We took four days to travel about 8 hours inland, south and west from us, meet up with Paul and Diana again, and camp under the stars with the wildlife! We borrowed some gear, picked up the extras, and headed off. No s'mores on this trip, though. They don't sell graham crackers here, and the marshmellows looked, well, pink. I brought cookies, instead!
Our campsite was rustic - bring your own picnic table or do without, folks. We did have hot showers, with a resident koala living in the tree right above. Our tent seemed to be placed right under a kookaburra's perch on the power pole, and he called in his family three times a day right above our heads. That sounds, truly, like three howler monkeys calling out for 45 - 70 seconds at a time. Loud, raucous, laughing above us! Wonderful!
There were kangaroos all around, like we would have squirrels in the states. At night you could hear them rummaging around the campsite looking for scraps. I'd hear them bouncing by on their way through! There were emu in the surrounding meadows like we might see deer. It was unreal.
We set up camp in jeans and a sweatshirt (called a jumper here), but by sundown we were fr-eeeeeeee-zing. But freezing. We had a fire going, but we were freezing. Did I mention it was really cold? I can only remember one other time I would have tent camped so cold - at 10,000 feet, Tioga Pass above Yosemite. Am I spoiled with the motor home or what?? The days were glorious.
We hiked both days on the most beautiful hikes I've ever taken. The paths were scenic with photo opportunities at every bend. We climbed way up, we scaled rocks, we perched on incredible ledges, we looked over the valley and out to the WEST of Australia, as in, forever flat after the hill we were on! We didn't worry about snakes on the path this time around since it is fall and cold, and the snakes are either hibernating or really slow, so really a non-issue.
On our last day, on our last bit of trail, with Ross having jogged, by himself, the last part back to the "car park," we spotted a huge red bellied black snake curled up next to the path. Yes, very dangerous, but very shy. Yes, very scared! As he shimmied off into his little hole under the rock, he appeared probably 4 feet long. Plenty. This was my first real spotting of these guys, as you may have read awhile back, and it was good for me to see my Aussie friends so calm and observant, but very careful. They tickled him to nudge him off the trail while I watched in frozen terror back behind. It wasn't so bad afterall. Will I be that calm if it happens again? Not sure.
As we drove out the last day we stopped by the Observatory. This is where the telescopes for research are housed and it all happens- the largest observatory in the southern hemisphere! Seeing the enormous telescopes close up was awesome.
This was the most outback we've been so far (or at least that I've been - Pat and Tim had more outback earlier!), and certainly the most wildlife we'd lived with close up. It was a fantastic weekend. I'd go back in a heartbeat, but like so many things about this year, I feel I probably will never see that park again. Isn't that weird? But it's a beautiful memory.
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