Expedition Down Under - Three weeks in Australia Posted on: 2014 :: Photo Credits: IITB Rover Team ::
Preface
As a part of IIT Bombay’s Rover Team, I got an opportunity to participate in the Arkaroola Mars Robot Challenge Expedition in Australia during the summer of 2014. This was my first International trip! We spent three weeks in Australia, exploring the desert of Arkaroola, the city of Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.
Day : 1 (3 July 2014)
Location : Adelaide
We boarded a Malaysian Airlines flight to Adelaide via Kuala Lumpur from Mumbai. All of us were very excited and scared at the same time. Excited, because we had been working hard for almost a year and finally our dream had come true! Scared, because recently a Malaysian Airlines flight had gone missing! Fortunately, nothing of that sort happened to our flight and we reached Adelaide around 8 AM. Our local host Marcia received us at the airport and drove us to our hotel. We were tired due to the long journey and rested in our hotel.
Day : 2 (4 July 2014)
Location : Adelaide
We had a free day to spend in Adelaide before leaving for Arkaroola tomorrow. Marcia was our tour guide for the day. We started our day by walking along the Torrens riverside.
The community center looked like a building from another planet.
And finally the most awaited place in Adelaide: The Oval.
We also visited the Adelaide city hall, Parliament House and roamed around the famous Victoria Square. In the evening, all the expeditioners had a get-together ceremony in our hotel.
Day : 3 - 16 (5 July - 19 July 2014)
Location : Arkaroola
We spent these two weeks in the desert of Arkaroola. From exploring the Mars-analogue features of Arkaroola to donning mock astronaut suits, from running a rover in the desert to flying in a private Cessna aircraft, the amazing expedition gave us some of the best experiences of our lives.
More about the expedition
After the dreamlike expedition in Arkaroola, we returned to Adelaide with a heavy heart. None of us wanted this trip to end so soon.
Day : 17 (20 July 2014)
Location : Adelaide
We spent the day exploring tourist spots in Adelaide, like the Glenelg Beach and the Adelaide Zoo.
Day : 18 (21 July 2014)
Location : Adelaide
Our team, except for me and Pradip, boarded the flight back to Mumbai after bidding farewell to other expeditioners. Both of us had planned to visit Kangaroo Island before returning to India. We moved to a cheaper hostel near the Glenelg beach and spent the rest of the day in the hostel.
Day : 19 (22 July 2014)
Location : Adelaide - Kangaroo Island
We had booked a two-day Kangaroo Island tour with Sealink. The tour started with a scenic bus drive from Adelaide to Cape Jervis. From Cape Jervis, we took a ferry to the Kangaroo Island.
We reached our hostel in Kangaroo Island late in the evening and rested.
Day : 20 (23 July 2014)
Location : Kangaroo Island
Our day tour of Kangaroo Island started with a guided beach walk on Seal Bay Conservation Park, followed by Koala viewing at Hanson Bay Wildlife sanctuary.
After a two course lunch at Vivonne Bay Bistro, we visited the Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch. They looked as if they were taken straight out of a Sci-Fi movie.
Our tour ended with a drive through the Flinders Chase National Park.
Day : 21 (24 July 2014)
Location : Kangaroo Island
Instead of taking the return ferry in the morning, we had decided to spend the day on Kangaroo Island and take the return ferry in the evening. After a late breakfast at our hostel, we spent the morning on the beach.
There was a historic site called ‘Frenchman’s rock’ near the beach. Frenchman’s Rock is the location where Nicholas Baudin found freshwater when navigating the North Coast of Kangaroo Island in 1802.
Above Frenchmans Rock was the ‘Contemplation Seat’, which is a memorial to the Tasmanian and mainland Australian women brought to Kangaroo Island by sealers prior to official settlement in 1836.
After lunch, we decided to go on a hike through the Baudin Conservation Park. We hiked along the coast east of Penneshaw along a section of the original bullock track to Cape Willoughby.
The hike led us to the Ironstone Hill where the ruins of the Bates' cottage and a stone threshing floor remain. We were lucky to see some wallabies along the way.
From the top of the Ironstone hill, the views across Backstairs Passage to the Fleurieu Peninsula were truly spectacular.
We would have stayed there forever, admiring the nature’s beauty, but a sudden downpour made us run downhill to get some shelter. We spent the rest of the afternoon near the ferry terminal and in the evening returned to Adelaide. Next day, we boarded the Malaysian Airlines flight back to Mumbai and my first international tour ended. What an amazing expedition it was!