Well here we are again, finally allowed to travel without wearing a face diaper and not having to fill out in triplicate who we are, where we have been, and why we are going there. MsV and I had been planning a trip to the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand., and had booked flights with the great anticipation that the travel bubble would open. But alas, this was not to be and that bubble burst and that was that. We did have a plan B though and that was to drive to the Red Centre of Australia and visit the very spiritual home of Uluru or Ayers Rock.
‘You can’t climb it’ is the piece of advice given by most people and I can say that having now been to Uluru, neither myself nor MsV had a need or a desire to climb this very impressive red rock as you can get to walk around the base of it and still be in awe of its beauty. There was a discussion about whether the rock is a him or a her. If I read the information correctly, the Indigenous people don’t make that distinction either way. But there are sections where you don’t take photos as they are women’s sacred sites, and there are men’s sacred sites with great cultural significance.
Anyway, more of that later. The journey was really a huge part of this trip and the fun you have on the way and interesting people you meet. We hired a campervan for the trip and its name was Princess. Hardly the name I would have chosen, but she was to be our home for the next two weeks. Our trip covered some 7,500 kilometres on tar sealed roads with us constantly on the move as to see as much as possible during our two weeks. With much anticipation, the van was packed for an Easter Friday departure. Some comment was brought about by my use of an old school map. Well let me tell you, that map is invaluable when Siri wants you to turn down a lonely red dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Our first day’s drive had us heading south towards a small Victorian town called Coonalpyn, 633 kilometres down the road, which neither of us could say. I did ask a local but they were of no help with the pronunciation either.
The first leg of our journey was great. With the campervan you can stop anywhere. So we managed to find a lovely litter-infested roadside rest area where we could cook up some hot cross buns with butter. We were really feeling like Burke and Wills now. Onward we pushed loving the wide open spaces, no traffic lights, the freedom of the open road. Then Siri chimes in, ‘Turn right now’. No I say, the one with the map knows better, and as we round the bend, here is Siri’s reason for us venturing from the elected course; a traffic jam. So there is a 10 kilometre traffic jam which Siri in her wisdom had seen and tried to warn us, or should that be me. This was heading into a small Victorian town called Beaufort. What could it be. Oh no, we don’t want to see a massive traffic accident at the start of our epic road trip. We did witness that crazy thing when two lanes became one and neither car will give up that one car space. So as we slowly enter the small town of Beaufort, we look to see two police-people performing breath tests. So no accident, which was good.
From here we speed on. You have got to stay in front of the pack, you know. Our next stop was the Pink Salt Lake which is very squinty on the eyes . Yes I did eat some salt from the ground being the hunter gatherer that I am. A quick photo stop and on we go with the mighty regional town of Coonalpyn in our sights. That traffic jam which I had chosen to ignore was really costing us daylight as we wanted to be at our caravan park and set up before nightfall. Slowly we were getting there but honestly running out of steam. Having read another travel writer’s blog, they had stayed at a small town called Tintinara. Well we thought that might just have to do. As we entered the metropolis that was Tintinara, I think the van slowed down a little and then left. It was one of those places that you might film a horror movie.
So a little further up the road we made it to Coonalpyn and what a sight for sore eyes. Set amongst the gum trees, hardly anyone camping there and lots of birds in the trees, especially those cheeky galas. We set the van up for our first night and what a fantastic sleep it was. We went for a walk at night and that was the first of many fantastic night skies.
Tomorrow we would be doing another 653 kilometres to Woomera in South Australia, which was an old rocket launching site.
More To Come….