Solar Challenge Day 4: Back on Track
Wednesday, October 28th. Alice Springs! In the morning around 8:30 a.m., SolarWorld No.1 entered the beautiful place in the middle of the desert. The crew used the obligatory half-an-hour check point at the Crown Plaza to shower off the red desert dust. With a coffee and a couple of Muffins SolarWorld No.1 hit the road again. Again, an easy, smooth trip without any incidents was laying in front of the team.
We decided on a little detour of 265 km to the Ayers Rock in order to follow the photographer team headed by Peter Keil. Of course it is a must-see sight, because of which I expected the road to be filled with cars. But it was not quite like that: The beautiful desert area was riddled with scarce service areas. An emu herd crossed the road. Vultures were unimpressed by passing cars, being fully involved with kangaroos and cows laying at the side of the road and soft shoulders.
Suddenly appears one big block on the left hand side behind a hill: Uluru – that is the aborigine name for the Ayers Rock. Just like a big red pebble, fallen in the sand. About two hours before the sun went down we entered the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The photographers were in full swing and we were impressed by the beauty of this mystical place. The sand stone was lit up by the turning sun and with each minute it changed the color, becoming totally red. It was only excelled by a blue-reddish-purple sky.
On this day, the solar challenge came to an end for one team – the winning team. Amazingly and with a total of two days head and an average speed over 100 km/h start the Japanese “Tokai” passed the finish line in Port Augusta at 4 p.m. in the afternoon.
