I have been scanning in some old photo albums recently, and one of the albums is from an Outback Tour I went on with school back in 1990.

The tour was organised through school with Kingston's Tours (which unfortunately closed in 2019) and took place during the Spring school holidays between the 15th September and 5th October 1990.

Setting out from school early in the morning, we headed across to Adelaide, stopping for morning tea in Stawell, passing through Tailem Bend and onto Adelaide.

From Adelaide we were meant to head to Birdsville and onto Mount Isa, but the roads were flooded, so we took an alternate route. Unfortunately I only have the original itinerary, so I'm not 100% sure what the detour involved. However I know that we took the Oodnadatta Track, stopped in Alice Springs, had some extra time at Kakadu, and were back on track by the time we got to Darwin.

On the Oodnadatta Track, which had many ups and downs, like a mini roller coaster course, we did an activity that you wouldn't think of doing today. Starting at the back of the bus, if anybody could make it all the way down the aisle without touching any of the seats (or people) along the way, and without falling over, the bus driver said he would shout them a drink at the next stop. Let's just say his money was safe, but it did add an extra level of entertainment to the trip.

Just North of Alice Springs we stopped at the Ti-Tree Roadhouse for a break. We were allowed to go in and buy a drink if we wanted. When I walked in I noticed that there was an old style jukebox there, and it cost $1 to play a song. I put in two dollars and selected two songs. The first was Blaze of Glory by Bon Jovi. Little did I know that the volume was set to maximum and there were what seemed like speakers all through the room.  Everyone who had been quietly enjoying their afternoon tea turned around and looked. I don't know what the second song was that I chose. I was back on the bus before the chorus!

One of the highlights of the early part of the trip was the Mataranka thermal pools. They maintain a constant temperature of 26 degrees. We spent a lot of time swimming in the pools. We also were having “shoulder war” competitions, where people would stand on other's shoulders and try and wrestle against somebody else doing the same.

From Mataranka we headed North towards Kakadu and onto Darwin. At Kakadu we had a boat cruise on the Yellow Water Billabong - our first sightings of crocodiles.

Speaking of crocodiles, we had fish and chips on the beach at Darwin and went for a swim. The signs indicated that the beach was closed from the following week because of crocodiles. As we splashed in the waves we joked that we hoped the crocodiles could read and knew the date.

We learnt a lot in Darwin about the impact of Cyclone Tracey and also the history from the war.

From Darwin we headed south to Katherine, and before making camp had a swim in one of the swimming holes (being assured that there were “only” freshwater crocodiles there and that “they were more scared of us than we were of them”. The following day we took a cruise down Katherine Gorge, where we were able to see that there were indeed crocodiles there!

From Katherine we had a short trip into W.A. with a visit to Kununurra and Ord River, and then headed back towards Alice Springs. In Alice Springs we visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service, stopped at the Devil's Marbles (now called Karlu Karlu), Simpson's Gap, Stanley Chasm, the old Alice Springs Telegraph Station, John Flynn's grave and Albert Namatijira's twin ghost gums.

When at Alice Springs, the bus was at the service station filling up with petrol. The driver had parked the bus, but forgot to put on the park brake, and when he came back out, it had rolled down into a ditch. Thankfully it was not much of a delay.

From Alice Springs, we headed South towards Noel Fullerton's camel farm, where we were able to have a camel ride, before heading out towards Yalara and Ayer's Rock (Uluru). We were taken on a tour around Uluru and then were able to watch the famous sunset over the rock.  Back in 1990 it was common to climb the rock and this was part of the tour. However, as I technically had asthma listed on my paperwork, I wasn't allowed to take part. It never seemed to get me out of running around the oval in sport, but despite my pleas, I was not allowed to climb.

What I was able to do, however, was to take a scenic flight over Ayer's Rock and The Olgas (Kata Tjuta). This was an extra cost of $43. I have no doubt it would cost a lot more these days! When we were at the airport waiting for our flights, some of the students had ordered Lemon, Lime and Bitters - quite a common soft drink.  But just before handing it to them, the staff member checked their age. Unbeknownst to the students, it was the alcoholic version.  They then chose Coke instead!

We were almost finished the tour, but the next stop was Coober Pedy, with its famous opal mines and underground houses. We were taken on a tour of the town and were able to sleep underground.

The last night of our tour was spent in Adelaide, where we had a last night skit night, with a variety of acts from both students and teachers.

Although I loved the tour, I definitely didn't appreciate at the time what an amazing experience it was to travel and see so much of Australia as part of a school trip.