ROAD TRIP: Day 8 - Kings Canyon & Alice Springs

brekky

We packed up our car without even eating breakfast and headed back to Kings Canyon Resort for a hot shower Dom had discovered which we took advantage of for free.. We had a lousy breakfast, an attempt to make hashbrowns: fried potatoes with onions, salt, pepper and ketchup. Speaking of onions - that's the main thing we seem to eat on this road trip. We use at least one a day. Man we must reek.

It was my turn to pay for gas. We used to split the costs but now we just pump $75 worth of gas each time. We continued to Kings Canyon but for our luck the temperature was in the high risk zone: 35-45 degrees celcius. There was a recommendation of everyone drinkign at least 3,5 litres of water. Well, we had one 1,5 litre for the four of us to split. (Which Melanie wanted to leave behind cause everyone was too lazy to carry around :D) We could choose between a 1 hour or a 3,5 hour walk. We choose to walk for roughly 15 minutes and return to our car. Too dehydrated really.

We did climb up the stairs though, with Dom. It was so nice and peaceful up there. Really scenic. When we finally got enough of the heat, which didn't take that long, we headed back to Kings Canyon Resort for the third time. Enjoyed the bug-filled pool once again and used the outdoor shower. REFRESHING. A pool out in the Out Back is a luxury, I tell you.

We left for Alice Springs but stopped on the side of the road to make lunch. Laura wanted to see whether it would be possible to fry an egg on the tarmac. ...on a budget and wasting food we are...! No but it was hilarious, really. We also noticed that when you are in the Outback you don't need to heat soup since the air temperature (+41 degrees) warms it up :D

Eggs sunny side up!

When we got to Alice Springs it was bigger than we thought. We were STOKED to see Coles. So funny how much you appreciate big supermarkets after 3-4 days of gas station shops. We stocked up with $98 worth of food and went to the liqour store only to find out, that they only sell 2L casks of goon because of the Aboriginals. See, there's a big problem with the Aboriginals. Our Fraser Island guide told us that 98% of the Aboriginal population aren't improving their way of life. They just settle with the little they have and sit on the street, many of them homeless and intoxicated. And because the Aboriginals aren't used to alcohol, unlike the fellow white men that have been guzzling for Centuries, they get REALLY - mind my language - fucked up from it. And because goon is cheap and comes in a nice 4 litre casket - and of course manages you to get you off your tits - it's the substance most likely to be purchased by intoxicating effect craving Aboriginals. That's why there's dry zones and laws like this, that prohibit the bottle shops from selling 4 litre casks.

Anyway, we did buy some beer instead and drove 70 km out of Alice for a free 24 hour camping site. Cooked dinner and played our card drinking game with a Belgian couple.