After our brief encounter with Melbourne we flew to Alice Springs and picked up a 4 x 4 ready for our expedition across the "Red Centre" of Australia. Alice Springs itself was a fairly quiet town but extremely hot. At 4:00 am in the morning we were picked up by bus and taken out into the desert, where we prepared our hot air balloon for a dawn flight. We took off just before dawn and it was an incredible experience - watching the dawn rise over the desert, whilst effortlessly flying over a waking world of red sand, sleepy Kangaroos and even Eagles soaring alongside scanning the terrain below for potential breakfast victims. The trip ended after about an hour with a Ryanair style landing and a Champagne breakfast - Actually, it was fizzy wine with cheese and biscuits but nobody cared we were all still high from floating across the desert skies.

After showering we loaded the 4x4 and set off across the desert to Kings Canyon, where we were staying overnight before moving on to Uluru (Ayres Rock). It was a 6 hour drive (shared by Al and Dan) across terrain that was basically red sand with indications of a road and the occasional sign. Although the trip was quite long it was fun, none of us had ever seen a landscape remotely like this and the occasional appearance of bush animals added to the general enjoyment - The outside temperature was 44 degrees Celsius ….. Air Con rules OK.

At Kings Canyon Dan and Heather encountered the worst accommodation they had stayed in on the entire trip - A wasp the size of a hornet was guarding their doorway and the room itself was like a prison cell. Al and Rachel had a reasonably comfortable unit at the posh end of the complex - we drank at their place. We had a few nice walks at the cooler ends of the day but were generally pleased when we moved on.

After several hours of driving through the desert, Uluru(Ayres Rock) suddenly appeared dominating the desert skyline. We leapt from our vehicle swiftly (it was still very hot) took about 2 dozen pictures. As we drove on Al who was reading the map got suspicious, it seemed Ayres Rock had moved! It turned out that we had fallen for Australia's biggest Red Herring, it was actually Mount Connor we had seen and photographed (like apparently thousands of other gullible tourists). Half an hour later we sighted the real thing - Awesome.

We shared an apartment with A&R at Ayres Rock and spent our time driving around exploring the area, a rock formation known as the "Olgas" were close by and very nearly as impressive as Uluru itself.

Our second day was Christmas Day and in the evening we went to a special dining event out in the desert (a treat from A&R as a 60th Birthday present for Dan). We were taken to the site just before dusk, the tables were laid out on the desert floor with Ayres Rock and the Olgas prominent in the background. Drinks were taken as the sun set behind Ayres Rock and a four course meal was served under the stars, whilst the desert wildlife played their nightly serenade. The starcape was the most vivid and intense we had ever seen and the evening was closed by a local astronomer guiding us through the heavens, weaving stories about the inhabitants of the Southern Sky …. WOW - An unforgettable night.