Alex's Diary - Week 2

Day 8 – Wednesday - 9/5/2012 – Wilpena Pound to Coward Springs

We woke up, packed up and hit the road. We drove through the Flinder’s Ranges to Brachina Gorge. The bit after the turn off was really bumpy! There was nothing at all in the gorge. There were lots of different colors in the rocks. This is caused because all the different minerals over many millions of years have made them different colours. We stopped and said goodbye to the Flinder’s Ranges for the last time. We drove on and saw the largest coal train in Australia. It has 150 carriages pulled by 3 engines! We stopped at Leigh Creek and bought some supplies. We drove to Marree and had a look at the old train, old bullock wagon and the old truck. The truck still had its gears and steering wheel inside it so I got inside it and pretended to drive it!  We played at the park that was there as well. We jumped in to the car and drove on. We saw an outdoor Museum kind of. It had a robot, a massive dog and two planes! We then saw Lake Eyre and I tasted the salt. We arrived, set up and went to bed.

Day 9 – Thursday - 10/5/2012 – Coward Springs to Coober Pedy

We woke up and packed up. Once we packed up we had a swim in a spring. We jumped in the car and drove through the Oodnadatta Track into William Creek and looked at a small grave and a small museum. When we got back on the road we had an apple and an anzac biscuit as our breakfast. We drove into Coober Pedy and checked into the Hotel. We went and did an Opal mine tour, I found it really fascinating and we got to do this test typed thing where we held two thin long pieces of bronze and they were supposed to go out and come back in and cross over. The miners did it so they could determine where the slide was because they find opal near the slide. It didn’t work on Mum. The guide, Jo, told us that it only works on 6 out of ten people. We had a look at the outside of the mine and I discovered it had a lot of flies. We went and Mum and Dad did some things at the bank, bought some stuff and went to see and underground church. We went back and Lachie made a friend called Olivia.  I had a rest and got changed and went out for dinner and went to bed.

We stayed at an underground hotel which was carved cleverly. Most of Coober Pedy is underground!! I could love to live in a town under the surface! It was really dark too! I loved it!

Day 10 – Friday - 11/5/2012 – Coober Pedy to Ayers Rock

We got up very early and went to see the sun rise at the Breakaways. It had a large array of different colours and was really cool! The Breakaways are just as they sound, they are just a rocky outcrop! We drove on and came to a halt at Cadney Park and Dad put on our DVD player. We stopped at the border for a leg stretch. We drove onwards and stopped for some petrol where we saw a gigantic fake echidna and chameleon and 3 live emus! We drove with in 50 Kms and we saw Ayers Rock! It’s huge. It’s 9km around it and very high! We saw the Olgas to the side as well! Once we arrived at the campground Mum and Dad set up while Ned played footy with us. Ned was our next door neighbour at the campground.  Once we were set up we had a swim in the pool and went to bed.

Day 11 – Saturday - 12/5/2012 – Ayers Rock Day 1

We woke up and got dressed. I skipped breaky because I wasn’t feeling well and we lazed around. Mum went and did the washing and me and Lachie hunted for a games room. We couldn’t find one so we returned and spread the news. We went to the park and played on the equipment. There was a rock climb that I got hurt on and a really cool slide. I went back and sat down with Mum and Dad while Lachie nagged me to go and play with him. After lunch I played footy with Eden and Grant. Dad fixed the bikes and we went for a ride. We went to bed.

Day 12 – Sunday - 13/5/ 2012 – Ayers Rock Day 2

I woke up and had a cuddle in bed. I gave Mum a massage and Lachie gave her the card and book because it was Mothers Day. Once we got up we got dressed and had breaky. We sunscreened while Dad rode to the rock. At first while we rode around it it was very stop, start, stop, start but then we did 8.5 kilometers flat out. We learnt a lot and it was a fun cycle. We say the Boy’s cave, the Men’s cave, the Women’s cave, the old people’s cave and the schooling cave! I started to do the 18 kilometre ride back with Mum but gave up half way. When we arrived back I had a lemonade iceblock. I played footy with Eden which is where I jarred my thumb. I swelled up quickly, so I had to sit down with an ice pack on it. We had dinner and went to bed.

Day 13 – Monday - 14/5/2012 – Ayers Rock Day 3

We woke up and got dressed. We got breaky and Eden came over. We talked about the AFL ladder. We packed some snacks and headed for the Olgas. They’re beautiful because they’re a bunch of huge rocks next to each other! We did a 1km walk inside them and saw a bunch of rare plants. We also made it echo which was cool. We sat in the car to have lunch and went to the town square to see the boomerang and spear throwing which was where we got a special demonstration but a kind man, as it wasn’t on. It was rally coo and we even got a go! The spear swung around and hit my shoulder as I threw it. He told us that the old aboriginal people could throw it 200 – 300 m! We went and listened to some aboriginal didgeridoo playing. It was beautiful, they got volunteers up as well! We went back and started to get ready to prepare dinner. Once we prepared dinner, we went down to Uluru and had a look at the sunset over the giant of a rock while we had dinner. It was really nice and looked spectacular. When we got back we got into jarmies and went to bed.

Day 14 – Tuesday - 15/5/2012 – Ayers Rock to Rainbow Valley

I woke up and got dressed. I read my book for a bit and then helped Mum with the bed stuff. I read my book some more and then pulled all the pegs out so Mum and Dad could fold the tent up. We played “throw the soccer ball over Alex’s head and he ahs to stop it” as I call it! We played that with Ruby and Kale. We then did games that got each of us points, such as “find the ball”, “who can throw the ball the highest and furthest” and “estimate the length I can throw the ball! The points were Lachie=19, Ruby=10, Alex=7, Kale=5. A good game from everyone! Once we hit the road we saw 3 road trains, 2 with 2 carriages and 1 with 3. We did the last 24km on dirt track which was where we saw the cows on the side of the road! They were walking around, some even on the road! When we got there we quickly set up and we went for a walk to see rainbow valley rock. It was very pretty in the late afternoon sun and we could see purple, red, orange, pink, white and green! It looked cool! We went back, had soup for dinner and went to bed.