Day 32 – ?, 6 May – ?, Singapore

Soundtracks:

‘Singapore’ – Tom Waits (“In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.”)

‘Green Onions’ – Booker T and the MGs

We emerged from our flight from Darwin, via the frigid and orderly environs of Changi Airport, helpfully overseen by soldiers with large and imposing armaments draped across their bodies, into the syrupy Singapore evening air. A pleasant cab ride took us to our friends’ apartment. Maddy brought us together with the Punton/Comte brigade through her friendship with Ruby since they met in Prep at CJC. Since then, after a few local family holidays and shared meals, they introduced us to Singapore life.

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Day 18-31 – 23 April-5 May 2008

Darwin – 588 km

Running total – 5,231 km

Soundtrack: ‘Return to Paradise’ – Shirley Horn

From Daly Waters we headed up to Katherine, stopping at the warm and beautiful Bitter Springs, near Mataranka, for a swim before lunch. After paddling around for a while, Raffy and Danny decided to float down with the current to a bridge. The silence and scenery were breathtaking. The landscape is definitely tropical now. Lush, dense, green… the air more moist. Read the rest of this entry »

We fly to Singapore in a few hours to begin the next leg or our voyage. Keep in touch – we’ll miss you!

DSMR

Day 12-17 – 18-23 April 2008

Alice Springs – 127 km

Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) – 397 km

Daly Waters – 568 km

Running total – 4,704 km

Soundtrack: Chained to the Wheel – The Black Sorrows

We had expected to spend the day meandering along Namatjira Drive and visiting a number of gorges, rock holes and other places of interest until hitting Alice Springs. However, after stopping up the road at Ormiston Gorge and the ochre pits, where Aboriginal people had mined ochre of various shades for thousands of years, the children fell asleep in the back seat of the truck. We had a brief look at Ellery Creek Big Hole, but much to Sandy’s dismay, due to it sounding remarkable similar to her name, we had to give Standley Chasm a miss.
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Day 10 and 11 – 16-17 April 2008

Watarrka (Kings Canyon) – 320 km

Glen Helen – 269 km

Running total – 3,539 km

Soundtrack: Albert Namatjira – Not Drowning, Waving

We said our fond farewells to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, headed back east along the Lasseter Highway and then north along Luritja Road to Watarrka (Kings Canyon). Once again, accommodation options were limited to the King’s Canyon Resort (and the Kings Creek Station that was more rustic but seemed to have a large school group in residence, which didn’t bode well. The campsite offered to us at the resort was exposed and dusty and, again, no bargain, so we opted to spend a bit more for a bunk room consisting of four beds and an Arctic force air-conditioning system which had one setting – full bore. Realising we ran the risk of hyperthermia we negotiated with staff to shut the thing off. Read the rest of this entry »