Random Photos from the Red Centre

Our to guides in the Red Centre around Uluru continually told us that the distances were so big that we were nearer to the International Space Station than to Alice Springs.  Truth? I don't care it felt the most remote I have been since I was out in the Pampas de Castillo in 1969.

Heat was also a problem but not for this lady sitting in the sun with a Magnum stuck in her mouth reviewing her pics. 

 

The monument at the middle(?) of the Red Centre Way reflected the colour of the earth, caused by ferrous oxide or rust as we know it, and the heat of the day.

Cloud formations are unusually indistinct to a UK eye.  They look fuzzy.  Consensus among those pretending to be in the know is the wind blew them into that shape.  A lot of scientific thought went into that one!  Still they looked strange to me.

Roadhouses

Life would be difficult in the outback without roadhouses and the tourist industry would be next to impossible.  Loads of retired people who need regular comfort breaks would be stuck in a place where going behind a bush is fraught with extreme danger.  These roadhouses are the pubs, restaurants, coffee houses and petrol stations.  Some like Frontier offer camel rides and others like Curtin Springs offer camel burgers.  The camel was once the preferred transport system in the bush.  Hot, dry flat and interminable what's not to like ......... if you are a camel.  They were managed by Afghan cameleers, until they were replaced by the train and the ute (short for utility truck, I think, and basically a pick up).  The roads follow the old camel paths quite closely as does the train that goes from Adelaide to Alice Springs then on to Darwin.  The latter is called the Ghan after the original cameleers.
This one was more like a US roadhouse of the 50s including the country and western music which turned out to come from Grand Old Op ....... sorry Adelaide.

 Curtin Springs has a character all of its own.

It's difficult to know whether the spelling mistake is deliberate or not but given the nature of the rest of the place I would go with deliberate.

See what I mean.

There was the obligatory art for sale including the calligraphy, which was on sale for Aus$100,000.

 It was produced by the Japanese girl on the right, three of them seemed to do all the work.  She seemed impressed with my interest and gave me her valuable art work as a gift.

The Red Centre - More Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Uluru is huge and, until you get close, it is difficult to comprehend the size of Uluru. The detail is not obvious in most of the strereotypical photos of the rock.

 A water hole at the base of the rock.

 Rock painting

The stark outlines of the fire damaged trees against the flat land of the bush.  There is a certain graphic quality of the shapes the branches against the sky.

Not far from Uluru is the Kata Tjuta which is a large formation but is not a monolith.

 Watching the sunset at Kata Tjuta

 A monochrome interpretation of the rocks.

The Red Centre - Uluru

We are about to leave the Red Centre, which we thought referred to the heat but actually owes its name to the sandstone which makes up the rocks and the soil.  The red is the result of the iron content, so these are essentially rusty old rocks.
On the way in at a road station I saw some interesting shaped clouds.

The next stop was to see Mount Connor which is nicknamed Fooluru because so many think they are getting their first glimpse of what used to be called Ayers Rock.

The rock itself, Uluru, has many different moods depending on the intensity and angle of the sun.  These were taken just before sunset.

Then just before the sun goes down you get the postcard view.

Graffiti, Street Art, attractive, an abomination… there are probably as many opinions as there are perpetrators.  Banksy has certainly made it fashionable and therefore, in his case, also highly desirable among the cognoscenti.  Italian obviously is important in this milieu (sorry that’s french).

Some of it is very striking and some in Adelaide has actually been commissioned.  It might actually improve some alleys in some cities.

My favourite was this, it is actually parts of two pieces painted on a flyover and I loved the way the very surrealistic eye is looking at the cartoon character. (A Smoking' Chili)

Adelaide Street

The problem with visiting a small city that was really a stopover just to see friends, is that the amount of research that gets done is minimal.  This became obvious to us in our three days in Adelaide.  Our original plan was to meet up with someone Lesley worked with over thirty years and last met on their visit to the UK went two years ago.  However, they were going to be out of town at a family function when we were there.  Good planning by us.  When we also discovered the less than salubrious area our hotel was in it slowed us down a little.  Eventually, the people and graffiti or street art started to interest me whether it was this guy, who with his friends were recovering from the night before.  

Although some seemed to be starting on the next days dose over breakfast.

The majority of people were waiting around for the shops in Rundle Mall to open while deeply engrossed in their devices.

Sadly even ignoring the busker playing to a reasonably good standard.

At one end I found the Colonial Mutual Building, which I found to some degree nostalgic.  Over the years I have been interviewed for jobs at three Australian insurance companies including Colonial Mutual two of the jobs were based in London and one in Sydney.  I didn’t get any of them.  Two were with mutual life companies which sadly a dying if not extinct breed.

We Even Brought Rain to Uluru

Taken from the bus, we have brought the rain even to the Red Centre!

Adelaide Botanic Gardens

We  spent a couple of pleasant hours in the Botanic Gardens, although three young women who were incapable of doing anything which was not accompanied by a series of loud shrieks rather spoiled the atmosphere.  Am I getting old?
Pride of place was given to a greenhouse which grew Amazon Waterlilies.  It was pretty much impossible to get a picture of them but the Egyptian lilies that were grown in the same facility were easier to get at.

Some delicate flowers were somewhat easier to take especially as they were deep in conversation and convinced I was taking a shot of the statue next to them.