Outback Adventure - Part 1
It's a two and a half hour flight from Melbourne to the red centre of Australia. Out the plane window I saw the curvy tendrils of river beds, the telltale greens of trees and foliage. The colour palette is made up of red ochres, sage greens and mustard yellows, echoing the colours of aboriginal paintings.
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Tuesday, November 6 is a statutory holiday in the state of Victoria. The holiday is for a horse race called the Melbourne Cup. The locals get quite revved about this event. Girls buy dresses, shoes, fascinators, spend a day at the spa in preparation. Then everyone gathers for a day of fashion, betting, drinking and one 2-minute horse race. I was more interested in seeing the country than a drink up, so I booked the Monday off and headed out for a 4-day adventure.
Most of the Australian population lives along the vast coast line. And who can blame them, with beaches like I saw at Noosa. Everything in the middle is desert-ish. The emptiest place in the world. An easy place to hide a body, I was to learn.
And yet, what is it with the river beds?
With its outdoor cafe and canope covered walkways, the Alice Springs airport reminds me of a resort. The musky scent of eucalyptus is in the air. Heat presses on my shoulders like five pound weights. The wool jacket, so necessary in Melbourne, is now a burden.
Downtown Alice is... well... small. Much like the one-horse northern Ontario towns of Cochrane or Espanolla, it's made up of few streets. There are a couple of malls a few bars and not much else.
Aboriginals pad the streets aimlessly. Some sit, cross-legged on the grass, their dark eyes focused on some sad interior place.
After a dinner of kangaroo at the Red Ochre Grill, I get to bed at 9pm, hoping I don't sleep through my alarm and miss my 5:45 am pick-up. I think this is early. Ha! 5:45 is sleeping in compared to what I'll go through over the coming mornings.
In this country apparently, adventure is an early riser.
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