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Adventures Down Under - Page 2

© Sharon Tabor Warren

After a day in Alice Spring, which I really enjoyed and where I spent two nights in a backpackers' lodge, I joined another group: a three-day safari to the Uluru (Ayers Rock) area with Northern Territories Adventure Tours http://www.adventuretours.com.au. The coach held 27 passengers and did not have the comfort of the Desert Venture vehichle but the distances were not as great. Our group was more diverse. Although I was still the senior member, there were a few who remembered Nixon and one gentleman was born before the Korean Conflict! On this journey, we gathered firewood from the desert and cooked all our meals. Our campsites were permanent so the two and four-person tents did not have to be pitched and taken down. The first site, at Uluru, included a large gas grill and hot water. At King's Canyon we cooked everything on an open fire and had to heat water the same way. Both sites had a dining hall with long tables, a refrigerator, and a small sink. Volunteers did the cooking and washing up. Bathhouses with all the amenities were available in both locations.

I flew from Alice to Darwin and joined another NTAT tour--six days in the Top End. Our conveyance was smaller (nine-passenger Toyota) and there were only four of us plus our guide. I was again the senior member but two of my mates were in their thirties and we meshed well. Our camping the first two nights was in permanent camps; the last three nights we pitched two-person tents. (Those of you who read my column monthly know I broke my ankle the fourth day of the trip and didn't finish the tour--and yes, it's healing!).

Occasionally, we would be at a stop the same time as other groups-many of the "senior" variety. I never envied them their pressed clothes and neat hairdos because I was certain I was having much more fun. If I'd broken my ankle on one of those tours would you imagine they would visit me four times in the hospital? Not likely, but my young friends did, and my guide came even more often.

The two trips with NTAT offered plenty of walking and hiking, but individual pacing was always considered and permitted.

Think young, stay young, and travel with the young as long as you're able. Not only do you have a more active trip but you get that fresh slant on life that comes from those who are in the later generations and, in my case, not from your own country.

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