaghetti and feta. (The emptied contents of the freezer are coming in handy).

We've had a couple of glitches so far.. One major (to our personal comfort) being the air con not working (!!!!!). It started working on and off yesterday.. It would work for about 5 or 10 minutes then just start blowing out hot air, then work again about 20 minutes later. It makes me feel so incredibly lethargic, it's really hard for me to drive in these conditions.
The car itself has been great, until we hit the Adelaide hills and the temperature climbed dangerously high, we had to stop a couple of times to let it cool down. I really don't know what we would have done without Seth, I feel very incompetent in the car knowledge department!! He's also been driving heaps which suits everyone :)

We stayed in a concrete slab type caravan park last night, which I haven't done in years, I'm so used to beautiful, free bush camping. It was right on the beach though which was lovely after a very long, very hot day. There were lots of "glampers" in the caravan park! Fairy lights, pot plants, aircon.
We met a nice old couple form Perth, who have driven round the coast (more or less) of Australia, and had some good tips for our trip.

Just before I continue documenting our day yesterday, ill mention we are driving in the car in 37 degree heat with the windows down and the heater(!!!!!!!!!) on. Otherwise the car might over heat. Fun times! Brendon told me the bush tucker man says you can lose up to 2-3 litres in extreme desert conditions. And we're only just out of Adelaide. And its only 10am. Shiiiit! Luckily we have about 6 big water bottles and a 20 litre water can in the boot. Next stop I'm going to buy some squirty bottles for our faces.
I'm actually feeling ok in the heat today, yesterday I was so stuffed. Seth said he's so much less stressed being hot than the car being hot. A less stressed Seth is a good happy Seth!

What we've been listening to: D'Angelo, City and Colour, Fat Freddy's, Father John Misty, Alexie Murdoch, Paul Simon (excellent for driving), Dave Mathews, Crowded House, Eddie Vedder.

It was so warm last night. We all slept well though. This morning Freya made bacon and scrambled egg sangas while me and Seth packed up the tent. Then we went to an air con guy we found on the Internet to look at the car, because we thought the aircon needed re gassing, but he looked at it and its not the gas, it's the compressor over heating. Which means it would cost way more to fix. So we're just going without.
It's all part of the adventure!!
The guy who looked at the car had a mullet.. And keeps his gate locked "coz it's a stabby area".. Ha!
(We also saw a hooker on the corner of his street). So my thoughts on Adelaide are not the best.. Next time ill go to a nice area to make my final decision!

We're driving past salt pans, and big dry brown paddocks. I can't wait to get into some different terrain, you know when you go on a road trip and the first part is similar to the land you always see at home? It's so exciting when you get into new land! I'm excited to see the red centre!
We're staying in Coober Pedy tonight.

It's pretty cool we're doing this road trip, I would really like to see a lot more of our country.

I haven't got the app to add photos from my phone, so they'll have to come at a later date, and sorry if there are spelling and grammar mistakes, I'm in the car!

x Zannah