Ships of the desert

Many people, when they think of Australia, think of koalas and kangaroos, and I did too to begin with,  but after our trip to the Red Centre I realized that there are also a lot of camels. Our waitress said that there are about one million feral camels wandering around. Apparently they were imported to use for transport etc., while the telegraph line was being built. We visited a camel farm on the way from Alice Springs to Uluru, there is also a camel farm at Uluru and I think you can take a camel ride to the rock but I didn't see anyone doing it.

We saw feral camels several times, the first time was in the evening and they were nicely posing on a ridge against the evening sky. The second time was driving near Kata Tjuta.  I can honestly now say that I have seen more camels than koalas in the wild in Australia!

Today the Australian camel is exported to Saudi Arabia and some other places to be used in races as well as for food.  In one of the restaurants we were in, in Alice Springs, there was a welcome platter (which I didn't have) with camel, emu, crocodile, and kangaroo meat. It is at times like that I can seriously consider becoming a vegetarian!

This is not a picture of me waving but me simply doing the Australian salute. It means that you are waving away the flies. They are abundant. I must have swallowed 5 right there. I think I am the "Old women who swallowed a fly" in the kiddie song!