In the middle of nowhere -1

There were no city lights to hint that we would

soon be landing. Yet the pilot had announced that

we were starting our descent, after three hours in

that small chartered plane which we boarded in

Adelaide early that evening.

Butch Gamboa, host of Motoring Today and Auto

Focus, was getting bored and asking again if I could

see the lights already, he having just awakened from a

long sleep. I looked out of the window once more and was so surprised to see, not

city lights, but the white lines of a landing strip.

Apparently, the city lights were not beside the airstrip. Or, the town switches off its

lights before sleeping. (It was close to midnight, Melbourne time, but only 10:30, their

time.) In fact, the airport had already put off all its lights when we disembarked.

Except for a weak light in the lobby and at the airstrip, everyone had gone to bed.

Even the restrooms were in darkness, and since its switches were not in the usual

places, we just hoped the other things in the toilets were at their usual places.

It turns out, one of Alice Spring's charm can be best

enjoyed without the lights. In the bus, Wendy Perkins,

public affairs director of Ford Asean Affairs, asked the

driver to turn off the lights so we could appreciate the

"million stars" that twinkled outside our windows.

I thought then that the million stars and the pitch dark

highway was how it felt to be "in the middle of

nowhere". I was wrong. In the following days, I would

be convinced that the real meaning of that clichi is in

that part of the Australian continent they call the Outback.

The next two days, we drove about 300 kilometers around the desert - and did not

once encounter another person who was not with our group of about 35 motoring

journalists from the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand invited by Ford to join this

Outback Adventure.

The Filipino journalists were Manny de los Reyes (Manila Bulletin, Cruising); Corrie

Narisma (Inquirer); Popong Andolong (High Gear); Erle Sebastian (Automotion); Vernon

Sarne (Automotion); Roman Floresca (Phil. Star); Butch Gamboa (Motoring Today);

Ron de los Reyes (Auto Review), and myself. Also with the Philippine team were Dave

Gutman and Maricar Cristobal-Parco of Ford Motor Phils.

However, we did drive past cows, but that was after about a day of driving around.

Very near the highway on our second day, we actually drove past an oncoming

vehicle.

It is in the middle of this Australian nowhere where we actually enjoyed ourselves,

thanks to the meticulously-planned trip - and cheerful patience - of Wendy and

Maricar.

With the guidance of a group known as the Direct 4WD

Awareness led by Jol and Anne Fleming, and

coordinated by former Ford Australia

employe-turned-Outback events manager David

Hosking, the journalists from three different Asian

cultures found one common language: driving.

The group of Jol and Anne Fleming had prepared a

challenging (not easy) drive around what they called

"a very small area" near Alice Springs.

Incidentally, that area outside Alice Springs is the property of 33-year old Ritchie

Hayes who owns 1.5 million acres (If you think that is such a large property, it is not.

Dennis Braitling, 34, a member of the 4WD team of experts, owns two million acres of

land 450 kilometers from Alice Springs. The distance from his gate to his front door is

77 kilometers!)

The small area, though, was an experience in contrasting desert landscapes: sandy

ground on what used to be a river; orange mountains; brown and grey roads; gum

trees with branches thick with leaves - all unmoving in this windless morning; leafless

trees blackened by a recent bush fire; the petroglyphs in N'Ghala Gorge Nature Park;

the endless orange horizon of Simpson's Desert.

Our first tea stop was beside Rooster Rock where the group leaders heated water in

pails above a campfire. Self-service included scooping your hot water with a tin cap

for your tea or coffee. A variety of English biscuits and cakes were at the back of a

Courier pickup.

Hardly a kilometer away, we stopped again. This time it was to observe how the 4WD

experts would "rescue" a Courier pickup grounded in a sand hill. Our first lesson was

on how to use a winch and tie a proper knot.

Lunch was at Artlunga Hotel where we were served a delicious slab of lamb chop,

vegetables, and a lot of orange juice. Artlunga is a historical reserve. It was the first

mining settlement in Central Australia. Alluvial gold was discovered in 1887. Ten years

later, they found reef gold and the range was mined for the next 30 years. Today, all

that remains there are ruins of huts built from weathered slabs of rock and a few old

digging sites. A visitor center can help you with your tour.

Another long drive brought some challenging climbs. One of them was a steep rocky

cliff where each driver had to be instructed on how to shift from high 4WD to low, and

to take it at second gear all the way. That drive led us to Jennings Gorge, a deep gap

between two cliffs of orange stone chiseled by wind and water into an interesting

design.