From Singapore we flew directly to Brisbane on an overnight flight, where we boarded a second plane onto Alice Springs in Central Australia. Alice Springs is a small town, which lies around 400km away from Uluru (or Ayres Rock). The plan was to spend 3 days and 2 nights visiting Uluru and camping under the stars.

Our tour began early on the first day at 5.45am when we were picked up by our tour guide Lewy and we joined 21 other passengers on a large mini bus. At this time in the morning it was still freezing and we boarded the bus wrapped up in jumpers and hoodies, with a bag packed with essentials in one hand, and a brew in a paper cup in the other. Most of the morning was spent driving along straight roads that went for miles and disappeared into the distance. We stopped briefly along the way to gather fire wood for our first campfire and to make sandwiches for lunch. Our first highlight was a visit to Kings Canyon on the first day where we set off on a 6km climb up "Heart Attack Hill", which lead us to the magnificent views and steep drops of the large red canyon. We walked around within the canyon and viewed the natural phenomenon from all angles. After our walk we headed onto our first camp site where Lewy got us all set up. As the sun disappeared along with the nice warm temperatures, the stars began to appear. In the middle of the dessert every single star is visible; Ben and I stood a little way from the campsite where the pitch black from the dessert and the cloudless sky filled every space above us with billions of stars….spectacular! We all helped to get dinner started and the campfire lit. The fire was large enough to fit all 24 of us around while we ate our spag bol and toasted marshmallows on twigs (Ben finally got to whittle some wood with his travel penknife!). Once we were all fed it was time for bed, Lewy got out the swags and demonstrated how to set them up. A swag is basically a large canvas bag with a foam mattress inside and a hood that flaps over the top of the head space. The whole thing lies on the ground and a sleeping bag is placed inside for extra warmth. What we weren't told was that each sleeping bag was $25, and so in order to cut costs we decided we would be able to both fit into one sleeping bag. To be fair we did fit and get both the sleeping bag and swag zipped up. However, once in we couldn't move….at all. We lasted until 2am when Ben got up and went to find his own sleeping bag and swag. He stumbled around the campsite and managed to get set up. Of course I was now fully awake and needed the toilet. I tried to go back to sleep but eventually had to make the effort to crawl out of my swag and into the cold. The walk in the dark between the campsite and the toilets was pretty scary with the sounds of the bush wildlife all around us....I ran there and back and probably made the world record for the shortest time spent in the loo by any woman, ever!

Next day we were up early at 5.30am. The swags were packed up, our breakfast of cornflakes and toast was demolished and we were all bundled onto the bus and were back on the road for 6.30am. Today was the day we got to see Uluru. However, we were still a fair distance away and drove all morning before the large, red rock came into view. We went to our second campsite and had a quick chicken burger lunch before heading on to the basewalk of Uluru. The size of this rock is truly unbelievable, it towers high up above everything and is spread over a massive area. As we neared the rock in our tiny bus the sky was filled with Uluru's large red surface and we began to feel very insignificant under its shadows. We spent the afternoon walking the entire way around Uluru, which in total was 9km. Lewy gave us some background info and explained the spiritual significance of Uluru to the Aboriginal people. Lewy also was very insistent on impressing to us how important it was to respect the Aboriginal people's views and not offend or go against their heritage or beliefs surrounding the rock. This included not climbing up Uluru, which is possible at one section. This section is known as the climb and is visible from the ground by the small and unsteady wire fence that climbs steeply up one edge. Lewy informed us that not only was it extremely offensive to set foot on Uluru but it was also dangerous with 35 deaths having occurred on "The Climb". Despite this, a few people on our bus decided that they would like to do the Climb, the rest of us set off on the walk around the rock viewing the changing structures, the strange shapes formed within the rock and the ancient aboriginal drawings found within the lower crevices. The last section of the circuit walk lead us a little way into Uluru and to "The Waterhole", where water flows down from the top of Uluru to a small pool making deep grooves and cuts into the side of the rock as it goes. After viewing the red rock from all sides we headed away from it to get a view from afar. We reached a view point where we could watch as the sun set and changed the bright colours of Uluru from reds and oranges to pinks and purples before it disappeared under the night sky. We returned to camp and dinner was started, tonight was BBQ night. Ben was first to volunteer and helped to cook up beef steaks, kangaroo steaks and camel sausages….delicious! As our second night in the outback was several degrees colder than the first night, a lot of us stayed around the campfire until quite late, avoiding the task of getting into the cold swags. Eventually, as the fire began to die down and numbers around it began to diminish we summoned the courage to go to bed….wearing every item of clothing we had with us. Although I tried my best, at 3am another toilet trip was unavoidable and so I bravely ventured out of my swag again, beat the record of the night before and scurried back to my sleeping bag.

For our final day of the tour we had another early start and set off driving at 6.15am in order to see the sunrise over Uluru and its sister rock formation: Kata Tjuta. It was still close to freezing and we all huddled together on the bus. When we arrived at the viewpoint, Ben and I managed to pinch a disowned sleeping bag from the bus and wrapped this around us as we waited for the sun to rise and the heat to come back. The sky began to lighten and turned bright blue, purple and green. As the sun began to appear Uluru was perfectly silhouetted and the domed peaks of kata Tjuta became alive with bright oranges and reds. Although freezing it was an amazing view and experience. Once the sun was up Lewy insisted we all keep moving, although we all just wanted to get back on the bus, to warm up and to sleep. However, there was no time to waste and our morning was to be spent hiking Kata Tjuta We had a quick toilet stop where I came face to face with my first big spider: a Golden Orb spider, which had careful spun several layers of pretty golden web between the wooden roof arches of the ladies. Thankfully it seemed quite happy to stay sat in its web. We got back on the bus and Lewy drove us around to the entrance of the Kata Tjuta formation. Once we got moving and got some fresh air we began to feel a lot better and in no time at all the hoodies were off and the "sunnys" were on. The walk around Kata Tjuta was very different to Uluru as this time we were walking amongst and in-between the large, red, dome-shaped peaks. It was like being on Mars. We reached a lookout, which Lewy associated with a scene out of "The Land Before Time". I complete agree….just needed a couple of long neck dinosaurs in the valley! Afterwards we returned to camp for a quick lunch of sandwiches (and bread with Nutella) before packing up and setting off on the 5 hour journey back to Alice Springs.

We had a night booked in a hostel in Alice Springs before our Flight up to Cairns the following day. We finished off the day with a couple of drinks with a few people from the tour before settling down in nice warm indoor sleeping accommodation. It's surprising how much you appreciate a bunk bed in a 6 bed dorm after camping in freezing conditions. The next day we walked around the town, browsing the gift shops and looking at the local aboriginal art. We walked up to a lookout point where we could see the whole of Alice Springs and the large mountains that surrounded it. At 4pm we caught the shuttle to the airport and flew up to Cairns where we would begin our journey down the east coast of Australia.