Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Month in Adelaide

As always, since my last blog I’ve been very busy. My latest trip was to the Northern Territory for a week. With the same group I went to Tasmania with, including Soton’s very own Pete Rhodes, we hired a massive 6 berth campervan and set off on what would be a 3200km round trip. 

Our first main stop was Coober Pedy; it was a small, isolated town in the middle of the Outback where its main sights, particularly Opal mines, were underground. This, as we quickly appreciated, was designed for the locals to escape the blistering heat for a few hours!

Our second main stop, and my highlight of the trip, was Kings Canyon. We did the famous “Canyon Rim Walk”, which took us on a 4 hour loop along the top of the Canyon. We took our time exploring the Canyon, and made the most of the fantastic views that we were rewarded with for our 5:45am start! 

After Kings Canyon our journey continued to Ayers Rock, Uluru. Unsurprisingly, we couldn’t climb it as it is very sacred in the Aboriginal culture, but the view of Ayers Rock with the morning sun over it, however, was unreal. A short journey from Ayers Rock was Kata Tjuta, where we went for another walk through the Olgas (Valley of the Winds). Again, the view of the Olgas in the morning sun was fantastic, and the walk purely added to our outback experience. 

By the time we’d travelled to each of these break-taking places, it was time to begin our journey home. The views on both the way there and back (the same and only road) were surreal, especially watching the sun disappear beyond the horizon. Other than that there wasn’t a great deal to see whilst we were driving; it was the outback, after all. 

I’ve just entered the last 5 weeks of my year long adventure in Australia, and I can’t believe how fast time has gone. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of football (the proper one) for the university team, which despite a recent dip in form, has been really good. As always there have been plenty of international parties, but with the year-long experience for many of us coming to an end, farewell parties are beginning to take shape. This started with an event organised by the uni last night, with free food and drinks for all the internationals leaving at the end of the semester. 

I’ve got a busy few weeks ahead; in addition to football three times a week and final assignments/exams, i’m heading to Melbourne to see the second State of Origin match, which I can’t wait to see. State of Origin is arguably the biggest match in Rugby League, with the passion and rivalry on another level. As soon as I knew that I was coming to Aus, State of Origin was first on my list of ‘things to do’. I’m sitting with the Maroons (the Queenslanders) and i’m unbelievably excited for it. I’m also going to a couple more AFL matches before I head home, and am going to make the most of my final few weeks in Adelaide and Aus.