Magic Moments

Lying in a tent on the banks of the Cooper; the flames of the evening’s campfire still flickers, lighting up the massive river gums in which a barking owl – well – barks. Beyond that are the glistening stars. How can one really put moments like that into words?

As we prepare to depart Alice Springs for Darwin (after three wonderful days camping and hiking in the majestic West MacDonnells) we are also very conscious of having already reached the “one-third” point of our trip. We envisaged the journey in three stages - the first being a trip through the desert, gradually heading north. We will soon embark on stage two – heading across Northern Australia through the Gulf country across to the east coast. The third is the trip home, as we gradually head south from Cooktown down to Melbourne. Each stage lasts roughly a month.

There have been lots of magic moments on this trip thus far, and at this juncture it seems an appropriate time to share a few of my favourites.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Coming across a bull standing in the middle of the road on the Old Strzelecki Track. We drove right up to it, but it stood its ground. I thought about trying Crocodile Dundee’s trick of hypnotising a bull with two fingers, but instead decided just to drive around it. Still it didn’t move, but simply gave us a disdainful sideways glance as we edged past.

Ryan, in his first attempt at fishing on the trip, managing to snag the shell of a passing Cooper Turtle!

Our arrival back to the campsite at Innamincka to find a group of locals fishing – car radio blaring. Our initial indignation was quickly tempered by their friendliness and generosity as they gave us their catch and left-over bait so our boys could continue to fish. We had an unexpected feast of Curried Yellow-Bellied Perch for dinner!

Getting to the top of “Big Red” – the largest sand dune in the Simpson Desert, and then driving the car down the other side!

The Birdsville Star Show. The opportunity to look through a powerful telescope at various aspects of the night sky, realising that a closer look at even some apparently fainter heavenly bodies reveals a glittering, colourful cluster of stars. The highlight was seeing Saturn, complete with its spectacular rings and many moons.

Bumping into some old friends, Mark and Beth in the very basic Maree Caravan Park camp kitchen. Mark and Beth live one suburb away, but we haven’t seen them for at least a decade. What a place to re-connect!

Flying over Lake Eyre. The shimmering masses of bright, white salt and patches of pink and blue water lived up to all expectations. When we spotted some camels our pilot Andy (from North Brighton!) circled them a couple of times so we could get some more pics. A once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Sunrise, sitting in a spring at Coward Springs with Marilyn and Ryan – the jet from one of the springs providing a welcome back massage after a few weeks of sleeping on the ground!

Witnessing the delight of the boys as we entered our underground motel room at Coober Pedy. We celebrated with wine, real fruit, showers and an afternoon of watching the footy and netball on TV!

Lying in our tent (again!) at Redbank Gorge, with a view out the front of the West MacDonnell Ranges silhouetted against the night sky. In the moonlight we watch a dingo pace around the tent a few times in the hope that we’ve left something out for him.

Catching up with Pat, a mate of mine from Brighton Secondary (who is now living in Alice Springs) around the fire in the backyard of his place, accompanied by the gorgeous singing of his girlfriend Claire.



Ryan at the wheel!

 Giving Nicholas (and more recently Ryan) opportunities to have a drive around the relative safety of the clay pans in the Corner Country and near Alice.

As we head off on The Ghan tomorrow for the 24-hour trip to Darwin, we are simultaneously looking forward to the "magic moments" that the next stage of our trip will bring and realising how quickly it is all flying past.