This looks promising for an old mountain man like me, but the promised
mountains never materialized :( Of course, I should probably quit
whinging (Ozzie for whining) because the ride was actually quite nice. |
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Of course, I still use my camera trick whenever I talk to kids. |
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This couple gave me a couple sandwiches when I really needed them, and
I greatly appreciated it. I generally found caravaners to be extremely
nice. |
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I just loved the icon on this Beware of Cows sign. |
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These windmills are scattered all over the outback. They're all
unhooked and just exist to give tourists something to take pictures
of. They are somewhat useful for identifying rest stops that have
water though. The water is piped in these days instead of being
pulled up by the windmill. The water you'll find here is bore
water which tastes a bit rough but it's safe. Most of the time I
carried sufficient bottled water, but I ran out a few times. |
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This is a closer look at Bonkville. I would have quite liked the area
if I wasn't mad about crashing. |
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An Ozzie Pie and a milk. Now this is living. |
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These guys are building a vineyard out in the middle of the desert in
the Outback. I would have liked to visit them for a day if I
wasn't obsessing with distance at that particular time. |
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Here is one of my very few campsites in the Outback. I'm
gradually getting more comfortable with the idea of camping, and will
do more of it in the future. This particular spot was a bit
cold though. I had ice on my tent when I woke up in the morning. |
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Phil is going across the Outback from west to east the hard way.
Good on ya, mate. |
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This is one of the obligatory Ayers Rock sunset photos. The rock
did look pretty good during sunrise and sunset, but I felt somewhat
like a tourist being herded out for the photos. |
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This is a slightly better view of the Olgas from the top of Ayers
Rock. |
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I was a bit surprised by the number of people that made it all the way
to the top of Ayers Rock. The climb is somewhat dangerous, with a
few ledges that even made me hesitate. In the U.S., I think
people wouldn't be allowed up here because someone would fall off and
sue the Park Service, but Ozzies don't seem to be as lawsuit happy as
Americans. There were quite a few people that made it all the way
to the top, and I was glad to see that. The most common way
people get killed on the rock is chasing after a hat or something else
lost in the wind. |
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Here I'm eating a nutritious meal to build up my strength from the
ordeal of riding in a bus for 4 hours. |
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