Author: Michael Eaton

The flight went rather smooth to be honest. I had a whole row to myself and slept for most of the flight. Thirteen hours in the air and before I knew it I was landing in Los Angeles.

I felt good about being back. And honestly I was surprised that the customs process went so simply. I figured they were going to question me in depth about my plans to self-quarantine for two weeks. But they just checked my passport and I was on my way.

Good news because I had quite the journey ahead of me. My plan was to fly to San Diego, pick up a rental car, and head to Dan’s house to pick up my cat, Einstein. From there I would have two days to drive from San Diego to Denver.

But I realized that renting the car in LA would be considerably cheaper. So I decided to forgo my flight to San Diego and rent the car in LA instead. I paid for my flight with credit card points so I wasn’t really concerned.

I ended up getting there earlier than had I taken the flight. So I was pretty pleased about that. I got to Dan’s and I was ready to make moves towards Phoenix. I was going to spend the night with Luke’s brother, Matt.

But Einstein had other ideas. He was very friendly when I first came in. He let me pet him and I was playing with him for a little bit. My plan was to lure him close to the carrier while playing with him. Then I would grab him when he got close and put him in there and then jet off.

That didn’t work out too well, to be honest. When I grabbed him he started screaming bloody murder like I’ve never heard before. I almost got him into the carrier but he escaped. My hands were scratched up pretty bad. And at this point he was pretty freaked out and wouldn’t come out from under the bed.

So then we played the waiting game. I gave him some treats and just chilled in the room. But every time I made an approach he would growl or hiss. It’s been a tough year for him, being moved several times already. So I understood why he was freaking out.

By 4 o’clock I had no choice but to try to make another attempt at getting him in the carrier. I had to make the drive to Phoenix and I couldn’t wait too much longer.

We got him in there. He wasn’t very happy about it. I got him in the car and away we went. The drive went smoothly and I got to Matt’s place at around 11 o’clock.

It was nice to reconnect with Matt. He and I went on a few week trip to Thailand and Vietnam before I started off for New Zealand last year. He’s somebody I really get along with. We spoke for about an hour before hitting the sack. About what things have been like in the US since I was away. About his travel plans for the future.

The next day I was on the road pretty early. No problems getting Einstein in the carrier, which was a relief. I had a 13 hour drive from Phoenix to Denver on my hands. So I wanted to start the day in as easy a way as possible.

I’ll tell you what, the Arizona and New Mexico landscape is absolutely beautiful. I will definitely be doing a road trip around here at some point. It really reminded me of my trip in South Australia. There was a desert landscape but there were a lot of mountains as well. Flagstaff was a nice little surprise. A ski town in Arizona!

I took some naps along the way when I needed them. It’s the most I’ve driven in one day, no doubt. But it wasn’t so bad. I was happy that Einstein didn’t have too much of an issue. Some meows here and there but for the most part he was just chilling.

I got to my sister’s place at 9 o’clock and I was just so happy to see her and Luke. They are some of the most important people in my life. So there you have it, I’ve come full circle. To the other side of the world and back. What an experience!

The last few days I’ve just been getting myself together before I start working on Monday. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation to be honest. The house is amazing. I think I’m most excited about having a kitchen to myself. I really did’t enjoy fighting for stove space with other backpackers.

Everyone has been asking me how I am adjusting. Of course, Denver and the state of Colorado are on lockdown for the most part but it really doesn’t feel oppressing. I mean, when I was in Sydney masks were still required in a lot of places. So seeing people with masks on here is not really a huge surprise to be fair. We will see how we go.

I might not have went on a camping trip but I still really enjoyed my last week in Australia. Sydney is a fantastic city and I’m happy that I was able to stay around for a few weeks and get a taste of what it actually is.

I can’t really say I did anything worthy of note. I took a visit to the Australian Museum, the oldest museum in Australia. It was similar to the museum I went to in Adelaide. They had a good and detailed Aboriginal exhibit. This museum focused more on the Aboriginal groups that lived in the area of Sydney. Whereas the South Australian Museum touched on many of the different groups throughout Australia.

They had a biodiversity exhibit as well. One part was specific to Australia as a whole (not just New South Wales). And the other part contained animals from all over the world. They touched on how Australian species were being affected by human intervention and that was interesting to see.

The dinosaur exhibit was quite good actually. They had a number of complete skeletons and the exhibit was quite detailed. It reminded me of the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York. I felt like a kid again.

The rest of my time was spent just hanging out with friends. The weather turned out to be pretty good and I spent a lot of time at the beaches throughout Sydney. Sometimes I would go by myself and sometimes I would go with Carter.

The beach and the ukulele go really well together. Everyone seems to enjoy it. I get a lot of smiles. Or I can notice people putting their headphones away to give me a listen. It goes to show how confident I have become in myself. I have no fear of performing for people and that’s a huge step for me.

It really was a chill week. And it was good to visit spots that I had been to before. We did Manly Beach one of the days, which is north across the bay from the downtown area. We hit Bondi which is just an amazing area. If I ever live in Australia I will spend some time here.

I got to catch up with an old friend that I met when I was in New Orleans for Luke’s bachelor party. Sandra showed me around Bondi one of the nights and I got to meet a few of her friends. I had a really great time. Bondi is a unique place because it attracts a certain type of person. It’s like a playground for adults that aren’t ready to grow up.

I also got to connect with Meghan before heading back. Just grabbed a few drinks with her the night before my flight. She is also heading back to the United States soon and it was nice to see her. We were able to talk about going back home. It’s a big step.

I won’t lie, those last few days I was getting a bit of buyer’s remorse. I was having such a good time in Sydney. Was I crazy to give this up? The idea of not getting on the plane crossed my mind. But I do understand that it’s time. If I want to live the type of lifestyle that I want to in the future, going back to the United States is the best choice right now.

So I got into Sydney no problem at all. There was a bit of a mix up with my flights. A few of them got canceled but I was able to get on the plane and get into Sydney in time for Australia Day.

Australia Day celebrates Captain Cook’s landing in Australia. It’s kind of like July 4th for Australians but not exactly the same. It’s actually quite controversial because it marks the point in time Aboriginal Australians started to become second class citizens in their own country.

After camping on my own for the past few weeks I was ready to get partying to be fair. One of my good friends Carter lives here and that was the main reason that I came to Sydney. I wanted to see him before I leave.

He was one of the friends that I met in Byron (there are so many) but he really helped me out when I was feeling down. We went on a three-week road trip up the coast to Noosa and that was a real learning experience for me. A turning point in my trip.

Australia Day was a hilarious time. We went to Coogee Beach first and then linked up with a few of Carter’s buddies in Gordons Bay. This was one of my favorite spots when I was in Sydney the first time. It’s, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful parts of the city. But the last time I was here there was no one around because of the lockdown.

This time it was a madhouse. There were people everywhere and everyone was keen to party. To be fair, things got a little messy but I really enjoyed myself. We spent a good part of the day there and then did some bar hopping.

The next day was not the most pleasant, I am not going to lie. But I regret nothing.

My original plan was to rent a car after spending a few days in Sydney and check out a couple of spots north between the city and Byron Bay. But the weather called for a good chance of rain for a large portion of the week. And I really didn’t feel like spending the money on the car if I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the weather.

Of course, it really hasn’t rained that much the last few days. It actually has been quite beautiful. Which is fine. I mean, I would have loved to see and experience a few more places. here But I think a part of it was chasing that travel wanderlust high before leaving the country.

I did a lot of driving when I was in South Australia and there’s a good chance I will have to drive from San Diego to Denver when I get back to the states. So in the long term, it’s probably better that I stay off the road and kind of just chill in Sydney. I will experience the city for what it has to offer.

Besides just hanging out, I haven’t done all too much. Caught up with a few friends that are still here and made a short trip to the Australia Museum, which is the oldest museum in Australia. I still have to go back because I only saw the first floor so I will fill you all in once I make the return trip.

I got up early and hit the road. I just continued driving north, checking out towns along the coast with the intention of heading back to Adelaide. I stopped off by a few places but there wasn’t all too much to see. I ended up in Adelaide by the early afternoon.

The heat was stifling in the city. It was 41 degrees Celsius which translates to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. I checked and it was almost a record high for New York City. So in a way that was pretty cool to experience.

I checked into the hotel and made a beeline for the museums in the city. My original intention was to check out Adelaide for a few days before I headed off into the Outback. But because of the whole COVID mess in Brisbane, I wasn’t able to make it out to explore. So I’d have to settle for one day I suppose.

The South Australia Museum was actually the best museum that I have been to in Australia. They paid real good attention to their Aboriginal exhibit. It was two floors worth of information. And they separated the exhibit out by region as well. So they had different artifacts and information for groups living in the desert as opposed to those living near Cape York.

It was cool to read about some of the Aboriginal groups that I have encountered on my travels in Queensland and South Australia. It helped me understand my experiences with them a bit better.

They also had a really good biodiversity exhibit. Similar to the Queensland Museum, they detailed all the different types of animals you can see in South Australia. The animal life here is just so crazy and different from what I have seen elsewhere. I can look and learn new things about these animals all day.

The geological exhibit was also very cool. They had a really large collection of different rocks and minerals. Opalized fossils and even some meteorites. They dove into such detail at this museum but you can only read so many things until you start to get a little tired and a little bored.

I had a little bit of extra time after I left so I moved over to the Art Gallery of Australia which was a really fun museum. I have to give credit to the curators of this one. The pieces were so interesting and the way it was set up made for a really fun visit. I’ll just share a few pictures here instead of trying to explain it.

At that point, I went back to the hotel and took a nap. I still had the car for the night so I took a look to see if there was anything else I could do close by to town. I stumbled upon Hallett Cove. It’s a short little walk by the beach a 30-minute drive away from the CBD. It’s very famous for its geological formations and I figured I’d check it out.

On the way there I thought there was like a volcano that went off in the distance. There was a huge cloud of smoke towering on the horizon. I found out very quickly that it was a forest fire burning in the hills outside of Adelaide. It didn’t affect me in the slightest but it was a bit concerning to see.

The walk itself was quite enjoyable. I felt like I accomplished seeing a bit of Adelaide before I left. It was still very hot even though it was 7 o’clock in the evening. So after the walk I stripped down and took another swim. So refreshing.

When I woke up in the morning the sky and the air were all smokey from the forest fire. It had rained overnight and it put out the fire. Which was great. But it created an air quality problem. It’s kind of like when you have a campfire and you throw water on it. It puts it out but it smolders and gets very smokey.

I was concerned there were going to be problems with the flight. Maybe it wouldn’t take off because of visibility problems. But everything went off without a hitch. Off to Sydney.

Did a ton of driving after leaving Coober Pedy. I had about 8 hours to get in before I arrived at Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park. My plan was to hang out in Coober Pedy for a bit and then leave later in the morning. But I woke up at sunrise and nothing was really open until 10 o’clock. I came and I saw what I wanted to see. What was I going to stay in town for? To go into an underground house? I really wasn’t too bothered so I got on the road earlier than expected.

I stopped off in Port Augusta and took a drive through the botanical garden. It’s a bit different than most botanic gardens because the land is very arid. Different types of plants grow here. There was a look-out point with a good view of the Flinders ranges.

From there I stopped off at a small town called Ardrossan, halfway into my Yorke Peninsula drive. The towns here are really small but there are a ton of them scattered here and there. I would say that most of the land consists of farms for wheat and barley. It used to be a place where a lot of mining was done but that’s not the case anymore.

The drive down was quite beautiful. Right down the coast the whole way. I eventually reached the Wattle Point campground at around 8 o’clock. I was greeted by a few Aussie men when I arrived. They were older than me. One was in his early 50s and the other was in his 70s. Really nice guys though. I shot the shit with them for about an hour and then went to bed. I was exhausted from all the driving and I wanted to get up for sunrise in the morning.

I planned on camping on the east side of the peninsula the first night and then the west side the second night. That way I could wake up and see the sunrise and then see the sunset over the water on the same day.

I woke up around 4:30 and made my way to the park. I still had a ways to go – about an hour drive. I made a beeline for the lighthouse at Cape Spencer, the most southeast point of the park. The sunrise was really beautiful and the spot was even better. I just chilled out and played ukulele watching the sun make its way over the horizon.

From there I went to Inneston, which is an abandoned town in the middle of the park. They used to mine material used to make concrete but that was shut down in the early 1900s. Now there’s just a bunch of abandoned buildings around the park. It was cool to learn about the history of the settlement.

The park is set up nicely for cars. You just drive along the coast from east to west and it’s easy stop off at all the major points of interest. Next up was Ethel Bay. There is a shipwreck on the beach here. The best part about this spot was the cliffs. You have to walk down about 150 feet from the car park and the beach is surrounded by cliff faces that tall. They were towering over the beach and it made for some insane views.

I walked down the beach and watched some of the surfers in the water. The waves here were absolutely gargantuan. Probably some of the biggest surf waves I’ve seen between Australia and Hawaii. These guys were good. Though I’d see the occasional wipe out which was quite enjoyable, I’ll admit.

From there off to the west side of the park. I did a small walk to the lighthouse there and again the views were absolutely stunning. Sat down in the shade and made some friends with a few lizards. They are called Slow Lizards and that is a very appropriate name because they are not very fast. They like orange slices too.

By this time the sun was irresistible and it was time for a swim. Good thing that the next few stops were all beaches. I stopped off at a few and took a couple of swims. The water here is just so clear. You would think you were in the Carribean if no one told you that you were in Australia. And all the little islands that littered the horizon made for a really cool experience.

From there not much else happened. I drove north and stopped off at a few lookout spots. All very beautiful. Stopped into a few towns but as I said before, they were all very small, and there wasn’t much worth checking out. 

That night I camped near the beach on the west side. The first campsite I went to was all full which ended up being a good thing becuase the next one happened to be even better. The sunset wasn’t all that great but it was still a nice place to spend the night.

I got up before the sunrise and started making my way to the South Australia – Northern Territory border. I was a bit concerned because it still had been less than 14 days since I was in Brisbane. And since Brissie was a hot spot for a week or so, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to cross the border. But NT revoked the hot spit designation for Brisbane because there was only ever one case found there. So I was good to go. 

After I crossed the border I drove another two hours and I reached this small rest station. There’s an hour difference between NT and SA even though they should share the same time zone. So I had to wait for the gas station to open. But to my surprise there was a monument, albeit small, marking the spot as the center of Australia. So there you have it. I made it to the center without even meaning to. 

I’ve been to the most northern and the most eastern points already. Now the center. So I will need to return and do the most southern and western points as well.

I ended up getting to Yulara which is the small tourist town outside the national park in the morning and I booked into a campsite. The only campsite in town. And it’s $40 a night. I guess when you’re the only camp in town you can charge what you want. But I am not really that surprised. I am in the middle of nowhere after all.

It’s not a bad camp site to be fair. Has everything I need. A shower, a kitchen, a toilet. Which is more than I’ve had camping on the side of the road the last few days.

I was pretty exhausted so I set up my hammock and just chilled for most of the day. Yeah, I forgot to mention. I bought a travel hammock. Great investment so far.

I met a few people at the campsite and I spent the night just hanging out with them. Two Aussies and a guy from Ivory Coast. He spent a good amount of time in the US playing college basketball but ended up breaking his ankle during pre-season and his life changed forever. He ended up out here and he seems extremely happy.

I got up early in the morning the next day and made my way towards The Valley of the Winds. It’s not Uluru, that’s something totally different. This is a separate rock formation 40 minutes drive west of Uluru. The hike is very famous and to be honest, it was breathtaking.

The problem is that I made a wrong turn to start off with. I went into another valley. To be fair, there was a trail to follow but it was not marked at all. I was getting a bit frustrated because I kept losing the trail. The trail that didn’t exist. I made it all the way through the valley though.

I realized it wasn’t the right track because it was supposed to be a loop track. And when I got through the wooded area I couldn’t locate the trail. So I made my way back through.

To be fair, I was feeling a bit uneasy while hiking through that smaller valley. It just felt very dark and uninviting to me. I felt bad energy there and I was excited to get back towards the main trail. I am not one to feel like that normally. It was a bit strange.

When I got back to the start I felt kind of stupid because it was very clearly marked. Like overwhelmingly so. I already walked 4 KM in that other valley so what was another 8? It was worth it.

Imagine you’re the size of a termite. And you’re walking around between a bunch of the termite mounds you helped build. That’s what it felt like to be walking around this valley. It’s the best way I can describe it. That’s what these large rocks looked like. Really big termite mounds. 

They were stunning though. The whole walk was. But because I wasted an hour or two in that other valley, I got stuck walking in the valley at around 11 o’clock. And that’s a no-no because it just starts getting too hot. The trail is closed starting at 11 o’clock because it is very dangerous to be walking there at that time with the heat and the sun.

I did alright though. Drank plenty of water. They had a few water stations on the trail which was very good. Taking breaks along the way when I needed to.

After reseting and eating a bit I went around to Wilpa Gorge which is a small trail on the other side of the rock formation. It wasn’t long but it was worth it. I was all alone so I howled a few times to see if I could make an echoe. And boy did I. I think it was the first real echoe experience of my life.

I think that has been the best part about this trip for me. No one is here because it is the summer and it is considered too hot to go into this part of the country. And honestly it is very hot but not unbearable. You just need to do things in the morning and the evening and chill during the hottest part of the days.

I mean I’m not completely alone. It’s just that there are fewer people around. I met this couple at lunch and they were super nice. The guy was actually a Jehovah’s Witness and we got to talking about that. It was really interesting to learn about what his beliefs are because everyone always gives JWs a bad rap. But it was cool to talk with him. He was a really smart and open minded guy seemed to me.

The next day I got a pretty early start again because I wanted to see the sunrise at Uluru. The rock is only about 20 minutes drive away from town and I got there were plenty of time to spare. I met a group of Austrians and Germans traveling together. It was nice to chat with them while we waited for the sun to rise.

We got a couple of really great pictures with the rock as the sun was rising. It’s nice to have a few people around because I was able to get a few pictures with me in them. Usually, I only take pictures of sceneries because I really do not like to take selfies.

After sunrise, I went over towards the rock. My intention was to do the 11 KM circuit walk around Uluru. The first part of the walk takes you to the Mala waterhole. The park has a lot of really great signage that explains how each place was used by the Aboriginal people. There are a lot of natural caves built into the side of the rock.

It seems that each cave was used by a group of people within the tribe. One cave was used for young boys and another for men. One was used by women and girls. And there was even a cave for older people. There was a really good amount of Aboriginal rock art and it was really cool to see because you could tell that this place was used for a very long time by the Aboriginal people.

It makes sense because the land around Uluru is very desolate. The rock houses few water holes and the vegetation is quite green and dense in certain areas. Obviously, this would attract animals and that makes for good for hunting.

One of the signs explains how the Aboriginals hunted emus. They would wait by the water hole and when they saw the emus coming they would make sure to stay hidden and wait for them to finish drinking. The last emu to leave would be the one that was killed. They did this because they didn’t want the other emus to be scared of that water hole. If they killed an emu in sight of the other emus then they would stay away from the water hole. It would be very difficult to eat emu from that point forward.

It’s very smart and I happen to think that Europeans wouldn’t have thought of this. They probably just would have killed the entire group and had a bunch of emu meat one time.

The walk took about 3 hours. It was really cool to see the rock from different vantage points. There are so many geological features. Each part of the rock is unique and awesome to understand the stories that are associated with each.

I will admit that by the time I was done I was pretty happy to be finished because it was getting extremely hot. The sun just destroys you out there. By the parking lot they have the original trail that people used to use to climb up the mountain but it’s no longer in use. They banned climbing Uluru last year.

I was talking with one of the guys in the lot. He was an older Australian man and he climbed Uluru a couple of times. We were just talking about how it was up there and it sounded pretty cool. But it’s very sacred to the Aboriginal people so I think it was a good decision to ban people from climbing.

From there I started my trip back to Coober Pedy. It was a long drive so I spent most of the day on the road. I got to Coober Pedy at around sunset and I camped in the same spot as the last time. The plan was to go back into the town and do a little sightseeing in the morning. But I didn’t stay very long. Almost everything worth seeing was closed until the late morning.

I got back on the road around 9 AM and drove for most of the day. Got down to the Yorke Peninsula just before sunset. So basically 8 hours of driving yesterday and 8 hours of driving today. I’m pretty damn tired.

I got up early with the intention of making it on the road by 7 o’clock. I’ve been driving on gravel roads the last few days so I let my tires down. I wanted to pump them up before moving on. Unfortunately, the air pump at the station didn’t turn on until 8:30 and I had to wait around until then. Doesn’t make much sense to me.

Once I got on the road I stopped off at Arkaroo Rock. There are cave paintings here and they depict the creation story of Wilpena Pound that I spoke about in my previous entry.

The walk was pretty straight forward but boy, was it hot! I was the only person on the trail and I stumbled onto a huge herd of mountain goats on the way up. I think I caught them by surprise because they were freaking out a bit.

The rock art itself was pretty cool to see. It’s very primitive but I do find it amazing that the art has been preserved for all this time. They are just out there in the open, exposed to the elements. And they are still around tens of thousands of years later.

Then it was time to drive. I had about seven hours to get in before night fall. I stopped off at Hart Lake which is a salt lake halfway between Port Augusta and Coober Pedy. It was such a surreal experience. There was no water in the lake whatsoever. So you’re just walking out there and it’s like you’re walking through the snow.

There’s different objects out there and they are just completely covered in salt. Pieces of furniture. Art installations. The remnants of a jetty. Really really cool.

Then some more driving after that. Not much else to see. I found a nice rest stop to camp at near Coober Pedy and had a nice night by the fire.

I got up early and went into town. It honestly feels like somewhere you would live in a post apocalyptic world. They did film Mad Max here, so it makes total sense.

I went into the underground church first and it was pretty cool to see. Nothing too crazy. I was expecting more of an underground town. Like the subway in NYC. But most of the “underground” buildings are built into the hilltop. Still pretty cool though.

Coober Pedy is known for its opal mining. That’s why there’s a town there to begin with. I went into a shop and learned all about the different types of opal. I met Stella there and she told me her story. She originally came up with her husband and the intention was to stay for 3 months. She’s been there for 47 years. Kind of sounds like me in AU!

Then I did something kind of crazy. I played golf outside town. Desert golf. No grass anywhere. You actually have to carry this little piece of turf with you and place the ball on it every time you want to take a shot.

The greens are not greens at all but just finer dirt with no large rocks scattered around. You rake the dirt when you want to putt, to make sure that it’s flat. I’ll tell you, playing here will fuck up your game because you need to chip and putt way harder than you would on a normal course.

It was a really awesome experience though. I can now say that I have played golf in Australia! I didn’t do too badly either. Shot a 94. Not bad for someone who hasn’t played in a year. The heat was brutal too. I had to take a thirty-minute break at the turn or else I would have suffered quite a bit. 

After that, it was time to bounce from Coober Pedy. Stopped off at the Breakaways and drove through them. That was a really cool little conservation site. At points you feel like you are driving on the moon. A true outback experience.

Here you can also find the dog fence. A simple fence that extends for over 5000 KMs. It was built to keep the dingos from killing all the livestock in New South Wales and Victoria. I read about it in a book once, so it was pretty cool to see.

That night I did another 3 hours of driving and ended up sleeping at Agnes Creek. Another great free camp. There are so many of them in South Australia. And it put me within shouting distance of the NT border. Honestly, these campsites are better than most of the paid camps I’ve been to. I would love to see this place during the wet season. The river seems like it would be so nice to camp near.

Woke up around 7 o’clock today and made my way into Mount Remarkable National Park. The focus here was Alligator Gorge. And it did not dissappoint.

The hike through the gorge really was fascinating. I really haven’t seen anything like it before. I imagine it’s like a mini grand canyon or something. 

The cliffs creating the gorge themselves were so red. I did the ring route which was supposed to be around 9 KM long. I took a turn and started climbing up the canyon wall and I figured I would be at the car park soon. I usually finish the walks in about half the time that the postings say it will take.

But when I got up there I saw another sign that said the car park was 6 KM away. And I was on a dirt road. I’m not sure if I took a wrong turn or if that was supposed to happen. It reminded me of the time Tom, Roxie, and I got lost at Storm King Mountain and we’re dumped out on the highway.

I walked along the dirt road and I was back on the trail in 45 minutes or so. I made my way down again to The Narrows which was the best part of the track by far. The gorge gets, well, super narrow here and it is quite beautiful with the red rocks and all the vegetation.

After the hike I grabbed some lunch, changed my clothes and started driving towards Port Augusta. I needed to pick up some supplies for my camping trip.

Once I was finished there I stopped in Quorn which was okay. Not much to see there. I’m not really sure why it’s historically significant but it seems to have been a key railroad town. I will have to look it up later.

The drive out from Quorn to the park was very beautiful. Really felt like I was in the Outback at that point. Saw a decent amount of ruined houses out there and that was pretty cool. Back in the day (the late 1800s) people came by and tried to farm the land but they underestimated the amount of water that was available in the area. And that ruined them.

I was the only one out there. It felt both awesome and a bit scary to be honest. I walked a bit around the camp and ended up at a nice spot to watch the sunset over the mountains.

The road into the park leading to the campsite was a gravel road on steroids. Not a 4WD track but seeing as I had a rental car I was a bit nervous. I’m sure Hertz would not be happy that I took the car on a road like that. But I took it slow and I got to camp with no problems.

The next morning I woke up early and drove a few kilometers down the road to a ruin of a homestead. This English pastor came out here in the 1850s and raised a bunch of sheep on the land. His house and the other buildings are still there. Or at least the foundations are. From here there is a great lookout point to the mountain range that I camped near the night before.

I drove another 12 KM to Bunyeroo Valley, which was kind of a last-minute decision because I originally planned on doing another walking track. I’m glad I changed my plans because the views from the track were so beautiful. The walk took about three hours and I saw some gnarly spiders hanging out in the trees along the way.

The next stop was Wilpena Pound, the most famous part of the park. There is a resort here that has an excellent campground. I chilled for most of the afternoon because it was pretty hot out. Then I did a short hike around another homestead in the area.

There is a welcoming ceremony at the reception of the resort. One of the Aboriginal rangers introduced us to the land and told us about his culture and what the Aboriginal community was doing to ensure their future on the land. He wasn’t very clear at points but overall it was a good way to understand more about the park and its history.

The Aboriginal people here believe that the mountain ranges are the remnants of ancient snakes that once attacked their people. This area was a meeting place and the snakes surrounded the tribe and began to eat them. A few people managed to escape but those that were swallowed were trapped in the serpent’s bellies. The mountain peaks were created by the spears that these people used to try to escape their predicament.

The campground had a few grills and I was happy to get a hot dinner in me after a few days of dry food. I got a yummy steak from the general store here in town. After that, I took a drive to a lookout point 20 minutes outside of Wilpena and just hung out there for an hour.

The lookout point gave 360-degree views of the entire valley. The sunset was really awesome because it set right over the mountains and the colors of the sky were just beautiful. We’re talking purples, yellows, reds, pinks, and oranges. It was a really great way to end my stay at the national park. 

When I was hanging out up there I put out my camp chair and started playing the ukulele. I met this family at the welcoming ceremony earlier in the day. They had two small children. A boy and a girl.

After some time the girl came up to me and told me that I had a very beautiful singing voice. I actually got quite emotional because it was so unexpected. I played another song for her.

When I was younger I always thought I had a horrible singing voice. I thought it was too monotone. And I’d be embarrassed to sing in front of other people. But now I realize that isn’t the case. I like to sing for other people now. Just one of the many things I’ve learned about myself here in Australia.