Uluru

Traveling North

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 6:17am by Steven Hechtman
We started the morning at Uluru (Ayers Rock), where we again enjoyed seeing the colors of the rock change as the sun moved through the sky--this time for sunrise rather than for sunset. After this, we hiked around Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) as the day grew brighter and hotter. After spending the entire morning at the park, we hit the road, and arrived in Alice Springs for dinner. We are making our way out of the city (yes, there is civilization in the outback!) but are first surveying the route into the Control Stop in Alice Springs. We will spend tonight at the Devil's Marbles rock formation, and are all looking forward to climbing the rocks in the morning.

Testing and Travels

Posted Thu, 10/15/2009 - 9:08am by Steven Hechtman

On Tuesday evening, facing a new round of storms headed towards Adelaide, the team left its base in Adelaide for our final test day before heading up to Darwin. We trailered the car up to Port Augusta, which put us just north of the storms and wind in Adelaide, and readied ourselves to test on Wednesday morning. The goal for Wednesday was to run one more day at high speeds, since our mock race was plagued by such bad weather. Wednesday's route had us driving north to Glendambo and then south back to Port Augusta. We were lucky to finally receive some sunny weather, so our pace for the day was brisk--we spent most of the time at or near the South Australian speed limit of 110 km/hr.

We completed the Port Augusta-Glendambo-Port Augusta route in the early afternoon, before the typical end time of 5:00 PM. After packing up Infinium, the team and the trailer went their separate ways: while the team headed north for Darwin, Infinium was trailered back to Adelaide. Infinium will leave Adelaide on Saturday, and we will all meet on Monday in Darwin, where scrutineering and qualifying take place.

Today, Thursday, we arrived at Uluru (Ayer's Rock) in time for a gorgeous view of the setting sun. After taking many pictures, we enjoyed dinner and such unique meals as kangaroo and Aussie burgers (with beets and fried eggs). The next few days will take us to other scenic sites in the Northern Territory as we head towards Darwin. We'll be sure to post more pictures once we arrive!