Update

Hi everyone, just a note to let you know we have updated the blog (I know its about time!) we have put these in to date order so you may need to look through the archive to see them all, feel free to comment on our posts.

We have also uploaded loads of photos to our photo album, visit picasaweb.google.com/adam.gallard or click on the link in the link section(right hand side) of the blog to view them

Lastly have a quick look at our route at the bottom of the blog to see where we are at the moment.

Film Stars and a Zoo

I had read in the paper that Australia (the film) premier was due to take place in Sydney city centre and so managed to convince Adam that we should go. We got there about 4pm and got a really good spot inside the entrance to the cinema next to the barrier.



Anastasia also came to meet us. We waited for a good couple of hours and were tempted at one point to just leave as we were meant to be meeting Frank and Marion for dinner as Marion was leaving to go to Germany for Christmas. It got to about 6.30pm and people started to walk down the red carpet, at first we didn’t recognise anyone and then we started to see people from Home & Away, Marcia Hines –Australian Idol judge, the two Australian Idol finalists, Ian Thorpe and others. Eventually we heard lots of screaming and knew the screen stars were here and got ready to pounce.



Nicole came first. She was very tall, skinny and looked beautiful in a white sparkly dress. I shouted Nicole can I get your autograph and she came and signed my little pink book with a “NK” whilst Adam took lots of pictures, then Hugh Jackman came, looking very sexy in his fitted suit. At first he went to the other side and I thought we would miss him but he came over to our side and again I shouted can I get your autograph at the top of my lungs which seemed to work as I got his too. We would have liked to have stayed longer to see what other celebrities showed up but could not miss having dinner with Frank & Marion. We made our way to the exit and caught a glimpse of Keith Urban too! Anastasia was leaving the following day so we said our goodbyes and then caught a taxi to Balmain to meet them at a lovely Japanese restaurant called Samurai. As we were an hour later we had to say bye straight away and Frank took Marion to the airport whist we got something to eat and waited for Frank to return to at least have dessert with him.
A couple of days later we caught the ferry from Circular Quay over to Taronga Zoo.



Once we arrived we had to take the cable car to the entrance, we shared the cable car with a girl called Ella, who was travelling alone, we got chatting and invited her to go around the zoo with us.




We got on really well and saw Ella a few more times before she left and headed to Canada. Taronga Zoo didn’t quite compare to the standard of Australia Zoo (we are biased now), however they did have more of a range of different animals including seals, penguins, monkeys, gorillas, giraffes etc. We did enjoy our time there and the day just flew by.
Extend Technologies (the company Adam had worked for in Brisbane) called to say they could offer him some work until the end of January which was a huge relief so we went to DFO (Discount Factory Outlet) to go do some shopping. The DFO wasn’t as good as the one in Brisbane so we only bought a couple of items. On the Monday Adam started his job whilst I went into the CBD to register with a couple of job agencies. However they all told me that as it was the run up to Christmas, there would not be many job available which was a bit disappointing. Adam was quite tired after his first day of work not just because of getting back into the routine of things but also the journey there and back would take him an hour each way on Sydney’s packed trains.
Later on that week we met up with Kris, Henne (Kris’ mum) and Akka for dinner as Henne and Akka were due to leave. We met up at “The Rocks” where we enjoyed a pub meal and then Kris took us to where she worked so we could see the view from the roof top. And what a view it was, with the Sydney Harbour bridge to the left of us and the Opera House to the right and as it was in the evening the city was lit up so we took advantage of the amazing view by taking lots of pictures.

Welcome to Sydney

We arrived in Sydney at 4:30pm and had to change our watches as Adelaide is 30mins behind which just confused me. We collected our bags and headed to the train station, by this time it was gone 5pm on a Monday and everyone in Sydney catches the train home. It was a bit of a struggle with our huge bags on a packed train. After 40 minutes on the train we arrived at the suburb of Rhodes where we would be staying.



We had arranged to stay in Frank and Marions’ apartment, the couple we had been house sharing with in Brisbane. The apartment was great, with fantastic views over the Olympic Village and the Parramatta river. We dropped our bags off and went to explore the local area; we found the local shopping centre which was only 5 minutes from the apartment.
A couple of days later Adam and I headed towards the CBD. It had been 4 years since we had last been there and it looked pretty much the same. We had spoken to our travelling friend Lisa and found that she was going to be in Sydney at the same time as us, we arranged to meet up at Circular Quay. Lisa had been in Melbourne for a few months and had met up with some other girls, Sally and Roisin, we all met up and spent the day wondering around the CBD and Darling harbour.



Adam had spoken with the people he had been worked for in Brisbane, they were trying to sort out a job for him in their Sydney office, but while we waited for an answer, we decided to visit some of the local attractions. We also met up with Anastasia who we had made friends with on the Alice to Adelaide trip, she was due to leave Sydney to go back home to Germany so before she left we invited her over for dinner and also went shopping with her around the CBD and Paddy’s Market.



We went to go and visit the Olympic Village on another day out. We decided to walk there as it was a nice day and most of the walk was next to the river, it took us about 40 minutes. When we arrived we picked up some leaflets from the information centre and were very tempted to hire Segways, but they were a little expensive and so just decided to have a wander round. It was a very large complex and the main ANZ stadium was huge.

Adelaide

In Adelaide we were going to be staying with a lady by the name of Maria who we had met earlier in the year on a trip we had done in Airlie beach.



I had got chatting to Maria’s husband Alan who had tried scuba diving for the first time. She had kindly agreed to put us up for the duration we were there, which was very unexpected considering we had only known her for 1 day. We had contacted Maria to let her know what time we would be arriving however we found out her car had broken down and so when we met her we waited for the RAA. 30 minutes later she tried the car again and it started so we all jumped in and headed back to her house in Brighton. That night we checked our emails for the first time in over a week and found that my cousin Jasmin and her friend Annika were also in Adelaide so we arranged to meet them the next day in town.
The following day we caught the bus into Adelaide CBD and met up with the girls as well Anastasia who had been on the Alice to Adelaide trip with us. We had a wander round the CBD and then stopped for some lunch at Central market, where Anastasia tired Indian curry for the first time and loved it. After lunch the girls and I overruled Adam and decided to go to Haigh’s chocolate factory. The factory was small but the smell inside was just delicious. After buying some chocolate-it would have been rude not to, we caught the tram and made our way back into town. We went into a few travel agents to help the girls have a look at some trips to Uluru as they would be in Alice Springs in a few weeks. Adelaide for me was nice but not my cup of tea although the Brighton and Glenelg areas were lovely. They were seaside suburbs which had a relaxing, friendly atmosphere.



The next day Maria kindly offered to show us around Adelaide hills and then onto a place called Hahndorf. Hahndorf was a quaint little town with lots of crafty shops where we spent a couple of hours wandering around.
On Sunday we got up early to go to the local car boot with Maria and Adam told me I could only buy things if they fitted into my pocket, I bought nothing! That afternoon we enjoyed a walk in the sunshine to Glenelg and spent the rest f the day relaxing and playing Scrabble next to the sea.



On our last day in Adelaide we packed our bags and Maria drove us to the airport via a quick tour of south Adelaide. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for the lovely, relaxing time we had had. Our flight was due to depart at 12.30 but when we go to the check in we found out there was a delay and we would not be leaving until 2.30pm. Fortunately for me the airport had wi-fi so I was quite happy to catch up on my emails.

Alice to Adelaide Last Day

The next morning Max told us we were going to climb a mountain called the Dutchmans Stern (called this as it looked like the stern of Dutch ships back in colonial times), we all laughed at him until he pulled up at the car park and pointed to the top. It was over 800m high and the walk would be 3km long to get to the top.



It took us about 2 hours to get to the top and it was pretty tough going but the views were amazing. We could see all the way to Port Augusta and into the desert.




After this we returned to The Mill for lunch and then got ready to leave for Adelaide. On the way to Adelaide were going through the wine regions and so we just had to stop and do some wine tasting. We ended up buying a bottle of Reisling wine from the local vineyard. This was to be our last stop on the trip.



On the way to Adelaide to pass the time we had a quiz where made up questions for the other team mainly on things we had learned on the trip. We split the bus front and back and came up with some questions which included things like, how high is Uluru, what was the aboriginal word for waterhole, when was Max’s birthday etc. You will be pleased to know that team Gallard and Marcel won!



So once we arrived in Adelaide our trip was over, we said goodbye to the many friends we had made and arranged to meet up with some of the people who were going to be in Sydney.

Alice to Adelaide Day 5

The next day Max drove us to Kanyaka Homestead historic site. It was a derelict and abandoned settlement from when people first tried to settle in the area.



There had been 2 owners of this particular homestead. The first was a son of an earl, sent to Australia to make a name for himself. He bought the land and built a modest farm. All was going well until there was a major flood, the farmer saw his sheep were stuck on the other side of the river and so he tried to cross it to save them however he got caught by the current and drowned. A few years later the second owner bought the land and 60,000 sheep. He built a village down the road for his workers families and he built what we see that remains of today. Again all was going well until there was a drought, he decided to lead his flock back to Adelaide but due to the intense heat and lack of water he lost 20,000 sheep on the way there. After a few months in Adelaide the rain came and he returned to the homestead with his sheep. The next year the drought happened again so he had to return to Adelaide with his sheep where he lost another 20,000 on the way there. He never returned to the homestead leaving it to fall to ruins.

After the homestead we went onto look at an Aboriginal cave.



The cave had aboriginal paintings dating back over 1000 years, whilst we were listening to Max about the stories of the cave, Adam spotted that we were being watched. We looked high over the rocks and could see a kangaroo watching us.



One thing i need to mention are the thousands of flies. Not only when we were at the cave but just everywhere. They swarmed around everyone and as they seeked moisture constantly tried to get into our mouths and up our noses. I will never forget how annoying the sound of their buzzing was when they flew past my ears. After the cave we continued onto Wilpena Pound, a national park which is part of the Flinders Range. We did a 2 hour hike to the top of one of the high points in the park which gave us fantastic views of the Flinders Ranges. After Wilpena Pound we returned to The Mill for lunch. In the evening Max wanted to take us to see the rare yellow tailed rock wallaby. The others got ready to leave but I was quite happy to stay back and chill and get things ready for dinner. When everyone returned 2 hours later we tucked into our dinner of camel sausages, kangaroo steak, emu burgers and mash potato. After dinner we all went to the local pub.



I was told the story of how the pub landlord’s dog Shandy was grieving for her friend Bundy (as in Bundaberg rum) as he had recently been killed by a snake. So the landlord decided to buy a new playmate for Shandy who was going to be called Double Bundy.

Alice to Adelaide Day 4

Day 4 and this time we got to have a lie on, only a 6am start.



Max drove us around Coober Pedy to show us the mines, underground churches and the only house in the town which had a lawned fence. (The owner could afford the $900 a year water cost as she had gotten lucky in the opal mines). Max then drove us out to the desert to show us the Dingo fence (which is over 5300km long and goes through South Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales). The scenery was like being on Mars and in fact a few films were made there including Pitch Black, Red Planet and Mad Max, there was more evidence of this in the town itself as we saw props that had been used in the films.
After some more sightseeing Max gave us a chance to have a go at “noodling” for opals. He took us to a place where the first mines deposited their soil and as they didn’t value the milky opal as much to begin with, this allowed people to try and find their fortunes. To begin with we found nothing but then Adam found a small piece of opal, and then another and another.
We then set off again to make our way to Port Augusta.



Along the way we stopped at a pub to see the last 30 seconds of the Melbourne cup, where the “Midlanders” (Adam, Nadene and myself) won the sweepstake as our horse called Viewed came first and so we won a bottle of champagne to share. We had a quick stop for lunch at a local park in Woomera which is also the Australia Defence Force’s development and test site for rockets, Adam was in his element as we looked around some of the rockets that had been developed there.



After that we carried on down to Quorn where we would be staying for 2 nights. Quorn was a little village situated north of Adelaide, on the edge of the Flindes Range. We would be staying in “The Mill” which had recently been bought by Adventure tours Australia, the company we were travelling with. The Mill was lovely, it had a massive kitchen, large dining room and lounge with a tv and dvd player – luxury! In the evening we had a vegetarian lasagne. Whilst eating in the dining room the caretaker introduced himself. Rosco was in his 60’s and seemed quite witty. He found out it was Nadene’s birthday and said he would go home and bring back some special cookies for us. A few minutes later he arrived with a plate full which we devoured. After dinner Adam, Kris and Nadene joined Rosco down the pub and the rest of us chilled out in the lounge watching tv.

Alice to Adelaide Day 3

The following morning another early start. We would be travelling 730km along the Stuart Highway to get to Coober Pedy. We stopped along the way to take photos of us crossing the Northern Territory/South Australian border.



To keep us entertained on the long journey we played car cricket, whereby we received points for getting people in cars coming from the opposite direction to wave to us, it seemed to pass the time and was good fun.



When we arrived at Coober Pedy we went on an Opal mine tour. It was fascinating! Learning about how opals were discovered, the machinery used, watching the opal cutting demonstration and about how people lived there. Due to the fact the temperature varies so much, 85% of the towns population live in dugouts which are basically like man made caves either on the side of hills or actually underground. The tour took us through an example of a dug out, it was so strange. The opal mine tour leader told us of how she had recently bought a dugout for $25,000 and yet her car cost her $40,000. Also what was interesting was the fact that as long as you owned a property(had an address in Coober Pedy) then you could look for opals within certain restrictions of land size-hmm interesting, Adam told me to get the idea out of my head straight away! After our tour we were then shown our dorm which was a dugout(underground bunkhouse).



It was strange looking up our air vent which was almost 8 metres high. We dropped our bags off and went across the road for dinner. We all enjoyed a couple of slices of different pizzas and then as it was Nadene’s birthday the next day (a brummy girl on the tour with us) Adam and i ordered a slice of cake with a candle in it and we all wished her a happy birthday.



Following on from dinner we made our way to the hotel/bar dugout where we enjoyed a few drinks and a couple of games of pool. Then it was time for bed.

Alice to Adelaide Day 2

Another early start. We were up and away by 5am to go and see the sunrise over Uluru (Ayres Rock). Adam and I and a few others decided to do the 10km base walk. We were a little disappointed with the weather to begin with as there were clouds overhead and so Uluru looked a bit dull and grey, then suddenly we had about 3 minutes of sunshine and Uluru looked magnificent.



It was a deep earthy red colour. We carried on walking round and managed to take lots of fantastic photos – it was a good thing we had a digital camera! We all met back at the bus and the others told us that the viewpoint they had gone to, to see the sunrise from was very busy and crowded so we were glad we did the walk.



Later on we had a look around the Cultural Centre and then Max drove us to The Olgas (The Aboriginal name is Kata Tjuta). The Olgas are 36 domes and the highest dome is in fact taller than Ayres Rock. Very little is known about the Olgas with regards to Aboriginal stories as again it is a very sacred place to them, and for “white” people to know about is not good as they say “knowledge is power”. We walked through the gorge and again the views were spectacular we could even see Petermans Range. Max was very informative and told us of how Ayres Rock and The Olgas we only see a third of and the rest is hidden beneath the ground.



We made our way back to our campsite for lunch. We found out our group was made up of 8, 6 day passengers (including us) and the other 15 were only 2 day passengers so after lunch the 15 packed their bags and left. Then there were 8, which for us was a lot nicer as it allowed us to really get to know people. We had a bit of free time and so played cards, looked at each others photos and Adam, Nadene and Marcel had a swim in the pool. Then as the majority of us had done the base walk Max took us to a lookout point in the evening where we could see the sunset over Ayres Rock. The site looked very busy but Max took us to an area where there was no-one around and we all enjoyed champagne and nibbles whilst watching the sun go down over Ayres Rock.



After that we returned to the campsite, had dinner and then got into our swags for the night to sleep under the stars.

Alice to Adelaide Day 1

4am and my alarm went off. We showered and packed our beds and were ready for 4.45am pick up or so we thought. It turns out that we had forgot to change our clocks and there was a 30 minute time difference which meant we were really early, oh well at least it wasn’t the other way around.
We sat outside in the dark waiting for our tour guide but it was nice and cool. I was a little surprised to see loads of aboriginal people walking the streets at that time of the morning but there was a security guard on site to stop the aborigines hanging around the hostel.



Our Adventure tours bus eventually turned up and continued to make some other pick ups. With everyone on board we made our way to the first destination which was Kings Canyon, 7 hours away. It was a long drive but it gave us a chance to get to know people on the bus and have a snooze.
We arrived at Kings Canyon and were faced with a steep climb, fortunately it was a lot cooler than the day before which meant we could do the long walk around it. We checked out the Ampitheatre, Lost City and the Garden of Eden.



Max our tour guide (a young, enthusiastic lad from Adelaide) told us about how the aborigines were able to tell which plants they could get water out of and how they believe the canyon was formed. After 2.5 hours of walking we had been all the way round and had enjoyed the fantastic views. We then continued to make our way back to the minibus and to our campsite which was 4 hours away. Once we arrived at Yulara we all chipped in with preparing and cooking dinner.



Adam and I were very impressed with the fresh food that was supplied and tucked into our bbq of kangaroo steaks, sausages, beef steaks, salads etc. As it had been raining a little (very unusual) we couldn’t sleep outside but were happy to stay in one of the permanently erected tents which contained 2 single beds and a small table.