Montana is Urban

Nikki explained the Ghan pretty well. It was a very cool experience. I didn’t have an idea how big of a country Australia is until we were moving here, and even then I didn’t quite grasp the concept of how desolate it is. Once you leave Adelaide, there is nothing. It looks an awful lot like Eastern Montana. Like driving from Baker to Broadus, only flatter.

Once we got into town we picked up our sweet ride… the Britz Camper van! In much like Nikki and Mark style we may have bit off a bit bigger chunk than expected. I had a few misconceptions. Misconception #1 driving in the outback is just fine this is 2008 and it is plenty developed. Misconception #2 Uluru is not that far from Alice Springs. Misconception #3 Uluru is a major worldwide tourist destination… lots of people will be cruising the same road as us at that time. Misconception #4 there really isn’t a lot of Roos out on the road… it’ll be like deer in Montana. Yeah so… we spent the first three months of living in Oz begging to see a Kangaroo and then those three hours begging not to see one. We did see a few, but with my ninja-like reaction time and the peak performance of the Campervan we were just fine.



As for Uluru it was almost spiritual. I can see how the Aborigines feel the way they do. Just coming up on this thing is like nothing you can imagine until you see it. I just can’t put it into words. Nikki and I sat and watched this thing for 3 hours at sunset. And, Kata Tjuta was every bit as cool. On the valley of the winds walk, we walked right into the middle of all these huge rocks. At one point you are completely surrounded by huge stone walls all around and you walk into this valley and everything is calm. You hear every little animal and really feel close to nature. Wow… do I feel like a hippie after writing that! If it helps to solidify my manliness I followed it up with a VB and a few meat pies if that helps. If you haven’t heard of Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) then Google it or find a Discovery show.

The last day in the red centre was going through some very cool gorges. The Resort (RV park) where we stayed sat right back against these big cliffs. They looked a bit like the rims in Billings but a lot closer. Imagine the steep parts without the hills under it. All told we put about 2000 Kilometers on the old Camper van.