Into the outback
We left Townsville in high spirits (as you would be too if you were leaving Townsville) and hit the road to begin our adventure last Thursday. It doesn't take long for everything to thin out, and although the first town on the road west, Charters Towers, was only 100 miles or so inland, it was becoming very apparent that you were in the middle of nowhere. We stopped for breakfast at a place aptly called Jen's Cafe, where I was denied a mouthwatering plate of beans on toast because they had run out of beans. I was half ready to dig a tin out of the boot of the car, but had toast and jam instead. I mean, what sort of cafe runs out of beans?! It's like running out of salt or something. We drove solidly for several hours, stopping only to refuel, for the outback is hot. There's two things you can say about the outback, it's hot and it is big. We arrived at a dusty looking village called Julia Creek at sunset and set up camp. It's not very wise to drive late in the afternoon in the outback, dusk is when kangaroos often come leaping on to the road making a mess of most cars unlucky enough to collide with them. Couple that with the sun's determination to block your view of the road by plonking itself annoyingly infront of you means that it's wise to get off the road before the sun sets.
On our second day we stopped at Mt. Isa, a mining town that claims you're not a real Australian until you get there. If being a real Australian means you swear at young British backpackers in a car park, or stare at them intently while they try to do some shopping, then they've definately achieved it. But I don't think that's what they're aiming for. It's an inert town in the middle of nowhere, and despite a visit to an old underground hospital which was bizarre and interesting, I won't be too quick to recommend Mt. Isa as anything other than a place for filling up the car and using the bathrooms.
So we continued on, and endless void surrounding the car in every directions. I've never seen so much of nothing. The stretch of road after Camooweal and just after crossing the Queensland-Northern Territory border is the emptiest stretch of road I have ever seen in my life. A giant sun beats down on an unforgiving blank of a desert - it's no wonder so many of the early explorers came a cropper here.
We spent the night in Tennant Creek, having driven 900 kilometers that day, and in the morning set off for Alice Springs. Perhaps we didn't see 'the Alice' in its best light, but I was not particularly impressed. It's a compact city, and appears almost as an oasis in the desert, but it looks just like everywhere else. You can eat in McDonalds or KFC, shop at K-Mart, and considering it's in a unique location, they could have made it look a bit nicer. Aboriginal people shuffle about the streets like zombies, shouting into the night giving the city center a threatening feel, and there's not much to occupy your time on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Still, we were happy to have made it that far. We'd driven 2000 kilometers in two and a half days, and we were proud of our achievement. Even better, we were going to see Ayers Rock the next day.
I'm not going to tell you all about Ayers Rock (or Uluru, to give it its traditional, more respectful title) because I'm running out of time, but I can tell you it was fabulous. It's one of those things you can't stop staring at, even after spending two days there. We hit the road again yesterday and pointed the car towards our final outback destination, the opal mining town of Coober Pedy.
And it is here in Coober Pedy that I write this, the big attraction here is the fact that most of the buildings are actually underground, the heat is so punishing in summer (over 50 degrees C) and the cold so unforgiving in winter (below freezing at night) that living underground gives the only respite. I'm underground right now. It's very weird.
On our second day we stopped at Mt. Isa, a mining town that claims you're not a real Australian until you get there. If being a real Australian means you swear at young British backpackers in a car park, or stare at them intently while they try to do some shopping, then they've definately achieved it. But I don't think that's what they're aiming for. It's an inert town in the middle of nowhere, and despite a visit to an old underground hospital which was bizarre and interesting, I won't be too quick to recommend Mt. Isa as anything other than a place for filling up the car and using the bathrooms.
So we continued on, and endless void surrounding the car in every directions. I've never seen so much of nothing. The stretch of road after Camooweal and just after crossing the Queensland-Northern Territory border is the emptiest stretch of road I have ever seen in my life. A giant sun beats down on an unforgiving blank of a desert - it's no wonder so many of the early explorers came a cropper here.
We spent the night in Tennant Creek, having driven 900 kilometers that day, and in the morning set off for Alice Springs. Perhaps we didn't see 'the Alice' in its best light, but I was not particularly impressed. It's a compact city, and appears almost as an oasis in the desert, but it looks just like everywhere else. You can eat in McDonalds or KFC, shop at K-Mart, and considering it's in a unique location, they could have made it look a bit nicer. Aboriginal people shuffle about the streets like zombies, shouting into the night giving the city center a threatening feel, and there's not much to occupy your time on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Still, we were happy to have made it that far. We'd driven 2000 kilometers in two and a half days, and we were proud of our achievement. Even better, we were going to see Ayers Rock the next day.
I'm not going to tell you all about Ayers Rock (or Uluru, to give it its traditional, more respectful title) because I'm running out of time, but I can tell you it was fabulous. It's one of those things you can't stop staring at, even after spending two days there. We hit the road again yesterday and pointed the car towards our final outback destination, the opal mining town of Coober Pedy.
And it is here in Coober Pedy that I write this, the big attraction here is the fact that most of the buildings are actually underground, the heat is so punishing in summer (over 50 degrees C) and the cold so unforgiving in winter (below freezing at night) that living underground gives the only respite. I'm underground right now. It's very weird.
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