Devil's Tower

Garry and I have spent the day slowly making our way West towards Yellowstone National Park. Today's touring highlights include a brief stop at the Air & Space Museum attached to Ellsworth Air Force Base, a wander along the lovingly restored Main Street of Deadwood and a hike around the base of Devil's Tower.

Devil's Tower is possibly best known for its starring role as the back drop for Steven Spielberg's movie classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I recall watching the movie as a child and being absolutely fascinated by its soaring features.  It really did look like something from outer space.

The tower is the eroded remains of a volcanic intrusion, created deep underground and slowly revealed over eons by the elements.  It rises more than 263 metres above the surrounding landscape.  Its sides are corrugated by long columns of solid green-grey igneous rock. It first comes into view more than 20 miles away. Its form immediately recognizable and simply grows in statue as the pass miles pass.

Garry and I stopped for a picnic at its base before taking a leisurely 40 minute stroll around its circumference. We spotted a pair of climbers about halfway into our journey. They come from all over to try their hand at scaling its angled rock face.  We never grew tired of watching its profile morph as we walked in its shadow.

However, the highlight of the day for me had to be the Black-tailed Prairie Dogs.  A sprawling "town" of these delightful, squeaking animals is located along the tower's access road.  We stopped to watch dozens and dozens of these furry little socialites go about their business. A few family packs complete with babies even made a brief appearance.  Too cute!

Our route to the Devil's Tower took us past Deadwood, one of Hollywood's original wild west towns.  It was once the home of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.  Both infamous locals are buried in the town's charming cemetery.  The town itself has been carefully restored over the last two decades, its preservation funded by taxes dollars from gambling venues scattered throughout the town.

Our first stop of the day was the South Dakota Air & Space Museum.  Its primary theme is focused on the Cold War as the neighbouring air force base is home to a squadron of advanced high-speed B-1B Lancer nuclear-capable bombers, one of only two squadrons in the USA.  These formidable planes can carry deadly nuclear weapons swiftly across the Atlantic in a matter of hours. A retired model sits pride of place at the museum's entrance.

The base was also home to separate squadrons of Minutemen II intercontinental ballistic missiles. For more than three decades, a field of 150 Minuteman II missiles and 15 launch-control centers covered more than 13,500 square miles (34,964.8 km²) of southwestern South Dakota.  The last of these missiles were deactivated in 1994 under the terms of the START treaty signed with the Soviet Union in 1991.  Two inactive missiles remain on display in their original silos.

The supersonic Hound Dog nuclear cruise missiles are also impressive. The B-1B Lancer carried two of these sleek white jet-propelled weapons under its wings. They totally look the part, aerodynamically stretching almost five metres from tip to tail (below - with Garry providing scale). It seemed extravagant to have such a large plane only fitted to carry two missiles. That is until you realize that each of these 790 kg missiles unleashes a blast three times larger than that which flatten Hiroshima.  You're inevitably left wondering how such a small device can wreak such havoc.

Granite immortality

Garry has finally seen Mount Rushmore. It was wonderful to be able to share with him a special moment I'd enjoyed more than six years ago. However, we weren't alone. The memorial site was packed this morning with visitors and their endless summer convoy of RV camper vans.

After spending a couple of hour viewing the granite presidents from every angle, we escaped the RV onslaught by taking a scenic detour along Iron Mountain road. This is a narrow, winding road that makes its way up the face of neighbouring mountains. Its route was carefully surveyed in the 1930s to provide travelers with stunning (albeit distant) views of Mount Rushmore.

 

The road is an impressive piece of engineering. The route include three unnervingly narrow tunnels blasted through solid granite and two "pigtail" bridges which lap around and over the road you've just traversed. However, nothing is left to chance.  For example, each tunnel is carved on an alignment that ensures Mount Rushmore is always framed perfectly as you exit its confines.

We then turned onto the Needles Highway which gradually winds its way towards a series of towering granite pinnacles before finally passing through another series of equally stunning tunnels.  One of these tunnel exits into a dramatic natural amphitheater surrounded by a ring of soaring granite fingers. It's truly breath-taking.

More photos and statistics to come shortly.

Posted from my iPhone.

Location: Rapp St,Rapid City,United States

In the (time) zone

Garry and I finally landed in Rapid City, South Dakota. It's taken four flights, across eight time zones to get here. Our "day" began with a 7:05am flight to Brisbane where we caught our trans-Pacific leg to Los Angeles. From here we flew to Denver, stopping for a few hours to enjoy lunch at the airport, before finally catching our transfer to Rapid City.

It's been a long and weary day. However, Garry and I have devised a clever way to combat jet lag. Over the years we've developed quite a tradition with our USA road trips. We start our journey with a trip to the local Walmart Superstore to stock up on picnic supplies. These stores are a cross between an enormous supermarket and a variety discount store; all conveniently rolled into one giant building.

This evening we spent almost two hours buying a dirt cheap esky and filling it with cold drinks, sliced meats, salad, and fruit. We also grabbed a cheap picnic set, a travel rug, and a few other knick-knacks at ridiculously low prices. Several years ago we worked out that for the price of a couple of decent meals, we could stock up with everything we'd need for a fortnight of picnic adventures.

Tomorrow we're off to explore the Black Hills of Dakota, including the famous presidential facade of Mount Rushmore. Temperatures are predicted to be in the mid-20s with a late afternoon thunderstorm. It should be perfect weather for a day out enjoying the great outdoors.  Hertz has also come to the party. We've been upgraded to an enormous, leather-clad SUV which should make light work of the 1500kms ahead

Stay tuned for more updates in the days ahead.

Posted from my iPhone.
Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

UPDATE:  

You follow our travel adventures in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Yellowstone starting with this post. Click through our journey as it unfolded by selecting the New Post link at the bottom of each post.

Papamoa Hills

I dropped in Tauranga for the weekend while visiting New Zealand for work last week.  Mum and I joined Hamish's family for a trek at Summerhill in the Papamoa Hills.  Our walk took us out to an old Pa site which offered some superb views of the Bay of Plenty.  It was clear enough for us to see White Island smoking away in the distance.


Dinosaur country

Our Queensland outback adventure continued with a two-day excursion in sleepy Winton. This quiet country town is 177kms northeast of Longreach. It takes less the two hours to traverse the straight, monotonously flat highway between the two towns. I can confidently report that the drive's scenic highlights, in a nutshell, are Emus grazing the area's sparse vegetation.

However, our journey did have one unexpected encounter. Along the way passed a strange convoy of white trucks trailing miles of cabling. At first, we thought we’d encountered a remote NBN work crew. However, we later learnt that we’d seen the Queensland State Government’s deep crust seismic survey team in action. The survey consists of 40 people, travelling in 20 4WD vehicles, supported by five logistics trucks.

The survey is being conducted along 670kms of highway from April to June this year. The crew work 7 days a week, travelling 15kms a day. A team of surveyors lay positioning pegs, which a trailing team of cable-layers spool out temporary cables attached to geophones (microphones that listen for sound waves). Four Vibrosel trucks then traverse the route stopping occasionally to drop a giant vibration pad that sits mid-chassis. Each pad sends vibrations rolling through the ground for a distance of up to 20 kms. It’s an impressive set-up.

On our way into Winton we stopped for the afternoon at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum. This facility sits on the lip of a mesa plateau that rises above the surrounding Outback. It’s home to Australia’s most famous dinosaur discoveries. Less than two decades ago, very little was known about the nation’s Jurassic past. All this changed after a chance discovery of fossils by a local farmer.

Today, we know that the entire Winton area is littered with fossils, sitting less than two metres underground. Visitors are invited to join the scientists and chip away at the bedrock surrounding the museum’s latest discoveries. The museum is also one of the only locations in the world where you can see an original holotype. That’s what they call the actual stone fossils used to identify a new species. Every other museum usually displays a replica cast of the original stone.

We spent the following day exploring all that Winton has to offer. The town has two claims to fame. It was here that the Qantas board first met to establish the airline. It was also here that the iconic bush anthem, Waltzing Matilda, was first performed in 1895. The town now hosts a museum dedicated to the song.

We wondered if a museum devoted to a song could occupy us for long. However, we spent almost two hours unravelling the mystery of its quirky language and its surprising role in modern Australian history. I learnt that a jumbuck is a sheep and that the song's Matilda isn't actually a woman, it's a bedding roll. It also should have come as no surprise to learn that Waltzing Matilda was inadvertently substituted for the Australian national anthem after Shirley Strickland received a gold medal for the 80-metre hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics.

Our final day in the Outback was spent making our way back to Longreach, where we spent the afternoon exploring The Great Machinery Mile in nearby Ilfracombe. This is a roadside collection of industrial and agricultural machinery, some of it is more than a century old. Perhaps the most interesting item on display was a yellow grader, reputably one of only three in the entire country. Who knew!

Saturday morning saw us catch a flight back to Brisbane and on to Sydney. Our verdict? Longreach is worth a visit. We learnt more about the Australian Outback on this one trip than on any other we’ve taken into the interior. As for me, I’m making plans to buy McKinnon & Co (Yes, I am joking). They’ve got the local tourism market cornered with some incredibly well-crafted pioneering experiences. If the price is too high then I know what I’ll be doing in retirement. I'll be sitting in the back office managing this awesome business.

Going bush

When asked to name a quintessential Outback town, names like Broken Hill and Birdsville typically come to mind.  I visited the former more than a decade ago and plan to see the latter someday.  However, from a pure tourism viewpoint, Broken Hill proved to be a one-day wonder.  I suspect Birdsville will prove no better.

The same cannot be said for Longreach, the self-proclaimed capital of the Outback.  This cosy regional centre sits on Queensland’s Landsborough Highway, midway between Mt Isa and Rockhampton.  Midway means 700 km in either direction.  Longreach sits on the rim of the Thompson River’s floodplain.  Its location marked the western terminus of a rail line stretching inland from the Queensland coast.

Garry and I spent the Easter weekend exploring a surprising variety of activities that await visitors.  We arrived late on Sunday afternoon courtesy of the daily Qantaslink flight from Brisbane.  I’d made a last-minute change to our itinerary and booked a cabin at the Kinnon & Co Outback Lodge.  This proved to be a savvy decision.   We enjoyed three nights in an air-conditioned cabin on the edge of a dry grass paddock grazed by the occasional kangaroo.

Our first Outback adventure began that evening with a steak meal at the nearby Stockman’s Hall of Fame.  The dining area sits under an open-sided shed.  This is the Outback after all.  Temperatures rarely fall below 20C at night.  Patrons are kept cool by the whirling 3-metre blades of a giant ceiling fan.

The following morning we made our way to the Qantas Founder’s Museum.  This venue, based on the southern fringe of the local airport, was the first permanent base for Australia’s national airline.  The airline was founded in 1920, just up the road (all of 177 kms away) at Winton.  The original hanger is still there.  It’s now a heritage listed building.  The museum houses many of the airline’s most famous aircraft including its first jetliner, the Boeing 707, and it’s last Classic Series Boeing 747.

Garry and I booked the Wing Walk Tour.  This behind the scenes tour took us through the bowels of a Jumbo Jet, before culminating in a walk out onto one of the plane’s expansive wings.   We discovered the location of its infamous black box, made our way from first class into the avionics bay and on into the forward cargo hold.  We saw where the emergency oxygen is kept and discovered just how enormous its central fuel tank is.

We finished the day with a sunset cruise along the Thompson River.  We had hoped to travel on the historic Thomson Belle paddlewheel steamer.  Unfortunately, the boat was full and we found ourselves riding a rather plain flat-bottom skip.  However, it gave us an opportunity to photograph the old lady as she steamed into the sunset.  Our river cruise finished with a fireside plate of bushman’s stew; some truly tall tales from Scotty, a local bush poet, and the cinematic retelling of an infamous cattle-rustler’s grand heist.

Our second day was spent exploring the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. We spent more than three hours wandering through its exhibits learning about the nation’s Outback pioneers. It's an incredibly well-executed tourist attraction. The Stockman’s main building consists of three soaring corrugated iron arches. According to a plaque outside, it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1988.

On Wednesday we took a trip back in time to the days of the Cobb & Co stagecoach.  Kinnon & Co has faithfully reconstructed stagecoaches that take tourists on a horse-drawn joyride through the local bush.  Garry and I were invited to sit on the top of the coach.  It seemed like a great idea at the time. 

However, by the time we’d galloped along bone-dry dirt tracks, we found ourselves covered in a fine layer of dust.  It was rather sobering to contemplate how dusty we were after 30 minutes.  I admire those early travelers who rode the coach for days on end.  It's not business-class Qantas style.
 

Follow this link to read about our overnight trip to Winton and the Outback's spectacular dinosaur region.

Welcome to Middle Earth

It’s been more than twenty years since I last visited Queenstown, New Zealand.  It’s a magic place, surrounded by breath-taking scenery.  Here, the epic landscapes of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings triology were brought to life.   The town itself sits on the shores of picturesque Lake Wakatipu, framed by the soaring granite peaks of the Remarkables.

I was fortunate enough to relive my memories of Queenstown in late-March.  I attended a three-day business conference at Millbrook Resort, ten minutes from the town.  The excursion began with a stunning afternoon flight from Wellington that took us down the eastern coast of the South Island

I’d booked myself a window seat in anticipation of good weather.  As luck would have it, the day dawned bright and sunny, a perfect day for flying.  For more than an hour I sat glued to the window watching the Southern Alps glide by.  I could see how each meandering, braided river had been forged from the melt water of gleaming white glaciers and snow-capped peaks.
 

While the conference itself was intense, we did enjoy an afternoon respite on the second day.  My company surprised us with a helicopter excursion into Mount Aspiring National Park.  We flew along Skippers Canyon, home to the Shotover River.  Our track followed the winding Skippers Canyon road, before branching off to fly past Lochnagar.  This small lake was formed in the aftermath of giant landslide that swept across a narrow river valley.  The scar of the cataclysmic event is still visible today.

The climax of our flight saw us fly up the slumping icy ramparts of an isolated glacier before sweeping back across a neighbouring valley where we landed on the summit of a slopping ice field in the Forbes Mountains.  The view was spectacular.  It truly was New Zealand at its finest.

The remainder of my “afternoon at leisure” was spent walking into Arrowtown.  The main street of turn of this century gold mining outpost has been beautifully restored in recent years.  It’s just as I recall it from the pictorial calendar images of my childhood.  Tiny miner’s cottages nestled among towering Autumn-coloured Popular trees.   I spent almost an hour wandering along a new walking trail that follows the banks of the Arrow River.