Australia Part 2 - The Outback

After a couple of days exploring the Great Barrier Reef it was time to move forward on our trip. We boarded a plane and headed for one of the most famous areas of Australia - The Outback. We were mostly excited about the opportunity to see another famous native animal of Australia - the kangaroo. The Outback was beautiful and provided us with a lot of great pictures and memories.

Our first kangaroo that we spotted in the wild. 

Another kangaroo that we spotted out in the wild. This was actually a huge one. They are also pretty fast. We got a little too close to and it darted off.

We went to a didgeridoo concert which is music that is native to Australia. I bet you have heard one and never realized that is what it is. If you have ever seen an Outback Steakhouse commercial then you have heard one. It is what is playing in the background of the commercial. 

Jennifer and I with the actual Australian flag. How lucky of a man am I that I get to call this pretty lady my wife!

Another meal that Jennifer and I actually shared so that we could try the local cuisine. From left to right: camel kabobs, buffalo steak, emu sausage, kangaroo filet and crocodile rissole. 

Alice Springs is the area that we stayed at in the Outback. There were not a lot of amenities here, but it made up for it with the views and scenery.

One of our most favorite things that we did in Alice Springs was wake up early one morning to head out into the middle of the Outback and get into a hot air balloon to float over the Outback and watch the sunrise.

It took quite a while to get the balloons ready for takeoff. Especially when we were standing out in pitch black wilderness for about 30-45 minutes. 

We are off the ground. We were the first group to actually take flight.

My beautiful wife a couple hundred feet above the Australian Outback.

Apparently someone had started a fire - either intentionally or not. We were flying over some of this burnt area and it was just completely destroyed. It was very sad that many of the creatures were being forced from their homes or even dying.

In the hot air balloon. It was a lot bigger of a basket than I could have imagined. It held up to 15 passengers and we had our own little compartments for a couple people each to fit into.

It is so hard to display the beauty in a photo, but this was an amazing sunrise!

The only part of the hot air balloon adventure that I was not prepared for was the landing. I just was under the assumption that the balloon just landed peacefully on the ground and then we would all just get out. Totally wrong. Our landing was determined by how fast we were blowing in the wind at the time of descent. We were told to brace for impact and warned that the basket could tip over at any time which would cause us to be dragged along the ground. We needed to listen for careful instructions from the pilot. After a successful landing they then proceeded to make us pack everything back up for them. This was a picture of the women putting the balloon back into its traveling case.

Kata Tjuta National Park where we took a tour of and did a little bit of hiking.

Probably the most famous natural landmarks on the continent of Australia. This rock formation is known as Uluru. It is actually a scared area for the aboriginals (native Australians). This is a place that you can climb, but many of the locals suggest that you don't because it is disrespectful, as well as extremely dangerous.

The colors of the sky during the sunset were amazing.

Pictures again can not capture the beauty.

Sunrise over Uluru

Jennifer and I at the base of Uluru. If you look closely you can see a small discoloration in the mountain side. This is the path that people have taken to the top. Many people have died trying to make this climb due to the steep incline. 

The Outback proved to be an amazing adventure. So far our journey had taken us to 2 of the most famous outdoor parts of Australia. The next half of our journey was going to take us to the more modernized big cities in Australia. It was time to board another flight for our next destination of Melbourne. Thanks for reading and God bless!