Alice Springs, Northern Territory - Sept. 28

If you look on a map, Alice Springs in almost exactly in the very center of Australia. It's called the Red Centre for a good reason. The dirt is red. Beautifully red. The rocks are red, orange, grey, depending on the hour of the day and the direction of the sun. It's home to the Mulga Python, Thorny Devils, and camels, of all things. Kangaroos and wallabies are big out there, too, but that goes without saying.

We checked into the Youth Hostel and spent the day poking around the town. Early the next morning we were on our camping trip tour with Mulga, owner of Mulga's Tours. His employee called in sick, so he threw his two kids in the bus, packed a box of chips, lollies, and kids books (I was impressed!), and picked us all up for the 3 day tour. Mulga is like a 2010 version of Crocodile Dundee without the actual "knoife." He began his career doing Australian Outback Tours, "mostly doing outback survival," and has now retired from the the actual camping group part - except for us. So we got the real deal. He could spend as much time as he wanted with us, gave us his version of the Aboriginal art on the rocks and 'Dingo Took the Baby' story. He was very knowledgable, down-to-earth, quirky and hilarious, as usual.

At one point, out in the middle of nowhere, he slowed the bus down and stopped. We all strained our necks to see what he could be stopping for. He said, "Watch the road!" We looked, we looked. He backed up a ways, then got out. He reached down and picked up something in his hands. He climbed back into the bus with a Thorny Devil. Just like that. It was the size of Aaron's hand (I know cuz he held it). People passed him up and down the bus until we got out to collect firewood (while we're stopped). Some tried to pet it. I mean it's a Thorny Devil people! It's prickly! We collected firewood, although, we watched carefully for snakes! We didn't see one, but you can't tell me they weren't watching us!

We drove out to Kings Canyon and hiked the rim and down to the water hole called Garden of Eden. Pat swam, as did others, but the frigid water felt just fine on our toes, we decided! Because there has been record rainfall in Australia this year, lakes are full that haven't seen water in 30 years. In the Red Centre this means there are wild flowers that some have never seen. The desert was actually lush with growth and greenery, which is different than many pictures I've seen. I am not complaining, just re-thinking what the Northern Territory can look like. We did see random abandoned cars along the highway **I'll write more on this later!!** that were thoroughly rusted and dated, perhaps, back to the 50's.

At the campsite, Mulga whipped up spaghetti out the back of his trailer, like a pioneer wagon. We ate seated on our rolled-up swags. Swags are sleeping bags with a pad on the bottom and a canvas cover over the whole thing. Mulga had even brought marshmellows, which the Aussies didn't really know how to deal with. The kids in the group attempted to burn down the outback with the 'mellow flames at the firepit, but we didn't have the heart to tell them that's not really how it's done. In Australia, if you show or say that you know it all, they'll cut you down with a laugh and a joke. "The Tall Poppy Syndrome," they call it (don't let one poppy grow taller than the rest), and they'll tell you, "We'll take the p*%@ outta ya! Ha Ha!" We mentioned how one can roast it brown and gooey, but the kids had more fun watching the melting flames, so we smiled along with them!

We unrolled our swags and climbed in right there near the fire.

That night I didn't want to close my eyes. The stars were incredible! Here we see the Southern Cross, and Venus is bright as ever. Sunrise the next morning was surreal, and the colors of the earth were fantastic. No facilities, or much privacy, if you can imagine in the desert, but we managed just fine without any close snake encounters in the bushes! That's my second reference to snakes. Can you tell what was on my mind??