Friday, December 25, 2015

Ross 2 Goon Tour

Wow the last few days were one of the best due my trip, also one of the toughest.
The actual tour called Rock 2 water and is worth it! I met incredible people and we became like a family! We saw a lot of remarkable places and had awesome moments.

The group

After I landed in Alice Springs I met the first few people from the tour and we checked out Alice Springs, but there is not so munch to do. We went up to the Anzac Hill to see Alice.

Outback from the plain
Alice Springs
Alice Springs
Random parrot in Alice

Of course some snacks and drinks we needed, too. But than the shock... There is no Goon in Alice Springs :/ Goon is wine in a 4-5 liter box for a very little amount of money, perfect for backpackers :D It is the same for the next few city's, we only could get Goon for the last night.
Our tour guide Ross picked us up at 6:30 am, we thought that is early... But we were definitely wrong mostly we get up at 3:30 am -.-


We always had to set up our campsite and prepare our food.



70% of the view due the trip were like:


We slept the first three nights in Swags, it is very special because you sleep under the stars. The stars in the outback are very bright and amazing, sadly taking  a picture is quite hard...


But someone else got one, the Milky Way ;)

First day we drove a lot, rode a camel and had a small walk at Kings Canyon.

To get in Christmas feeling :D




Day end with the first sunset in the outback.

Everywhere these tourist ;P

Next we had a hard morning and an easy afternoon, as Ross said... Means get up at 3:30 to see sunrise at Kings Canyon, was worth it!



Christmas feeling

We continued our experience at Kings Canyon for a few more hours.






Garden of Eden, we ate an apple and saw a snake... ;)




This was already the first highlight of the tour and we drove to Uluru (Ayer's Rock), the biggest stone in one piece of the world. It is one of the most spiritual place for the Aborigines. Uluru tells stories which teaches them there way of life. Only 3 stories are known, you really can see the marks for their story's at the Rock, fascinating! Because of this some of the areas aren't allowed to photograph. It means 2 hours walk at the afternoon, no easy one by 40 degrees Celsius...







Good Luck!



Map of Ukuru, black marked places you aren't allowed to take photos



You need a flynet the flys are so annoying...

The decision if I should go up the Uluru or not is difficult on the one hand I want to see the top on the other hand it is disrespectful... The climb up to the top is closed, because someone cut of a piece of the security line. This made my decision easier, I'm not going ;)
Sunset time means watch it with the view to Uluru.



What do you think we did next morning? Yes you are right get up at 3:30 to watch sunrise.



After this we went to Kata Tjuta, which is a rock formation, it is even more sensitive the Uluru we kown no story.


The walk was 7.5 km and was awesome in the end it fits hot.








This time we had an easy afternoon, because it was free :DD But it was sooo hot that we couldn't do some munch only pool and trying to sleep a bit, get some energy back ;)
Before we saw another sunset.



Fourth day was early again and hugh 800 km on the street, thanks to Ross we came safe to Coober Pedy, the Opal capital of the world. It produced around 90% of the worlds Opal. For us it means sleeping in beds and the hill, the temperature is between 21 and 25 :)

Entrance sign



We went to a mine to see how they get the Opal.

She showed us how to cut an opal


After this a loads of people bought some Opal for themselfs, friends or family. I did get something for my self, save money ;)
Next stop we went to a art gallery, but more important you can bring them kangaroos to get them well again. The have some baby one's, sooo cute.





Dinner this time was at a pizzeria, no preparing and cleaning :D
To finish our day at Coober Pedy we went into an underground bar and later drank at our accommodation.



5:30 wake up! Wow we never thought how amazing it could be to get up at this time ;) We got to Woomera a little town which is known for their aerospace history.



Because we are more south there is not vegetation. We had our last walk in a National Park nearby for the tour. There were ants, ants everywhere... So disturbing!




The last evening of the tour we had finally Goon again, for a little party after these exhausting days.


After a long and nice party, first stop was wine tasting :D at around 12.



This was the last action. We arrived at Adelaide at 4pm. Sadly the tour was over... Because we loved each other as a family ;) we went out for dinner and a had a couple of drinks :)


Thanks to the whole group and Ross for these awesome days, you all made them as special as they were!!! Hopefully we can see us again and again ;) Enjoy your travels and stay safe!

My only real day in Adelaide I met Stefan a friend from back home and Mark a friend of his. Have a look at his traveler blog: stefan-travel.blogspot.com
We rented some free bikes to discover the city.




Central Market
Chinatown
Post office

University of Adelaide
Botanic gardens
Botanic gardens
Botanic gardens

Guess who we meet several times? Yes some guys from the tour!


In the last week I traveled from Cairns to Alice Springs to Adelaide and now to Melbourne. By the way we had a little accident at the firsy corne of my trip to Melbourne everone is alright.


This were over 4300km, a hell of a trip, but now is time to relax and prepare for the first Christmas away from home.

Cheers Steffen

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