Friday night we stayed in a campground in a tiny campground cabin in Yulara (the resort town that was moved just outside the national park), and Patricia and I opted to sleep on the nearby grassy lawn in our swags. We then got up for an *early* hike through the Valley of the Winds in Kata Juta, which means “many heads�? in Pitjantjatjara language. There are 36 rock mounds over 35 hectares of land. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I have a few photos from Phil. This is a mysteriously beautiful place (more…)

The next morning Karen cooked the grubs (called Maku) crispy in butter, and Patricia and I each tasted two segments. We both wished our stomachs had felt better, because they were delicious – a bit like buttered popcorn and hard boiled egg.

Then we headed off to see if we could find the “Surveyor General’s Corner” the marker of the corner of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territories. Karen had gotten a “mud map” from a friend in the village, and she and Phil (a retired Army Lt. Col.) had some lively discussions over which map would be better to use to find it. (more…)

Wednesday night we spent camped out in the desert not too far from some kind of decaying animal. There is a plague of camels in the center right now and they come into the communities looking for water and then die. We didn’t actually see a dead one near our camp and didn’t smell it until after dinner when the wind changed direction. Tim said “Nevermind, you won’t smell it after you go to sleep,” and he was right. (more…)

One of the quintessential days of our trip was the first Wednesday. We had been camping for two nights at that point and it had been really hot – each day got over 100 but on Thursday it was about 110. The villages had lots of people in them because they were getting organized to go out bush for “men’s business”. There were people driving around everywhere and then they would sit in their cars for a while and then drive around again; all very excited and worked-up. (more…)

Hello from the RED CENTER!

But I’ll back up for a minute…

Sydney is beautiful – I have named it the City of Bays and Beaches. We walked all over, rode buses, two-level trains, and took the ferry, saw flying foxes (HUGE bat-like things with fox faces) in the botanical garden, and swam in several beaches, thanks to my friend Socs, who was a *lovely* host. We have pretty much decided to get back there a little earlier to see more – the weather is like DC in summer: hot and humid. (more…)

Socs, my friend from QIQ and Hyperion was a lovely host, along with his wife Caroline. They took us to the beach for a picnic lunch, and then Socs took us beach hopping. The next day we took a bus to the ferry (they live on the North Shore) over to walk around The Rocks, past the Opera House, through the Botanical Gardens (where we saw flying foxes – huge bat-like things hanging by the thousands from the trees), through Potts Point, then Kings Cross, then took a two-level subway train to Bondi Beach for dinner at Sobo with my friends from hiking the volcano in New Zealand. Whew! (more…)

I can hardly believe it – Patricia and I are leaving in 7 days (Tuesday 20 Feb) for 6 weeks in Australia! This will indeed be the trip of a lifetime. Thanks to Patricia’s months of planning, our trip has 4 parts, plus 5 days of Sydney sightseeing.

Part 1: Karen (my Newkirk sister-‘out’-law) is taking us and 9 others (including Marty – younger son, my nephew, age 23) from Adelaide into the Outback for 10 days. She has done *amazing* work on this portion, excited to have a great reason to go back to visit her and my brother Jim’s old friends and colleagues from the years they lived and worked in the Pitjantjatjara Lands. We will camp most nights, under the stars, often not far from an Aboriginal community, sleeping in swags. (more…)