Dal, Hel & Bel: We Are Back

Tuesday 19 August 2008

We Are Back

This time we traipsed around the countryside looking at various rocks, rock formations and cracks. That's right.... the Petersens have been to the Red Centre of Australia. With $10 flights with Tiger Air, we couldn't resist. We spent five days in a small van outfitted with two beds and a little kitchen. We drove over 1000km all told and reached speeds of 130km/hr (not easy when the winds are trying to blow you sideways). We took over 290 photos, we ran out of room on the card so had to delete some. My favourite photo from all of the photos is the following:

Ok... so this isn't EXACTLY my favourite photo, but it resembles the one I like the most. I was in fits of giggles when I was taking it - I've saved you the unpleasantness of unwittingly taking a peak at Dallas' white bum, though. Really, the sun reflects off it in the other photo.... hehe. sorry dal.

There are a few lessons learned from this trip.

Taking a holiday with a child, can't really be classified as a holiday. As one lady put it so eloquently this morning - "Different scenery, same old crap/routine". I can't tell you how exhausted I am from this trip.
If you are sitting in the back of a van, the bumps in the road are 50 times more severe.
You can NEVER take too many photos of Ayers Rock.
Don't buy a Ham/Cheese/Tomato sandwich on a flight that you only paid $10 for.... it's bound to be old.
Trying to get a toddler to sit still is more exhausting than running around with her.
Dallas is a maniac driver who likes to push the limits. (130km/hr in a hightop van?? That's living on the edge!)
Chest straps on backpacks aren't really designed for ladies.
Sometimes when you say nachos, you end up with wedges.
The Australian Aborigines really do go on walkabout - we saw lots of them walking everywhere.

There was so much to see and so much to experience. Dallas and I have decided that we will become grey nomads after retiring and tour around Australia - without the children. Even with five days we missed much, but experienced even more. Here are a few photos to prove it.