Australia Adventure: Once Upon a Time in Adelaide

With the city of Adelaide in view, the five of us continued our drive downtown.  We had just driven over 3000km over the past twelve days and we were anxious to get to our hostel. The two Quebecois we had met before Curtin Springs were staying at the Blue Gala hostel, so we had called ahead and booked a room there in the downtown.

But finding a parking spot was a horrendous task! We settled for a parking garage near the hostel, and quickly emptied the van of our belongings.  We had the ‘Dude’ for one more day and as the girls needed to catch an early morning flight to Cairns, we would be able to drive them to the airport.

The Blue Gala hostel was nothing special.  It was a small building tucked amongst other shops along the city street and boasted a very small population at this time.  We had arrived in Adelaide during the winter and it was not tourist season.

In order to save money, the three girls decided to sleep in the camper van in the parking garage.  We weren’t sure it was the safest thing to do, but the bottom dollar is a powerful source of motivation. After sorting that out, we all indulged in a nice warm shower!  It was our first wash in an actual building since our departure from Darwin and was well received by all. The rest of the day was spent winding down and swapping trip photos.  Alex and Anne planned on finding work upon reaching Cairns so we went through their resumes, tweaking them for the Australian job market.  It was here that I began thinking about my next journey.

I knew I wanted to spend a few days in Adelaide in order to visit family on my mum’s side that I had never met.  I had been in contact with them since arriving in Australia and had promised to drop by.  I was excited to meet them so I put aside time for that. 

The south-eastern coast of Australia would be next in line in terms of road access but it happened to be fairly cold down there and I wanted it to be nice and warm when I toured through.  Gal would be taking the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne to meet up with a friend, and the three girls of course would be flying to Cairns.  I quickly looked up the weather in Cairns: thirty degrees and sunny. Done!  Cairns it would be!  I used the remainder of the evening to look up flights and booked myself a flight at the end of the week.

Marie (the Quebecois we met before the Curtin Springs debaucle) found us later that evening and we spent the next few hours catching up.  It turned out that Marc (the other Quebecois) had moved on.

Night quickly descended and we found ourselves exhausted from the last twelve days.  Gal and I walked the girls to the van and transformed it into a bedroom for one last night.  I handed my flashlight to Anne before saying goodnight and good luck!

Waking for 6:40am, Gal and I went to go meet the girls.  They survived! 

We began our last drive together and said our goodbyes in front of the airport terminal.  For Gal, it would be the last time he would see them, but I was due to meet up with them in only a few short days.

And then they were off.

This left Gal and I to clean the van and drop it off at the Wicked depot.  Luckily for us, the depot was not too far away from our hostel and the van not too messy to clean.

We both used the day to collect our thoughts and take care of some housekeeping.  We hit up the library and uploaded photos to facebook and took care of twelve days of messaging. We later met up with Marie and a few others and checked out a small night market and a 24 hour pancake kitchen.

The next day was Gal and I’s last full day together.  We explored the sights and sounds of Adelaide, discussing politics, philosophy and the recent tensions in the Middle East.  We were crossing a street when Gal noticed a man walking towards us wearing an Israeli military t-shirt.  He hailed this man by asking him a passing question and he received a reply.  Gal sensed something was not right and continued talking to him, asking him if he had been in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces).  It turns out that he had not; the shirt belonged to his girlfriend.  In fact, this man was not even Israeli but Iranian instead!  He had fled Iran and was in Australia illegally, his girlfriend currently in Canada and on her way to meet him.  We chatted with him for a good amount of time, learning about his plight and the current state of affairs in his country.  It was a very interesting conversation and had happened at an interesting time due to the nature of the conversation Gal and I were having just before our encounter with the Iranian.

After continuing our tour of the city, we decided to check out the Great Gatsby at the nearest theatre. It was an excellent movie with superb performance, but I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit too grandiose.

On the way back to our hostel, I surprisingly bumped into a familiar face.  “Marc!” she exclaimed when she spotted me.  It was Meghan, a Canadian geologist I had met in Perth!  We had kept in contact and I knew she would be in Adelaide but our schedules didn’t match up for a meet up.  And here she was! We started talking when she said she has someone for me to meet.  Someone that I had kind of met already.  Perplexed at her statement, I shook the hand of the man walking with her.  His name was Marty and it turns out that I had had a phone interview with him for a geologist role in Ireland!  This was in December when I had no idea what I was to do and hadn’t received my role of field assistant yet.  It turns out Marty had left the project in Ireland and returned to Australia and was now working with Meghan. The geology industry is indeed a small world.

We later met up with Marie and her friends for drinks at a bar called the Austral.  It was to be our last night together so we decided to make it memorable.  I spent the night dancing with some amazing people, thoroughly enjoying our night together.

During the past several days, I had been in contact with my relatives I was soon to meet.  Jim (my mum’s cousin, and by extension my second cousin) was to pick me up in the city the next morning and I was to spend two days with them. 

But first I had to say goodbye to Gal.  He had been an excellent travel mate and an amazing conversationalist.  His unique view of the world gave me much perspective and insight to global events.  He was off on his own adventure now and we bid farewell with the promise to keep in touch.

And then I was off to meet Jim.  He picked me up near the hostel, greeting me with a firm handshake, a warm smile and a thick Scottish accent! We drove off towards his house, stopping to pick up his wife Maree along the way.  We talked the entire drive there, getting to know one another and our families’ paths since the days when my mum and Jim used to play together as kids.  Jim shared many stories of the good old days, including when my mum and my aunt Angela (two London girls) visited him on the farm in Scotland!

Jim and Maree had been in Australia now for quite some time, raising two children here; Jamie and Martin (21 & 26 years of age).  We spend the evening talking to each other, discovering seemingly endless stories to tell.  It turns out that I am the first relative that Jamie and Martin have ever met!  Having been born and raised in Australia, the two of them are true Aussies.  I was very pleased to have the opportunity to meet them.  Another member of their family was their small dog Lilly.  Quite the little rascal who couldn’t stop barking at me!

It turned out that Jim is a chef, and that they had prepared a delicious stir fry for dinner.  The night carried on with great conversation over a few drinks.

By the time I woke the next morning, everyone had left for work and I had the house to myself.  I decided I wanted to go for a hike so I walked over to Anstey Hill Recreation Park.  I made it to the top of the large hill in the park and got an excellent view of the city far in the distance.

Once everyone was back for the evening, we decided to dine at one of their favourite restaurants.  It was of the Asian influence and served amazing food. The night progressed with much laughter and plenty of stories, and continued once we were back in their home.

And that was my time with the Byrnes in Australia!  Two days was not enough and I agreed to try to make my way back to Adelaide later in my travels.  Jim drove me the next morning to the airport and I boarded my plane, ready for the heat that Northern Queensland would bring!

Check out Australia Adventure: Phase I!
                 Australia Adventure: Phase II!
                 Australia Adventure: Phase III!
                 Australia Adventure: West Coast Story Pt 1
                 Australia Adventure: West Coast Story Pt 2
                 Australia Adventure: To the Top End!
                 Australia Adventure: Darwin and Kakadu National Park
                 Australia Adventure: Down the Track and to the Rock! 
                 Australia Adventure: Onwards to Adelaide!


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Australia Adventure: Onwards to Adelaide!

Sayonara Curtin Springs!  That was the tune we were singing as we left the roadhouse the next morning.  It had been an interesting two days and we were all glad to continue on our journey.  We bid farewell to Tom, promising to keep in touch. 

We now made our way onto Uluru and Kata Tjuta!  Making a quick stop at the visitor centre, we took advantage of the cell phone coverage to check our facebook and email.  I discovered that the geology company Apex Geosciences in Perth had offered me a casual contract as a geologist with them.  This was awesome!  If this worked out, I could go back to Perth and work out the rest of my visa as a geo.  However, there was a very large maybe.  Apex had no current project for me to work on, and was not sure that they would have one until August. So while I accepted this role that they had offered, it was with the knowledge that work may not come for quite a while or even not at all.

Leaving the visitor centre, we decide to go to Kata Tjuta first.  Also known as the Olga’s, these rock formations are composed of a conglomerate of granite and basalt boulders, along with a matrix of sandstone that acts as the cement keeping it all together.  The thirty six dome like structures create what is known as the Valley of the Winds, which we decided to embark through.

The Rock!!

As we began the trek in, we came upon the people who had towed us to Curtin Springs!  They had camped around Uluru the nights before and had just completed the Valley of the Winds walk.  We continued through the valley, in awe of the sandstone mountains.  It was cool to see the geologic history of the area, and I enjoyed sharing my understanding of it with the others.

And just as we were leaving the valley, I saw two guys who looked kind of familiar.  And then it clicked.  These were the two French guys who abandoned us in Darwin in favor of the two German girls!  And the two girls were there with them too.  We walked over and had a few good laughs with them.  If we had not spent the two days in Curtin Springs we would never have met up!

After Kata Tjuta, we drove on towards Uluru as Gal and I wanted to see if we could climb the mountain.  Climbing Uluru is somewhat of a controversial issue.  The aboriginals here ask that people respect their religion by not climbing it.  There is even a ‘I did not climb Uluru’ book in the visitor centre that you can sign.  My personal belief is that the mountain is a natural monument, a testament to the geological and temporal factors that formed it.  It belongs to no singular religion or belief structure and should be free for all to interact with it in the manner that they choose.  And my choice was to climb it.

Our pre faux-Climb Pic!

We arrived at the base of Uluru, looking to the ascending path.  There were people up there!  It seemed like we could climb it.  The girls were pretty tired from the previous walk and opted to remain in the van.  So Gal and I packed a small bag, took some ‘before’ pictures and made our way to the gate, only to turn away in dismay.   The gate bore a ‘do not climb’ sign, stressing the importance of this command by the warning of a fine.  We briefly thought about hopping the fence before spotting a ranger (park security official) coming towards the gate.  He went through and proceeded to yell up to the people climbing.  A group of Asian males came back down and were lambasted by the ranger for disobeying the sign.  He took them away for what we can only assume was to release the unrelenting torture of eating vegemite.

So, we went back to the van.  Disappointed that we couldn’t make the climb, we decided to make our way back tomorrow.  If not the climb, then we could definitely do the ten kilometre base walk.

The nearest free camping area was a good one-hundred kilometres from the park and we set back down the road.  We found it fairly easy and enjoyed pasta for dinner.  The night grew cloudy and we were sure rain was soon to come.  We wanted to see a sunrise over Uluru so Gal and I set our alarm for 5:30am, and turned in for the night.

We awoke to the sound of rain and the dampness of our tent floors.  Gal and I took one look outside and saw the dark grey sky around us.  There would be no sunrise.

Sleeping for an extra few hours, we then all drove towards Uluru.  It was still cloudy and raining as we approached the mountain so we decided to check out the cultural centre.  It was here where we learned about the legends surrounding the mountain and the geology involved. Uluru was made up of the same geology as Kata Tjuta, having at one time been an alluvial fan.  An alluvial fan occurs when a moving body of water (ie a river) flows into a larger body with less movement (ie a lake).  The moving stream deposits its sediment load (all these boulders) and a fan is formed.  These rocks are then buried and put under great pressure below the earth’s surface, until they eventually rise back up to the surface through the erosion of the rocks above.  At Uluru, this conglomerate had been overturned which meant that the once horizontal layers of sediment and boulders now lay at an almost vertical angle.

We began our base walk, moving clockwise around the rock.  Our journey takes us four hours to complete, but we are treated to all the legend sites that told of great battles of war and morals.  There were large holes in the rock caused by chemical weathering, but were taken by aboriginals to be the remains of the battles of legend.  It was interesting walking around the rock and seeing the large holes, guessing as to what they looked like to us and how they were perceived by the aboriginals. 

It was raining the whole time along our walk so we returned to van in a very damp state.  We again checked the status of the climbing path, but it remained closed.

We left Uluru disappointed about the lack of a climb, but thrilled that we got to see the famous landmark.  Getting back to the highway, we continued south towards Kulgera, the last town in the Northern Territory before hitting the South Australia border.  We found refuge in the tourist info spot at the border and set up camp there, using the information booths as shelter from the rain.  After some warm pasta and the amazing flick Limitless, we turned in for the night.

Our trip was nearly at an end.  We were now in South Australia and would be arriving in Adelaide in three days.  There was not much left to see along the way, so the days would be full of driving.  But first, a stop in Coober Pedy!

Coober Pedy!

Coober Pedy is the famous opal capital of Australia, and even of the world as most of the opals mined come from here.  We spent the day checking out the museum and a public fossicking (prospecting) area.  It was here that I found some fibrous samples of gypsum, a calcium sulphate mineral.  Apart from this geological attraction, Coober Pedy offered nothing else of interest so we kept on moving.

The Span of our Journey!

The next day saw us hit up Port Augusta which was a town that looked like it took a lot of pride in its appearance and upkeep.  It was quite refreshing so we decided to spend the day chilling around and checking out the library.  It was five in the afternoon when we decided to move on and stop at a rest area for the night.  We cooked what was our final dinner on the road, the Great Depression Meal.  This was it.  Our road trip down the centre of Australia would soon come to an end with us in Adelaide tomorrow.  Gal and I took a look at the map around Adelaide and decided on one final stop before arriving in the city.

Chilllin' with the Vines!

The next morning we took off, driving towards the Barossa Wine Valley!  We thought a bit of wine tasting would be a great way to end the trip so we drove into the hills and winding roads accompanying them.  We stopped at several wineries, delighting in their wines of various tastes, and also indulged in some free samples at a cheese shop.

We exited the valley and rocketed onto the highway, the city in view and the end in sight.

Check out Australia Adventure: Phase I!
                 Australia Adventure: Phase II!
                 Australia Adventure: Phase III!
                 Australia Adventure: West Coast Story Pt 1
                 Australia Adventure: West Coast Story Pt 2
                 Australia Adventure: To the Top End!
                 Australia Adventure: Darwin and Kakadu National Park
                 Australia Adventure: Down the Track and to the Rock!


Join the Facebook Group!