Alice Springs .. who'd of thought the first place I'd of felt the cold in almost 8 months would be in the middle of the desert!!

But before that .. I spent 2 days in Mission beach, topping up my tan, watching the skydivers and walking along kilometers of desert sand before I finally completed my journey up the East Coast to Cairns. The first night I was there (a week ago on Friday) I explored the night markets and ate in the food court. The next day I explored the city and waterside lagoon, buying food, looking into options for Bali and preparing myself for the desert! That afternoon I bumped into Andy an old friend from Thailand/Sydney and proceeded to drink with him and his friend from home. Sunday was fairly chilled and then on Monday I went 'On the Wallaby' to see the Atherton tablelands and surrounding areas. We drove up hundreds of bends to the tablelands where we then visited a couple of crater lakes, had a picnic lunch and then went swimming at Milla milla falls (of Peter Andre/shampoo adverts fame). Finally we visited Dinner falls where we saw a Cassowary .. a very rare, emu type bird. On the way home we dropped into the On the Wallaby lodge for afternoon and finally made it back to Cairns in time for dinner and a few beers. Tuesday was my last day on the East Coast .. a day of organising my final couple of weeks in Oz, washing, shopping for anything I might need and packing (which also meant finally getting rid of all my work gear). That day Carlos arrived in town so before heading to bed I went for my last few drinks with the boys. On Wednesday I took a bus to the airport and then flew over to Alice Springs where although gloriously sunny it was much cooler than expected. A not so pleasant girl picked us up from the airport to take us to the hostel for our free night before our 3 day Red Center Outback safari would begin. At the airport I'd met Michael who I'd previously met in Airlie and established we'd be on the same tour as well as a new friends, Stacie. AT Haven a few of the girls in our room would also be heading out with us. That afternoon we wandered the town, not that there's much to see, had some munch and bought some goon for the trip before getting an early night ready for our 6.10am departure!!

The first day consisted of a 500+ km drive to Yalara campground and the Uluru/Kata Tuchu National Park. Stopping every couple of hours for the toilet and food/drinks this took us over 5 hours, most of which we slept. We got to know the rest of the group whilst on the bus (originally 17 but the 3 'elder' people quickly asked to change when they saw our sleeping arrangements). At the campground we quickly ate lunch and then headed over to the Olgas for our first trek. This was completed in record time, taking photos along the way in order to get back to Uluru (Ayres rock) to see sunset. We pulled into the carpark, grabbed our cooler of booze and ran for a decent viewing spot. There we spent the next hour or so having a laugh, taking photos and enjoying the area and atmosphere. That night back at camp we ate chicken stirfry around the campfire, told stories and learnt more about the Aborigine culture and ways. Just before midnight we handed out the sleeping bags, pulled out our sways and drifted off to sleep wrapped up in lots of layers under the stars!

Day 2, we were woken before first light for breakfast and back on the bus heading out to the sunrise viewing area. The platform's only been open about 8 monhts, cost a lot of money by all accounts but as with lots of these 'sites' could be better and wasn't totally what we expected! Afterwards we set of as a group to complete the 2 hour/8km base walk. There was an option to climb Uluru but it's said to be bad luck as it's such a spiritual place and not approved by the Aborigines, for me the environmental consequences of it made me decide not to. We ended the walk in the car park below the climb and most of us had to admit that it did look pretty spectacular!?! We visited the nearby cultural centre and then re-visited the rock to put some of the aboriginal tales into perspective. After lunch back at the campground we set off on another long drive to where we spend the night at Kings Canyon. Arriving just before dark we could hear the dingoes howling and were constantly attacked by crickets whilst sat around the fire waiting for dinner. We retreated inside to eat and then headed back to the fire to play games before bed.

Day 3, again we rose before dark, ate and headed over to the Kings Canyon walk, the aim was to be halfway up heart attack hill before the sun was up. Once the initally climb was completed the rest of the walk was mainly up around the canyon again with spectacular views of not a bit of a grey sky. We made it back to the bus mid morning, went off for lunch and then began the long drive home. Back on the bus sleep was the first call for most of us after which the games started, and ended with the longest and funniest round of 'Today I went to the supermarket' I think most of us have ever heard. Prehaps I'll try and recall the 40+ items here at a later stage! Coming back in to Alice Stringer (our leader) was very proud to tell us thta we'd just helped him complete his first offical tour as a guide unaccompagnied. As Sunday was his day off we arranged to meet at another backpackers that night for dinner and drinks!

On Sunday everyone said they're goodbyes and began to go their own ways/ Just after 3pm I borded the Ghan train to Adelaide. This is supposed to be one of the must do train journeys. Although the changing landscape and sunset was spectacular I think the better views may be north between Alice and Darwin. I arrived in Adelaide lunchtime today (Monday) and have spent the afternoon eating lunch, sampling SA wine and wandering the city.

Looking forward to everything there is to see and do in Melbourne and then back to the sun and warmth on the beaches of Bali!!