Outback Trip: Getting Home

A couple photos...

Once the trip ended in Alice Springs, we were free to go our own ways. A fair number of people flew from Alice up to Darwin or Cairns to sightsee (since we had a whole second week of break free). Since we were heading back to Adelaide, we chose the cheap option of riding back with the tour bus. We took a more direct route back, but it still took us the rest of Day 7 and most of the next. We were pretty sick of being on the bus, but the trip home turned out to be pretty tolerable. Since over half the group didn't come back on the bus, we each got our own pair of seats and could stretch out and stuff. All of the loud annoying girls were gone, so things were a lot more peaceful. And having a smaller group and no schedule to meet meant things were a little more relaxed.

We stopped for the night a little bit before Coober Pedy. We literally just turned off the road, drove into the bush a little ways, and set up camp. It's pretty strange to be able to do that without worrying about getting in trouble for using someone's land, but in the middle of the outback it's really not a problem. We had a nice campfire, and all sat around and talked. Bill, our guide, showed us a couple campfire games. It wasn't eventful, but it was still one of my favorite evenings of the trip. The next day we drove almost nonstop, and made it back to Lincoln in time for very long showers before dinner.

So there you have it. After a couple days recuperation, we went on a hiking trip, which I will tell you about in my next post. For now, I need to get some homework done.