We woke up early that morning and made our way back to King’s Canyon. We had already hiked the rim, but we wanted to see what the base of the canyon was like. Our legs were a little sore too so we wanted a short and easy walk. The walk at the base of the canyon was shaded, only one or two kilometers, and very flat. This is the type of walk elderly tour groups go on. It was a pleasant morning walk and we finished in around an hour. Around 10 o’clock, we left King’s Canyon and began our 4 hour drive to Alice Spring.
Alice Springs is the biggest town in the Outback by far; but it’s nowhere near the size of Sydney, Melbourne, or even Adelaide. If I were to estimate its size, it would probably have a population of 60,000 maybe more, but no more than 100,000. It is a town that commonly reaches temperatures of above 36 degrees and has sun 300 out of 365 days a year. We got there at 2 and went to one of the two malls that we found there. At that mall we grabbed lunch. The mall had only a few shops and everything else was vacant. We visited the other mall too and that one was more lively. All in all, Alice Springs seems like an easy town to get around, but there’s not much to do there. Luckily, we had the plans to go to the kangaroo sanctuary for a sunset tour.
The Kangaroo Sanctuary is an interesting place. Formed by a 6’7 man named Drolgo who lives alone in the bush and acts as a mother to his mob of 25 plus kangaroos. His sanctuary became famous from the BBC documentary “Kangaroo Dundie.” When we arrived at the sanctuary (which is only accessible by a bus that picks you up in Alice), Drolgo meets you and tells you the most important thing to do if you see kangaroo roadkill: check the pouch for a joey, because they can still be alive. Most of the roos at the sanctuary were taken in as orphans. He then presented a joey named Terry and told us that the best way to take care of them is by holding them while they are in a pouch (like a pillowcase). Kangaroos are very social creatures, so you have to keep them near you at all times. In towns across Australia, there are people willing to take joeys in; so, there is no problem finding someone to take them in. After introducing us to another joey, Naang, he then allowed us to take turns holding them as we went on out tour. We then went into the sanctuary that spans a circumference of 2.5 miles of fence (that he built himself) with a portion of it going into the ground so the dingoes can’t dig under the fence. Upon entering, we were greeted by 6 or 7 kangaroos waiting to be fed. A few people, including Sarah, were able to feed the younger ones with a bottle. One of the kangaroos there was Roger. Roger is a poster kangaroo. He was THE alpha and is an icon. When people think of kangaroos, they think of Roger. In his prime, he would challenge Drolgo every day; nowadays he’s old (12, kangaroos can live up to 14) and much more docile. I was even able to pet him. We continued on our tour and spotted roos everywhere along the way. We finally reached the male cage. In a mob, there is only one alpha male and the rest is his harem. He drives away all the other males and is usually aggressive. All the other males are driven away by the alpha, so they form their own mob. This mob is like a kangaroo fight club. So being accustomed to this, the males are fine being on their own. This also helps stop inbreeding. The current alpha, Monty (Roger’s son) is duking it out with his rival, Andrew, for supremacy of the harem. Both were in the cages so they couldn’t harm us. Drolgo told us how he was recently put in a headlock by Monty until he passed out and was then kicked in the face. He has to be careful with Monty because unlike Roger, some days he’s chill, and other days he isn’t. Whereas, Roger was never chill.
Me and Terry
You can’t ask for a better day
At this point, there was a beautiful sunset and we began the loop back, but at least Sarah and I finally got to hold one of the joeys (Naang) Naang was incredibly cute and adorable. I held her for about 10 minutes and reluctantly passed her on. By now, we made it back to the front, just as it was getting dark. We left around 7-7:30 and overall it was an awesome trip. We headed back to Alice where we got dinner at this small noodle place, but by god it was some of the best damn noodles I’ve ever had. All I remember was that it was next to a Subway.
After dinner, we drove to the rest stop called the Tropic of
Capricorn. Hint, its located right on the Tropic of Capricorn. We went there to
sleep because it was free to camp out. I was a little nervous because its
highly recommended not to drive at night as that’s when so many animals are
out; but during our 20 min drive we didn’t see any.
