HeadingBush - Blogabond

Alice Springs, Australia

Mike promised us a lie in! He let us sleep in until about 7am! Joy! I made a mental note to cancel the bounty I had out on his head.

Me And Allison About To Take Off

Today was awesome, the perfect end to a perfect trip. A few of us took a helicopter ride over Glen Helen before going for a dip in the gorge. The next stop was Ormiston Gorge which is like something out of a movie. Possibly quite a scary movie where everyone thinks they're in paradise but then realise that a serial killer is on the loose and they all start dying one by one in horrific ways... hmm, maybe I watch too much horror.

But nah, it was amazing. We caught some rays, had a swim then moved onto the next stop which was lunch closely followed by Ellery Creek Big Hole, another water hole you can swim in.

Ormiston Gorge

Ellery Creek Big Hole

Oh its a bloody hard life init.

We accosted a bloke on the way who was wearing an "It's Feral" t-shirt and made him have his photo taken with us. I quite sure we didn't scare him too much and he could have said no if he wanted. I mean, there's one of him and only 11 of us, right?

FERAAAAAAAL!

Eventually we rocked up to Alice Springs and went to our separate hostels. I'd booked into Annie's Place on the advice of a German bloke I met in a hostel in Port Campbell over a cup of tea. Its nice enough, only went there to sleep though. I had a shower and enjoyed being clean for a total of 11 seconds before I stepped out of the air conditioned room and resumed sweating profusely.

We all met up at Bojangles which has all kinds of exciting things like free peanuts (and they even let you throw the shells on the floor), food and beer. There's a live web cam feed so people all over the world can watch you dancing and they can request tunes.

Not Looking At All Camp There, Mike...

Fuck only knows what the other punters thought had come to town, when Mike and Hans rocked up we jumped up, screaming and clapping. A rendition of "Ohhh, My Walla" was in order while we waited for our food to arrive and we met a mate of Allison's who she didn't even know was in Oz. We adopted him, taught him our tune and later on he helped us take over the dancfloor as we jumped about to our Day Three anthem, Bohemian Rhapsody before heading to Melankas where we put Sam in the dancer's cage cage to stop him from pressing any more buttons.

Told you you weren't gonna live that one down, darlin ;)

Good food, awesome company, copious amounts of beer and dancing and free peanuts. A fitting end to a feral tour methinks. Can't wait to see you guys down the Painted Desert in the USA for our reunion.

written by

Koala Bear on November 8, 2006 from Alice Springs, Australia

from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz

tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt and HeadingBush

Send a Compliment

comment on this...

Coober Pedy, Australia

Adelaide, Australia

Arrived Alice: 08/11/06
Left Alice: 11/11/06

"There's nothing to do in Alice Springs," I was reliably informed by the lass at Peter Pan Travel in St Kilda when I booked the Heading Bush 10 day outback tour, "Just get yourself a good book and sit by the pool for two days while you wait for the Heading Bush two day express back to Adelaide."

I still haven't read the book.

Ok, so I'm not saying that Alice is a 24 hour party town but when ya rock up with 10 of the best people in the world there's no time for this Sitting By The Pool stuff unless its with an esky of beer, pizza and your mates which was the order of the day on Thursday.

Alice is an odd place though, it was foolishly hot and it wasn't even summer. Its a decent sized town an all with these random reminders that you're actually in the middle of the desert and its an odd mix of backpackers, Aboriginals and white locals.

Allison And Her Birthday Chips. Or Fries. Whatever.

We spent loads of time down Bojangles on account of the fact it sells food and alchohol which are two of our favourite things in the world and I spent quite a bit of time in the internet cafe (no change there then) next to Melankas which is a hostel with a nightclub downstairs.
We spent a bit of time there an all, a few of the group stayed there but I ended up at Annie's Place which is nice enough, I was just hardly ever there. I'd have been better off just giving Bojangles $17 a night and sleeping behind the bar.

The Boys And Their 800g Steaks

Friday was an awesome day which involved shaving my hair into a mohawk on the dry river bed, watching Keith, Mike and Alex tuck into 800g steaks (they all finished them but Keith did it in 15 minutes flat) and helping Allison celebrate her birthday. At Bos of course, it has a live webcam feed and people all over the world can email in and request tunes to be played. Allison got shit loads requested and Tickers requested Voodoo Child for me. Loved it and went mental on the dance floor, cheers darlin ;)
We got her some appropiately named soap and in the absence of cake we stuck her Happy Birthday candles in her chips.

Yeah that's right, I said chips, not fries! Ha!

mutters something about Bloody Yanks*

Night Out @ Bo's

I'd stayed in touch with Toni whenever I had phone signal and she said I could stay with her and her Thai friend Tuk when I got back to Adelaide which was cool. Apart from mooning Groovy Grape and taking photos of a naked puff on a salt lake it was a pretty uneventful ride down, we stayed at Coober Pedy and drank lots of beer.

Salt Lake Minus The Naked Puff

On The Border

I rocked up to Tuk's place on the Sunday evening and spent the ensuing 9 days being fed Thai. Tuk is awesome, she's a top lass and as for Toni... well, she rocked my world.

All in all, not a bad time back in Adelaide methinks.

Me An' Ma Grrlz

Heading Bush: Day 10 - "Look Out, Alice Springs"

Alice Springs, Australia

Big Things #13

Coober Pedy, Australia

Alice Springs And Back Again

Adelaide, Australia

Heading South?