Notes from the Saddle – Australia Encompassed 2013 – Hot Air Ballooning Back to News List

compexp on 10 September 2013

An update from the Saddle on our 2013 Australia Encompassed Motorcycle Tour. This week….hot air ballooning over the desert!!

Some of the guys were up at 4.30 this morning but for a good reason, hot air ballooning over the MacDonnell Ranges. After being treated to a spectacular sunrise, where the skies caught fire momentarily, the balloon filled and eventually lifted off for an utterly spectacular view of the brilliant colours of an awakening desert landscape all around the Red Centre. After a Champagne breakfast aloft the group returned to earth to don their ride gear for a ride out to the spectacular West MacDonnell Ranges to view the iconic Stanley Chasm and equally impressive Finke River Gorge. This is Albert Namitjira country and you can easily see why this legendary aboriginal artist chose this region to paint, but to hell with all that, some of us viewed something even better……. The National Road Transport Hall of Fame!
 
Aside from being a mecca for all transport tragic’s this amazing museum sheds light on some of the absolute pioneers amongst transport in this country, the men and women  who opened us one of the toughest environments on earth. Some of the vehicles on display here are the only ones left remaining on earth, it is incomprehensible how these men and women battled through to open up the vast Australian Interior. The museum is a must to anyone with a passing interest in the development of this incredibly harsh land and for those with an interest in transport from the Afghan Cameleers to the very latest Roadtrains.
 
Kangaroo is on the menu tonight as the group prepares to depart for Kings Canyon in the morning
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To the left is the first road train ever operated in Australia, an English built 8 wheel drive known as the "Government Roadtrain". 1 of only 3 ever built in the world, no one thought it would handle the harsh Australian outback back, but handle it it did and soon replaced the the Afghan Cameleers and then the drovers.

To the left is the first road train ever operated in Australia, an English built 8 wheel drive known as the “Government Roadtrain”. 1 of only 3 ever built in the world, no one thought it would handle the harsh Australian outback back, but handle it it did and soon replaced the the Afghan Cameleers and then the drovers.

  2013-09-06 15.35.46
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