Saturday

Scooter out tour guide picked us up early and drove us to Kings Canyon. We did a 6km hike around the canyon starting with an affectionately named hill called Heart Attack Hill (aaaah) It was 47degrees and 36degrees in the shade!!!

Then we walked to the middle of the canyon through the garden of eden and took a dip in the waterhole! The water was yellow which was a bit strange, but there were no resident crocs so I didnt mind, i just needed to cool off!! The hike took us about 5-6 hours and i think i almost died. I am so unfit - note to self, use the gym in Perth to save further embarrassment - So proud i made it, and swam and didnt actually die!!! yeaaa!!

Then we drove to Curtain Springs cattle station and made a camp in the outback where we ate camel bolognese and slept outside in swags. Swags are like rigid waterproof sleeping bags so your head is always poking out for creepy crawlies to eat you in your sleep. everytime i woke up, i could right into the middle of the milkyway, very weird!!

Sunday

Woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise over Uluru (Ayres Rock), it was quite far away and not as brilliant as I was hoping. We had brekkie, cooked lovingly by Scooter and drove to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). We hiked for 5kms on rocky ground through the valley of the winds. We could have done an extra 2kms but me and Johno bottled it and walked back with Scooter, i fell over at least 10 times on the way back, my ass is covered in red dust!

Then we went back to Uluru and Scooter explained about Aboriginal culture and about how eye contact is deemed aggressive and something you would do if you wanted to fight. Explains why a lot of the Aboriginals around here and Alice Springs are so quiet. Scooter guided us on the Mala Walk which is part of the way around Uluru's base. He told us about the waiting cave where boys would wait to be initiated. In mythical times a beast came and chased all the Mala men (local aboriginals) away but there are still 4 boys waiting in the cave (well 4 lumps of rock). The waiting cave is also a whispering wall, so if you stand at either end and whisper to each other, you can hear!!!

Scooter then showed us the cultural centre where we meandered around for a while before he drove us to see the sunset over Uluru, amazing, you could see it change from bright Orange, to red, to brown. then we went to Ayres Rock Resort where the recently painted pool dyed my tummy blue and we slept in our swags again.

P.s HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MA!!!!