From the inside of the car it looked like we had landed on Mars. An endless red sea of dirt and dust as far as our eyes could see. Occasionally a run over emu, kangaroo or a cow laying dead besides the highway. Burned down carwrecks from people who couldn't afford the tow back to the nearest town. And of course the lonely gas station every hour or so. The sun couldn't really push its rays through the clouds which gave the desert a grayish teint. Everyone on the bus was silent and just staring in the nothingness waiting for the next stop to stretch their legs. Probably thinking of what they could expect, it was just a rock after all. What can be so special about a rock?

It all began in Alice Springs where we were picked up at 6 in the morning. After a half a day drive we reached kings canyon. Which is the great canyon of Australia. We were eager to get off the bus and walk around. When we booked the trip Jay told us that we were lucky to go in the winter since there would be no flies. See the flies feed on protein. They crawl up your eyes, nose and ears. And they won't leave you alone. We laughed and couldn't imagine it to be true and thought he exaggerated. We were dead wrong. Mainly because it wasn't winter yet but autumn and the flies were still active. Occasionally lizet or me chocked on a fly, we were constantly waving our hands around our head to keep them away. If you stood still for less then a minute you would be covered with flies. I used to think mosquitos were annoying but desert flies are equally on my dead wish list.

After the walk we went for our first night under the stars. We cooked up a beautiful warm and bright campfire to keep us warm and the dingos as far away as possible. We slept in a swag. A swag is basically a sleeping bag with a matrass in it and a flap which you can pull over your head. The Australian army and armies stationed in the middle east all use it. Because you can stay alert and hear everything coming. Sadly that they are not waterproof and once it started raining in the middle of the night we had to drag the swags to shelter.
After that night the clouds were there to stay and it rained for 2 days straight. Sleeping became a challenge. One night we slept under the table to keep the rain away. But a big gush of wind made sure that we weren't left dry. Every morning we got up at 6 by then it was still pitch black. The only light came from the glowing embers of coals of the campfire from the night before. On the 3rd day it was time for us to visit the place where we came for.

Uluru. The aboriginal name for ayers rock. A massive monolith in the heart of central Australia. It is the biggest in the world and the way it came to stand is awesome. For the aboriginals it is where life came to its existence. Imagine the desert, red sand green crops, flies and a patchy blue sky. Now there is nothing to be seen by far. and all of a sudden this insanely big rock is there. Begging to be photographed. The sun plays tricks with the stone as well since sometimes it looks a tad redder and even purple during the sundown. It takes 2 hours to walk around the base and there are a lot of sacred places where it is prohibited to take pictures. The aboriginal centre gets 1000 of letters per year from people who took a stone or sand sample as souvenir and regret it beyond the beyonds. They have been cursed and bad luck seems to have intruded their lives and they ask the Rock for forgiveness. We didn't want any bad luck to curse our trip so we didn't climb Uluru and only took pictures were it was allowed. Even the flies left the sacred places untouched. It was the place were the boys became men and the girls woman. The Australian people took it away from the aboriginal and exploited it as a tourist attraction. Bad luck surrounded the chairmen and in 1980 they set up a joined partnership with the traditional owners. By today the aboriginals are the oldest tribe that roam the earth. They still don't like us white people to visit ayers rock but they have to live with it. We almost felt bad for visiting.

One sundown and one sunset later we were off to coober pedy the opal capital of the world. Opal is a precious stone with multiple colours trapped within. The first diggers were soldiers from the 1st world war so they knew what they were doing. Almost 100 years later 80 % of the city lives underground. A few reasons. It saves a lot of money on heating and cooling. In the summer it is 50 degrees and in the winter minus 10. Underground you don't need any heating since it is always around 20 tot 25 degrees. We stayed in an underground hostel and it was warm and no noise whatsoever. The day after we could dig ourselves for a piece of opal and lizet found some. After saying some prayers in an underground church we made our way to the finders ranges. It looked a lot like France. Hills and mountains and a lot of wineries. Up to the last day we hadn't seen any living kangaroos. Luckily for us there were a lot in the mountains and we had our fair share of those beautiful hoppers.
6 days and 5 nights of hiking the outback, eating amazing fresh food (it is possible even in the desert). Sleeping under the stars in the ice cold desert and making a lot of new friends. The desert is a beautiful place with a lot of hidden treasures. We're looking forward to new Zealand were we will be going to do the same with the two of us!