Adventures in 2009

We thought it would be remiss not to go back to the Larapinta trail. Rather than load Michael's knees with a heavy pack we had a base camp at Glen Helen.

If you go to Australia's centre, spend a few days and visit the big three: Uluru, Kata Djuta and Kings Canyon. I am not going to say much here other than breathe the air and just go there.

We had to think quickly to rearrange our schedule. A bus was arranged to get us to Uluru and Kings Canyon. We had two days in Alice, so one was spent locally and the other to Palm Springs. Around Alice Springs we visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service , which was and still is an important medical service to the far flung regional settlements of the outback.

Last night I almost spent sleeping on the dirt somewhere. The toilets are some distance away from the camp site. I got out of the toilets and it was pitch black. I could not see the track to the tents. My Petzel head torch provide little more than a firefly flicker against the grey. A short distance, the tents, but no tents.

The sky was overcast, temperature cool. There was a promise of rain in the air.

Today was a rather long day, in hindsight, it would have been better to split the walk in two. Again we have outstanding scenery.

It’s a desert walk that I will remember for a long time - it has to be up there with the best walks in the world. The rich reds, cool pools of water, dry air and visible evidence of eons of geological transformation makes this walk very special.