An early start to the airport to get the three hour flight to Alice Springs from Sydney. Caught up with sleep on the flight and arrived in a world full of backpackers and hostels. I think this is what the planet mars would look like if it was populated, laid back, red and hot! Lots of Indigenous people hanging out around the streets and looking a bit tired. I have come to realise that every Australian city and town has a Botanical Garden to visit, lots of cactus in the one here! There was a brilliant high point where you could see for miles and miles with some notices explaining how the incredible mountain range on one side of the town and the plains on the other side came to be, now we might think it was the remains after the ice age had moved the earth or a tutonic plate movement, no aparently it was made by catapillars and giants in the time before people walked the earth, this is according to the aboriginal stories passed down through the generations, who's to say they are wrong! Met a couple of Danish guys who I have the utmost respect for, they bought a car in Sydney and are now driving the length and breadth of Australia, such a big place, lots of hours on the road at the age of twenty, we visited the local pub for beer and food, very good evening. After a shared dorm night, must sort out my smelly shoes! it was an early start to my six day tour to Adelaide via Ayres rock. Seventeen of us, with many nations represented, lots of Taiwanese, a few Germans and English, Dutch and Norwegian and the usual eccentric Aussie guide/driver Steve. If you get a chance to share the company of Taiwanese people then do it, their smiles, laughter and good will is infectious and it is easy to feel happy and uplifted in their company, they were taking hundreds of photos mostly of themselves jumping or making shapes and food, really good fun. So after an evening in Alice Springs accompanied by the screams of all night drinking from the dried up river that runs the length of the town we set off to Kings Canyon and then Ayres Rock, the Ulgars, Coober Pidy and on to Adelaide. There were many hours on the road and for a lot of it the scenery was the same, red earth stretching on into the flat distance for miles with small bushes scattered everywhere, this is no Sahara desert, this hot centre of Australia with much rain over recent weeks has become quite fertile but still not a place for habitation or farming. It is easy to use the description of spectacular for all the places we went to, Kings Canyon we saw in the rain, quite unique, I did not expect to be wearing my rain jacket and fleece to this part of the world, it is a canyon with is not as grand as the Grand but still impressive, the Ulgars are a set of jutting massive rocks made up of many many smaller rocks which were fused together thousands of years ago when this was a valley and river, magical colours and shapes and then the most well known and iconic, Ularu, Ayres Rock one big monolith jutting from the earth, what we see is the end, it goes down for eight kms. This is a very sacred place for the Aboriginal people, parts of the rock are not allowed to be seen by their women and to help this the road alongside has been built to ensure no part of the 'other' side can be seen from the road. If you think about it you will have only seen one side of Ularu because it is believed to be unlucky for the other side to be photographed and shared so there is no published photos of the other side. We walked around, all the different and unique shapes that you can see in the rock, they look unnatural, difficult to see how natural erosion could have created such uniquenes, very intriguing and a good place to stop look and contemplate the way that nature has contrived to create this part of the world, seeing these wonders does helps to give a context between true nature and the man made environment we live in without a thought, these are places for true reflection and thought, another great place to have a moment. As we broke the ground between Northern Territories and South Australia we continued to a place like no other, Coober Pedy, as you get near you can see for miles mounds of light grey earth in cone shapes in the wilderness, as you enter the town it all becomes clear, these are the result of mining for opals, this is the most productive Opal area in the world and the town is full of miners digging for their fortune in true 'gold rush' style, they live underground, our accommodation was underground, this is because this is one of hottest places in Australia and by going underground they can live in a comfortable climate all year round, it is all a bit strange seeing ventilation funnels coming out of the ground as you walk around. It was great to see the process of mining, cleaning and presenting the opals, so good I bought one, the way they catch the light and produce so dynamic and deep colours is unlike any other stone, certainly mesmerised me, tranced me into my purchase. Visited a kangaroo sanctuary as well and got the chance to feed a little kangaroo joey, altogether ahhhhh and play a didgeridoo, not easy! Then it was time to leave this strange place of red dust and hopeful expectations and onto our last night in a campsite In a slightly cooler climate near to Adelaide. The campsite was very busy as this was the Sunday prior to a National holiday for the Queens birthday, I think some of the campers probably wished they were elsewhere as we finished our final night singing at 3am, another very good night as evidenced by the lethargic steps of some of the guys the next day as we strolled around a Viper gorge on the way into Adelaide. Not much going on in Adelaide, saw some eclectic bands in a small pub near the hostel which were surprisingly good, a good way to finish the tour. I really enjoyed this tour, met some really nice people and seen some wonders of the world, I do now realise what a massive country this is, I can see why over 80% of the population live on the costs, the middle bit really is vast and Barron! Now back to Sydney and looking forward to NEw Zealand.