My trip had a rough start - quite literally, as the landing into Ayers Rock airport was one of the roughest I've ever experienced, thanks to the remnants of Cyclone Yasi that had trailed all the way inland. Typically you never hear about a cyclone hitting the desert, but Australia apparently made a special exception for me. I'm told that Yasi was the largest cyclone ever to hit Australia, and the effects were felt all the way out in the barren middle of the country.
At first I was less than thrilled about the prospects of rain on my outback experience, since I of course wanted to see the epic blue skies and red rocks that I've seen in so many pictures. But after about five minutes of pouting, I accepted that there was nothing I could do about it. Besides, I had heard that exceptional things happen at Uluru when it rains, so much so that there was a photographer on my flight who was heading out specifically to see it in the rain.
It took all of five minutes to start hearing ad nauseum how lucky I was to be here in unusual weather. It seems that anyone who lives or works here is required to know and lovingly repeat the same statistic: only 2% of visitors get to see it rain on Uluru, and only 1% get to see the waterfalls cascading off of it. Now, as exciting as that might sound, after hearing it so many times it started to grate on me a bit. It would be like going to Niagara Falls only to see that it wasn't running, which may indeed be a fascinating thing that no one gets to see, but it seems far less exciting if you've never seen the normal thing and have travelled over 10,000 miles to do so.
That said, Uluru in the rain is pretty spectacular. I may not have gotten to see the gorgeous sunset that I wanted, but I saw so many waterfalls over 2 days that I might be in the running for president of the 1% club. Thankfully the weather cleared enough at times that I was able to see the rock up close while still seeing the much fabled waterfalls.
I should probably clarify exactly how much rain I'm talking about here. A town near Uluru reported that between Sunday and Monday (coincidentally the two days I was there), they had as much rain as they typically have in a year. That's a whole lot of rain. 2010 was the second wettest year on record for this area. As a result, Australia's famous red center is currently abnormally lush and green. Again, not what I was expecting, but a pretty great thing to see.
The rain we got at Uluru the second night I was there ranks up among the most epic rainstorms I've ever been caught in in my life. The torrential downpour was so intense that the resort started to flood. Far from ruining my vacation, I had a lot of fun laughing and playing in the absurd amount of water rushing into the resort bar. People were really good sports about it, rolling up their jeans and walking through the floods in flip flops or just barefoot and having a great time.
Thankfully the floods and the storm cleared out just in time for the part of my trip that I was without question looking forward to the most - a sunrise tour of Uluru on a Harley. As I waited in the pitch black morning to be picked up, I got my first glimpse of outback stars. The elusive (to me anyway) Southern Cross was even shining down on me, and I took this as a sign that this was going to be my perfect morning. And it was.
I not only got to finally see the rock in somewhat normalish weather, but I got to take my first ever motorcycle ride. And I loved every second of it. I can definitely understand why people love it and make a lifestyle out of it. The rock was a brilliant red in the early morning light and I got to wear an awesome leather biker jacket, so really nothing could have been better.
I next moved on to King's Canyon, where I again got to be a statistical anomaly (Australians do love their statistics, so it seems). As we hiked around the rim of the canyon at sunrise, we could hear water rushing below - as sound which I'm told 99.9% of visitors would never hear. As we continued our way through the outback, we were surrounded on all sides by isolated storms and rainbows spotting the horizon. We even passed a lake that doesn't exist - as in my driver who drives this route all the time has never seen it before.
I spent my last night in the town of Alice Springs, where the usually dry river had a splash of water in it (which they reckon I was really lucky to see, but no percentages were provided here). To close out my outback adventure I took a sunrise champagne hot air balloon flight over a very green desert. Before the sun came up I saw the most amazing display of stars yet and could even see the Milky Way quite clearly, which was another first for me. The balloon ride was a great way to end what has been a fantastic five days.
Now, I would be remiss if I wrote this long of a post about the outback without mentioning my new nemesis, the fly. The Australian fly, particularly the small variety that lives in the outback, appears to have evolved over millions of years to become the single most annoying creature on the planet. These flies have a persistence unlike anything I have ever seen. No matter how many times you swat at them, they will not abandon their fervent desires to fly in your ears or up your nose or possibly even land on your eyeball. Insect repellent is powerless to stop them. They are without question the one part of this experience that I will not miss.
The rest of it, however, has been wonderful. The last five days have been one of those experiences that I will never forget. I feel great both physically and mentally. On the physical side, I hiked over 24 kilometers while I was here, and it dawned on me as I was finishing my last hike that it was just over 9 years ago that my back was in such bad shape that I couldn't walk. The realization was pretty powerful for me.
Another realization struck me out of the blue the other day - I was happy. Now, this may seem like a small thing, but for me it was huge. I was going along, just taking in the scenery, and a feeling of happiness suddenly crashed down on me like a ton of bricks. I'm sure I didn't just start being happy right at that moment, but apparently the feeling just crept up on me without my realizing it. Having been so unhappy for so many years, I had kind of forgotten what it felt like to just be completely and totally happy. Of course these things can't be permanent, and, as I was discussing with a new friend the other night, you can't really appreciate the happy times without the unhappy times, but for now I will gladly take it for as long as it lasts.
My days in the Outback have been a kind of escape from reality within the bigger escape from reality that is this whole trip. I embarked on this vacation with a sort of presumption in the back of my mind that this would be my only time I would make it over here. But there is something about the Outback that has gotten under my skin, and I have a vague, gnawing feeling that I might journey back here some day.
But of course, only time will tell just where my life will take me...
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