Another early start, 04.30, though a bit of a lie-in by the previous days standard. A sunrise walk in the beautiful Kings Canyon, which is part of Watarrka park. Spent the night in a sleeping bag with a mattress inside, called a swag, looking up at the stars. Heading back to Alice Springs for the night. Stopped at Kings Creek road station again. Quite an operation now with facilities for travellers, in the middle of nowhere, and a good Flat White, first coffee...

03.45 start this morning to see the sunrise over Kata Tjuta/Olgas & Uluru. Cloudy so missed the best of it but it did mean that the temperature was 10 degrees lower than usual (mid/late 20s rather than late 30s), so the 7.4k walk through Kata Tjuta canyons, and the Valley of the Winds was very nice. Saw a kangaroo breakfasting, and yes the wind sounds of something-or maybe it's the ancient landscape & aboriginal people & practices getting to me, Whoa ...

Today we left Alice Springs early to make the 375 mile journey to the centre and to Uluru. Walked around the base (10k) and saw much more of the detail, including cave paintings. Folks gathered for drinks for sunset, cloudy so not spectacular but the rock sits there majestically and mysteriously nevertheless. BBQ now with camel sausages & kangaroo steak, and my first drop of Australian wine on Australian soil. Camping overnight with the mod cons of toilets ...

Just about to board flight from hot Darwin to even hotter Alice Springs. Caught sight of a respectable looking lady playing a shoot 'em game on a Mac Air. Books & covers...

Practicalities of travel - done my own version (well almost) of the Levi ad and put every item of clothes I have, ex the tshirt & shorts I stand in, into this machine.