Some more highlights from the Outback - April 22, 2003
I'm beginning to suffer from a syndrome commonly referred to as Numb Bum (non-sensory gluteus maximus for those of you in the medical field). It comes from sitting on a bus for too many hours. We are now driving along the Stuart Highway, the only main North/South road through central Australia. On either side of us, barren land stretches for miles. Every few hours, Jake the guide stops along the road to point out a kangaroo who played chicken with a Land Rover....and lost. Or a look at the windshield where several species of gigantic crickets met their fate. Or to taste bush tomatoes growing on the side of the road - a taste so bitter that my face has been left in a permanent pucker.
We are on our way to Coober Pedy, a small underground opal mining town where I'm hoping to stumble across an undiscovered opal worth millions of dollars. I will then promptly quit my current lucrative (yeah right!!) job and become a professional nomad traveller.
The past two days prior to this endlessly long bus ride have been absolutely amazing! We have been hiking in some of the most beautiful canyons in the country, sleeping under the stars, awaking before the sun comes up to capture its ascent over Ayers Rock and then its colorful descent at sunset.
There are 20 of us on this tour, and what a laugh it has been. Allow me to introduce a few of the main characters. We have Hans, the 47-year old German who seems a bit out of place among this 20-35 year old crowd. He looks like Lawrence of Arabia, and has an uncanny knack of stepping obliviously onto the road just as a car is coming. Mind you, a car comes along about once an hour on this highway, so his ability to sense their approach is phenomenal. Then there's Dave and Andy, two mates from England whose slapstick comedy has left us in stitches around the campfire at night. There's a smattering of Aussies, Irish and Japanese folk to round out the group. And of course, there's my little brother who has astounded the entire group with his ability to eat half a cow at dinner. (This is the truth - he ate 4 steaks tonite!!)
Our first hiking adventure came today in the wee morning hours at Kings Canyon where we arrived in time to see the moon set and the sun rise over the red rocks. We climbed along narrow ridges, then laid on our stomachs, peering precariously across the overhang while the wind whipped around us. A few were brave enough to dive into an ice cold pool at the bottom of the canyon, but I contented myself with watching them fight off hypothermia.
The evening ride took us to Ayers Rock or Uluru, as it is called by the Aboriginals. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight in front of my eyes. I had heard rumors of its grandeur and whisperings of its glorious red colors that deepened or brightened according to the sun's position. Neither these rumors nor whisperings come close to describing this rock's magnificence. So, as all good tourists do while at Ayers Rock, I took at least a roll of film in attempt to capture its enormity and the rich hues as the sun said its goodnight. Since I only have a 35mm camera, I'm sure National Geographic will soon be at my doorstep in admiration of my photographic abilities.
My sleeping bag is now beckoning as it reminds me that 5 AM comes much too quickly when you've been chatting it up around the campfire until past midnight.
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I'm sitting in a laundromat in Coober Pedy, waiting to check my email and send you my travel updates which I know you so eagerly await. :) I've never seen an internet booth at a laundromat, but then again, this is Coober Pedy, a town where everything seems just a bit surreal. We spent last night in a mining cave, a very DARK cave. So dark that when I opened my eyes, I thought I had suddenly gone blind.
This opal mining community of 4500 people from 45 different nationalities is the opal capital of the world (or so they say! Maybe it's just the capital of the southern hemisphere....) As temperatures regularly reach over 130 degrees in the summer, nearly every building, restaurant, church and home is built underground in caves. It was a bit like being on the set of a modern day Flintstones movie. Unfortunately, the heat does not appear to have killed off the flies, and they continue to drive me to the brink of sheer craziness. I once read that human beings eat a certain number of flies in their lifetime. I, in my 4 days in the Outback, have far exceeded my quota and have probably eaten enough flies to cover your quota as well. They appear to breed by the millions and they are quite slow, which makes their presence all the more exasperating. I squished one in my ear yesterday, and today managed to catch one between my 3rd and 4th finger. All that's left for me to do is catch one with chopsticks and I will receive my certificate of Advanced Fly Destroyer.
Once again, the flies have thoroughly distracted me. So, let's go back to Coober Pedy. As I mentioned, it is a quirky little town. The only entertainment in the city is a drive-in movie theatre where films are shown once a month. A sign out front of the theatre reminds patrons that their mining explosives are strictly prohibited! It's a town where the residents burnt down a local newspaper office after it advertised a Star Trek movie that was never shown. Apparently there are a lot of hard-core Trekkies in this city, which might explain some of its oddness!
After lunch, our tour group left us to continue their journey while Tim and I spent the rest of the afternoon "noodling" for opals in Coober Pedy. It's quite a dirty endeavor, this noodling is. And quite hard on the back as well. I'm quite sad to say that my plan to become a nomad traveller will have to be put on hold for a bit as I failed to make a grand opal discovery in the old mining hills. The only opal I found was in the street as we were walking to the hills! And much to my dismay, it is a white opal which is not worth much due to its lack of color. And so it is that I contemplate my return back to the US in a few days quite sunburnt and none the richer. Yet I am momentarily satiated with memories that all the riches in the world could never buy.
Until next time....