The Townsville Show

Back while we were still in Townsville, we headed to the showgrounds to take in "The Show" - Australia's equivalent to the fair. These shows seem to be a big deal around the country, and at least in Queensland, there is a floating state holiday that each town dedicates to make a long weekend when the show is on.

The first event we watched was wood chopping, and it became clear very quickly that these guys are serious. Handicapped start times, humongous axes, singlets for their wood chopping teams... 

The Alice

Like many, we started our travels to Uluru and surrounds in Alice Springs. "The Alice" is one of the biggest towns in the Northern Territory, and truly qualifies as a metropolis compared to the sparsely-populated, dusty red cattle country surrounding it. And yet, it still has the feel of a place that serves mostly to stock up the surrounding cattle stations, fuel passing road trains and tourists, and provide  major medical services to folks living in the remote areas all around it.

Medical Cabinet circa 1958

On to Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon

Kata Tjuta lies a short distance away from Uluru, yet is seems miles away geologically. Uluru looks very much like a huge mass of singular rock. Kata Tjuta is a formed from composite, so it has the appearance of all different types of pebbles cemented together. The valleys around the formations were filled with green foliage that was startling in contrast to the color of the rocks - a result of a better-than-usual rainfall in the area. We took a short hike at Kata Tjuta, but not nearly enough to fully explore the area.

Kata Tjuta