3rd - Home

Considering how much I have been flying on my vacation, it was just a matter of time before something would go wrong. Too bad it was on my trip home things didn’t go as planned.

I checked in at the airport at Alice Springs, and after going through security I double-checked my tickets, just to make sure that they were correct. I noticed, that boarding time in Sydney was 0730 which I couldn’t get to fit with the fact that the plane would take off at 1815. So I talked with a guy at their service counter, and after a while he found out that the plane was delayed almost 12 hours, which meant that I would have to stay the night in Sydney before continuing my trip home.

Arriving at Sydney I was taken aside together with a small group who also was planned to go with the flight to London (via Bangkok), we got our luggage and got taken to a hotel (incl. a phone call and dinner voucher). Early next morning we came back to the airport, checked in, got a breakfast voucher and finally we left for London.

The part of the trip before Bangkok was very quiet as the plane wasn’t even half full. I sat next to (with a spare seat between us, we were sitting on H and K) a Danish girl who had also been stranded in Sidney due to the delay. When reaching Bangkok I had to move to another seat (I noticed this already at Alice, but when asking the woman in the check in if it wasn’t possible for me to stay in the same seat for the entire trip as on the way down she didn’t understand what I meant, despite trying explaining in several different ways). I moved to a window seat further back, but I sat behind a very large man, and next to him a similar large woman, which meant that my knees were getting killed. (On top of that I was sitting next to the kitchen, and I suspect that the rows (seat A-C and H-K) were set a little closer together so that they could line up perfectly to form a complete row behind the kitchen together with the D-G part. Let’s just say that my knees and legs weren’t amused).

After watching the first movie (UP, long live VOD!) I went to the toilets, and guess what I saw? The Danish girl was sitting alone on the three seats… So I went over and asked if I could get to sit where I sat before, and she was nice and understanding enough to say yes. Woo! Better room for my legs and a (much) better looking neighbor!

When arriving at London it was 1940, and no more planes would be leaving for Copenhagen, so once again we were sent to a hotel. I was put on a plane at 0655 together with another Danish guy, so we didn’t have more than 6-7 hours at the hotel, including dinner, check in, and sleep. It was hard work getting up – especially knowing that the Danish girl had been put on a plane at 1200-ish.

I set up my alarm on my phone, even though I had ordered a wake-up call, just in case. The phone in the room never rang, so I have never been happier for having my mobile phone. Apparently none of those who had ordered a wake-up call this early (0330…) had received their call, so the reception was getting slightly panicky (it was an automated system). I wonder how many people have missed their plane that morning due to the missing wake-up call?

I finally arrived in Copenhagen 0945 Monday, 22 hours after my scheduled arrival.

All in all Qantas were very helpful at every step of the process of getting home (they have been so for every flight, but this was the only time they encountered unforeseen problems they had to handle). You never had any doubts of what to do next whether you were going to an unknown hotel or getting a new flight from an airport. I am very impressed of their service and am not surprised that they for several years in a row are amongst the top-3 of the world’s best airline companies. They got me 20.000 kms without a single hiccup despite huge delays, but DSB can’t get me from home to work (40 kms) without screwing up and not telling anyone what the problem is and when it’s solved.

After these 4 weeks it was a huge anticlimax to come back home. Luckily I am not getting back to work until Thursday, so I have a couple of days to get my mindset back into the usual routines.

It’ll probably take some time to unpack; it’s now Tuesday and it’s still limited how much I have taken out of my bags. I feel like that the vacation won’t be completely over until the bags have been squared away, and I don’t want the vacation to be over. It was awesome, I already miss it.

Oh, by the way. I am freezing my ass off. It’s fucking cold here!

I saw one of the new A380s in Sydney; when getting around in a bus at the airport we got closer to another one - they are huge!

Zoomed out, comparing the A380 to a jumbo jet, the Boeing 747 (to the right), trying to give a better impression of how big it is as people know how large the 747 is.

The plane I flew in Sydney - Bangkok - London. On the side it says "We're with you all the way Qantas Socceroos".

30th - Thus ends the world...

Photos are added to the end of today's post, including the ones that should have been added yesterday. Also, I took a lot of photos of Uluru, so I have just chosen a couple that look good - I have not had the patience to find the best photos. That'll be done when I get hold of a faster computer than this.

Not much to say about today – I did a lot of driving, so it's limited how much else I had time for.

I went to see Uluru during sun rise; the sun rose at 0558, and the national park opens up at 0500, so there was a decent queue at the entrance as I arrived at a couple of minutes past. Saw the sun rise, saw the rock change color, and then I went back to sleep.

After checking out from the apartment, I took some extra day photos of the rock, and then began the long drive to King’s Canyon. It took longer than expected, I didn’t arrive before 1500, and I needed to be in Alice Springs before 2000, as that is when the reception at the resort closes. So unfortunately I didn’t get to walk at the canyon, I quickly took some photos, drove back a little and got a quick lunch and refueling. Drove directly back to Alice from there – only stopped to use the toilet and take a couple of photos on the way. Arrival time? 1940. So I made it, but not without a little stress towards the end.

Since I picked up the car Wednesday (2½ days ago), I have driven more than 1600 kms.

I had dinner at a fantastic place in Alice today; Overlanders Steakhouse. Very simple décor, very rustic, but it fit nicely with the main theme of being a Australian type cowboy restaurant, with appropriate country music in coming out the speakers. I chose their “Drovers Blowout”, which consisted of a chicken & asparagus soup, a tasting platter with a little bit of crocodile, roo, emu and camel, a rump steak and finished off with an apple pie. The most interesting was the tasting platter;

The crocodile; it was served as a normal patty shell (tartelet for you Danes), but instead of chicken in the fill-goo, they had used croc. First impression was that it tasted like chicken, but then an edge of fish came in from the side. Quite interesting. The texture was similar; it looked like chicken and it had the color, but it was more fishlike in the way it fell apart.

The roo; as experienced before, it’s a very dark meat like a normal venison. The darkness comes as a surprise at first, but it’s very good when you get past the initial surprise.

The emu; this reminded me of once long ago I had another bird as dinner – the meat is very dark, and has a very strong taste, almost borderline liver taste, but not as intense.

The camel; probably the most boring piece of meat. Not that it wasn’t good, it just seemed quite normal compared to the other more special experiences. It was just like a very dark steak.

Sitting here again, under the palms, enjoying the temperature, under green lights. Nice.

Leaving tomorrow midday. Damnit. As I predicted I would have liked to have more time here in the red center. When I get home it won’t be the jetlag that kills me, it’ll be getting used to the Danish weather again.

Kata Tjuta. It was difficult getting a photo of the entire thing as it is so big and you therefore need to be at a certain distance to get everything in one shot - and in this heat the distance results in a certain amount of blurryness and paling of colors. They are just as red as Uluru.

Uluru at sun set.

Uluru at sun set - but the photo has been slightly manipulated (or optimized, depending on your preference); made a little darker, intensified the colors and lightened the shadows.

Sun rise.

Another sun rise.

Uluru in day time - app. 1030-1100 today.

How much more Australian does it get than this?!

My nice small terrace, with green light at palms. It is almost midnight and I am sitting outside at still sweating. Life is good!

28th - Plain planes

Alice Springs has surprised me a little. Everything is smaller than I thought – I assumed that the flow of tourists would have made this place grow, but apparently that isn’t the case. The airport consists of just one building; a conveyor belt for luggage, a couple of check in booths, a small security area, an Info booth, a small desk where you can get help arranging accommodation, a booth for Hertz, Avis and Budget, two small cafes and a small kiosk. Of cause, it’s close to impossible to get lost and lose your bearings, but considering Alice is the hub you go to if you want to go to the center of Australia without driving, I thought there would be more activity. But I guess not.

That also means that Alice actually isn’t much different from any other small town I have travelled through within the last couple of weeks. Nothing really to see, the only reason you as a tourist come here is to go out of the town, not to stay here.

A proof of there is nothing out here; two of the first signs I saw leaving the car park at the airport were pointing towards Darwin and Adelaide, both app. 1500 km away. On the other hand, it’s the closest larger cities, and who doesn’t want to know how to get back to civilization?

Alice does have something interesting, though; the Royal Flying Doctor Service museum. Australia has the world’s largest air-based medical service, which is dearly needed in the rural areas that covers most of the country. More than 80% of the country is covered by the non-profit organizations’ almost 60 planes, primarily Beechcraft B200 King Airs and Pilatus PC-12s. (The last app. 20% is actually the northern-most area north of Alice in NT, Northern Territory). We saw their radio room at the Alice center, and a map showed where there were access to landing strips; paved and illuminated, rough and illuminated (but often only illuminated by flares, nothing permanently), and just rough (which therefore only can be used in daytime). The rough landing strips are owned by whoever owns the land it’s on, which means that it is the owner’s responsibility to keep it maintained and usable. RFDS actually relies a lot on the population’s donations, as most day-to-day costs are covered by government funding, but due to the requirement that the planes have to be renewed every 10 years they need a steady stream of money (a PL-12, being the cheaper of the two mentioned planes, costs around 6 M AUD). They started off by sending out doctors to areas where needed and transportation of sick people from the bush to a hospital. But they are now also used as a priority transport service between hospitals in major cities; if there is a patient in Brisbane that needs an acute transplantation in e.g. Sydney, RFDS will most probably be doing the transportation.

The De Havilland DH50, called "Victory", the first plane ever used by RFDS
The King Air

The PC12

Woops – that dragged out a little longer than originally intended.

I also got to see some real Australian camels; apparently the Australian camel is the only camel in the world that only has one hump. These were in a paddock, though, so I still haven’t seen any feral ones yet.

G'day mate!

I got a kangaroo today! (but damn, it was hell cleaning the front of the car afterwards! *hurr-hurr*). I had it for dinner at a nice restaurant in Alice. It was actually quite good, but much darker than I had expected. I have always thought of roo meat as white. Not white as chicken, but clearly whiter than e.g. veal. But the color, texture and taste was actually comparable with venison. Not a bad thing, actually.

Right now I am sitting on the terrace of the small half villa I am staying at in Alice. Right outside the terrace is a palm, and above me is a green fluorescent light giving everything a weird green tint. But it actually goes well with the theme; the place is called Palm Resort, after all. And it’s nice and warm with a fresh breeze. Lovely!