To the Outback!

Day 20: Monday, July 6th, 2015
Steps taken: 14,410

In the morning after getting up, doing my morning routine, and packing up, it was time to say goodbye to part of our group.  A few people like Caitlin, Erin, Lena, and Maireke already left.  Those flying to Alice Springs said goodbye to German Alex, Carlo, Ben, and Richard.  Our ragtag crew was down to 9.  We were dropped off at Cairns Airport, got our tickets, and had a light or heavy breakfast depending on our preferences.  I got a mango smoothie, and Lazar gave me some eggs, and toast that he didn't finish.

We got on the flight, which served a light lunch, and headed to Alice Springs.  The flight was about two hours.  I read 100 pages in that time.  We landed, got our things, and met with Kodak (Robbie) our CEO for the last leg of the trip.

We arrived at the Aurora Hotel, which was really nice especially after hostel bunk beds.  Even the wifi was free.  I checked in at home, and bummed out on the Internet for two hours before heading into down.  Because of the weird time zones, Alice Spring is only half an hour behind the east coast rather than an hour (Still no clue how that works) so I went by the wrong time on my laptop, and got into town a few minutes after the banks closed at 4 pm.  I had a temporary solution for money when I was running low on Australian dollars since I stashed away $40 that I was saving for my world currency collection.  I also had a ton of change built up from purchases.  I'll get to a bank at the next main town.

I walked around town for a bit, went into a shopping mall, and got a half pup hot dog in a pouch as a snack.  I walked around Target for a few minutes, and then headed over to Anzac Hill to watch the sunset.  The views from the hill were spectacular.  On the hill are memorials to all the Australian soldiers who have lost their lives fighting in various wars since the 1700s.  There was a monolith in the center of the hill.  The closer it got to sundown, the more people arrived.  I chatted with a nice older couple, and their friends that were picnicking on the hill.  They also brought their dogs, which was a common sight.  We talked about Anzac Day, and some other locations in the Outback.  They sky was a medium blue until the sun went down then streaks of orange, dark blue, and purple set the skyline.  As the sun was sinking behind the mountains, it looked as if the sky was a rainbow colored curtain over the mountain town.  I'm really glad I made my way to the hill and waited the hour or so until sunset.

Just as night was beginning to kick in, and the moon was showing her slightly hidden face I headed back to the Aurora.  I got back to the room, and watched an episode of Mythbusters about building a boat out of ice and wood, and if a car could be split in half by a snowplow.  Then Martin, Lazar, and I went to the lobby to have a meeting with Kodak where we also met our three new group members: Allie, Lorraine, and Danielle.

From there, we walked to Uncle's Tavern for dinner.  I had a camel burger.  (Partly to try it, and partly because I have never forgiven my crazy camel in Egypt who kept trying to get into fights with other camels, and would try to run faster than the handler.)  It was decent although I'm not sure if I'd eat camel again unless there weren't many other options.  Dinner talk was mostly about highlights from those who had been on the trip since Sydney.

After dinner thankfully no one was interested in a night of drinking, so we all returned to the hotel.  I went on the computer for about half an hour, and then went to bed because we had to be on the road by 5:30ish.