Central Australia Trip 2012: A roadtrip like no other

December 16, 2018

Central Australia Trip 2012: A roadtrip like no other

University of Melbourne Student Union International (UMSUintl) or rather, more commonly known amongst the "older generation" that graduated prior to 2013, as Melbourne University Overseas Students' Services (MUOSS), organises a winter trip to Central Australia in collaboration with a travel agency every single year. Possibly 10 years now, or more!

2012 was the year I signed up to be the coordinator, for what I'd like to call the roadtrip like no other, working alongside Across Australia Travel. Thank you everyone who made MUOSS Central Australia Trip 2012 an experience I can never forget!

Photo credits to Yu Kai Liang

The entire trip was 11 days and in this post, I will bring you through each and every single day of our incredible road trip.

Day 1: Sunday June 24

I remember emphasising "PUNCTUALITY". I repeated it over and over again during the pre-departure briefing.

"The bus will depart University of Melbourne at 7am sharp."

Even threw in a few "memos" to the participants that the seat selected will be your seat for the entire trip. Basically, baited them to come early if they wanted the good seats and if they wanted to sit with their friends lol (still had that one fella that came late, you know who you are).

First TWO days were a continuous drive to Alice Springs. Oh yes, about 30 odd hours sitting in the bus! Starting the road trip with an experience like no other, already.

Day 2: Monday June 25

We arrived in Alice Springs around mid afternoon.

Got dropped off to do some quick shopping and we went straight for the essentials like water and fruits.

me and tent buddy, Estela

Settled down at the MacDonnell Range Holiday Park which was where we stayed for the next 3 nights.

First things first, George the tour guide (or at least I think that was his name... it had been 6 years, cut me some slack) taught us how to pitch our tents!

And Chris, our "mum" who helped us cook during the entire trip, briefed us all on our chores and duties. There were so many of us, would not expect one cook to cook the food, serve it and clean up after the entire troop was done eating. So we were broken up into teams to help Chris out and basically to make sure the camp ran smoothly.

The first night was the coldest we've experienced during the entire trip. George told us it was sub zero that night! No wonder it wasn't a good night's sleep at all (for me at least).

Day 3: Tuesday June 26

RISE AND SHINE.

Technically speaking the first morning of the trip (morning in the bus for Day 2 was not counted!). Everyone was not getting used to waking up in the cold and shiverssssss. Mind you, it wasn't like we could just press a button on a remote control for central heating.

the oddly peaceful looking campsite

Morning breakfast ordeal

Monopoly deal whilst waiting for breakfast to be ready

First thing on today's itinerary was to visit the original waterhole - "The Alice Springs", at the very historic Old Telegraph Station. You could even post some old-school-telegraphs! How cool is that. Me and my tent buddy posted one for each other hehe.

Next up, we visited the Springs Reptile Park, We held and took photos with different kind of snakes and lizards. You get the "eeeekkkkk" here and there but also some really excited peeps that went straight to kissing it.

Across the street from the reptile park was the Royal Flying Doctor Service. For 90 years, they've been serving the community in Australia, especially the ones in the outback. Before the flying doctors, it was extremely difficult to treat anyone who lived far away from the cities. Patients would have to travel hundreds of kilometres and often wouldn't be able to make it.

Done with the indoors, we made our way to the Alice Springs Desert Park.

Up to this point as I'm typing away, I realised everything is a blur. I don't remember exactly what happened next and I don't remember if the places we went were within the same day or was it the day after... If you were part of this trip and realised I got some of the sequences wrong, let me know! (or maybe just play along with it.)

Anyways! I do remember at some point in Day 3, George brought us to K-mart. Because of how cold it got last night, he brought us there so some of us could "beef-up". I bought a fleece blanket and a really cheap quilt in an attempt to compensate for my not too winter friendly sleeping bag. In my defense, I really thought a sleeping bag which could withstand up to 5 degree celsius would be good enough. So wrong.

Day 4: Wednesday June 27

The day continued as we visited Ormitson Gorge. It has a reputation being a great place to swim especially during the warmer months and indeed... One of us tried to play around with the swing/tyre that was attached to one of the branches. He ended up falling into the water, getting himself all wet without a change of clothes. At least one of us got to go for a swim!

The Ghost Gun Walk climbs up to a lookout directly above the swimming hole in Ormiston Gorge. Incredible view! There's a platform that extends out the edge so ever slightly and when you're there, it feels like you're part of the vast scenery.

MUOSS committee member who went on the trip
From left: Zong, ME!, Jia Yi, Estela, Kai Liang

Done with that, we moved on to the Simpson's Gap - a lovely river bed, gum scenery, white sands and the chance to see rock wallabies. Cannot recall if we actually saw one.

Like the name suggests, Simpsons Gap is one of the most prominent gaps in West MacDonnell National Park.

By the way, all this bushwalking can get quite tiring. Evidently.

We ended the day at the Anzac Hill Lookout. This observation point gives you a panoramic view of the Alice Springs Township.

Somehow, we got really excited when see "Malaya" up at the lookout

Day 5: Thursday June 28

It was a rather relaxing day. Leaving Alice Springs, we made our way to Kings Canyon.

Pitstop. Lunch! Meals were pretty damn amazing by the way. I loved it. Today's lunch menu was sandwich. Haha pretty standard when your cook is a caucasian.