Uluru

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A portion of Uluru viewed from the base walk

A portion of Uluru viewed from the base walk

Of course the main draw of central Australia is Uluru – one of the largest bornhardt formations in the world and a sacred site for the local aboriginal people. I decided to do a 10-day group tour from Alice Springs to visit Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, Devils Marbles, Katherine Gorge, Mary River, Kakadu NP, and Litchfield NP, finally ending in Darwin in plenty of time to begin my new job. While I would have loved to do this trip on my own as a massive road trip, after adding up all the costs I just couldn’t justify it – it would have been nearly triple the price to do it alone. Of course there are benefits to the tour – being able to sleep during long drives, not worrying about getting lost or finding an appropriate place to sleep, etc., but I definitely realized that my personality and travel style does not lend itself well to being in such close quarters with so many strangers for such a long time. It was a massive relief to be done with the tour and back in a private bedroom, despite how beautiful and exciting everything I saw was.

Anyway, the first stop on this 10-day tour was the magnificent Uluru. We did a little bit of walking around the base (of course we did not climb up it) and heard creation stories about different features on the rock.

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Queensland Road Trip: Day 5

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Sunset viewed from Castle Hill in Townsville, Queensland

Sunset viewed from Castle Hill in Townsville, Queensland

On the fifth day of my road trip I spent some time in Townsville, a small city just south of Cairns. I walked along the esplanade, got some ice cream and then went up to Castle Hill to see the views of the surrounding areas and yet another gorgeous sunset. There was also some nifty street art, including a beautiful wall on the outside of a hostel filled with reef-themed images of fish and mermaids.

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Queensland Road Trip: Day 3

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The view from the Bargara Esplanade

The view from the Bargara Esplanade

After spending some time around the Sunshine Coast I realized I had to actually do some driving if I was going to make it up to Cairns in 6 days! On the third day of my trip I drove up to Bundaberg and Bargara. Despite getting a parking ticket, I had a nice day walking on the Bargara Esplanade and visiting the Bundaberg Barrel to learn how their famously delicious ginger beer is made. I also visited the Hummock Lookout, which is a little reserve on the top of a dormant volcano, and where you can get a view of the surrounding area.

I then hopped back into the car and drove up to Rockhampton. I was treated to yet another beautiful sunset!

Queensland Road Trip: Day 1

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The start of sunset viewed from the coastal walking track of Noosa National Park

The start of sunset viewed from the coastal walking track of Noosa National Park

I disembarked from Brisbane after a weekend scuba diving adventure in a rented Kia Carnival minivan for a week-long road trip up to Cairns. My first stop was Noosa Heads, with a detour to the Mount Beerburrum viewpoint. It was nice to have complete freedom over where I wanted to go after relying on the limited public transport in Melbourne for so many weeks, and getting used to driving on the left for the first time was an interesting experience.

At Noosa Heads I visited the national park where I was treated to one of the most amazing sunsets I’ve ever seen in my life. The view was complete with surfers off the coast to make a stereotypically Australian image.

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RTW Trip Roundup

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My year (plus some) trip over three continents has finished and I’m still processing everything I saw and learned! I visited 20 countries in total. Here’s a list of each country with something I will remember about it, as well as a gallery of photos which hadn’t previously made it onto the blog.