Northern Territory, Australia

It has begun.  While last week was mostly work focused, I am now entirely on my own, forging my own trail on this Nuffield path.  It is a little overwhelming and a little scary, I will not lie.  Due to the timing of a couple of events that I wanted to hit in Australia and China I have ended up here over two Australia long weekends; Easter and ANZAC Day.  Since I had a four day weekend to kill, I thought I would make a few thousand kilometre detour and head to the Northern Territory to visit Uluru, it is one of those iconic Australia landmarks it seemed only right and it has turned out to be a wonderful detour.  Uluru is a beautiful place and this part of the country is beautiful, the red earth, blue clear sky and green trees make for great scenery.  I have lucked out and been here just on the cusp of the busy season (and a few days ahead of the Royal visit) and it is starting to cool down.  Temperatures in the high twenties are cool enough to get out and do some hiking yet warm enough to feel amazing with that crazy weather still wrecking havoc at home.  

At Uluru after completing the base walk; a 10.5 km trail around the rock.

They warned us that a Nuffield twist has a funny way of turning up when you least expect it and as it turns out, there is a cattle station owned and run by a Nuffield Scholar  on the main road from Alice Springs to Uluru.  I made this discovery just before I left home and was able to arrange a short visit with them on my way.  

The land is harsh, I have been trying for days to come up with a better word but harsh is all I have.  An area that averages just 7 inches of rain per year would be but nature adapts.  It takes a lot of land to raise one cow but it is land that is only good for cattle; defiantly not crops and sheep as I learned will pull the grass out by the roots leading to a dustbowl if allowed.  Proving again that cattle are very efficient utilizing land that isn't good for anything else.  These people were inspiring, they have built their station up to now be a tourist destination (even I first heard of it in the Fodor’s Australia guide) which diversifies their operation and they can still run cows on the property.  In addition to the current accommodations, restaurant, fuel and tours to Mt Connor that they run there they are also embarking on a new venture in paper making, I look forward to seeing how successful they become with this new line and it proves yet again how innovative Nuffielders really are.