|
|
TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
|
|
“9,449 kms in 24 days!” |
May 11: Kings Canyon to Alice Springs
May 12: Returned the campervan in Alice Springs (Final mileage: 9449 km in 24 days!)
After the Kings Canyon hike, we drove on back to Alice Springs for our final night prior to packing it in and heading our own ways. Pretty insignificant drive back to Alice since we had done it before, and I think we were both ready to get back to ("normal?").
We decided to celebrate the end of the trip with some more Cuban cigars and a nice dinner. Well, we got one of the two. After a little bit of a search, we found a place that sold the cigars and picked up a couple to go back to the site. There was a little tavern and bistro beside the campground, so we decided to make that our destination of the evening. Well, we got a little taste of the local dive (are there any that aren't dives in this area?) Filled with smoke, unkempt locals, and rather mediocre live music. We decided to ditch it and go get some takeaway drinks and smoke the cigars while playing (fittingly!) cards. Just for a change... I think our final total was somewhere near 50 games of cribbage... I won't tell you the score though (I still owe you Mary!)
The last day of our road trip turned out to go smoothely. We packed up and took back the caravan, and somehow missed the full-on inspection we were expecting. The guy didn't notice the missing water tank cap, nor the new stone chips in the windshield, so we were off to the airport in record time.
Mary's flight was 1 1/2 hours before me, but we decided to split a cab to the airport. Turned out that the Alice airport is actually quite nice, which was good, given that it was 3 hours prior to my flight when I arrived. The airport had something I had never seen before. After the security area, there was an outdoor terrace area, and even a plot of grass at the back! Great for me, since I had the chance to lay out on the grass and relax until my flight to Sydney!
So that is the end of the vacation-style travel on my trip. Next is off to Sydney to do a bunch of errands and admin, and then on to New Zealand for 3 weeks! Very glad I did the road trip, as I think it was a great mix of learning about cultural issues with Aboriginal/white people in the Outback, nice drives, beautiful views, fantastic hikes, and even some cool wildlife. Hope the rest of the trip brings similar satisfaction!
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).