Safari - Adelaide to Alice Springs

My birthday - i got the front seat of the bus as no-one had decided to sit there. met a couple from england and bob originally came from Maidstone - how weird....

i made sure the driver (sean) knew it was my birthday and then they had to guess my age. 24 was the guess! haha. close... it became a bit of a running joke, as i kept reminding people it was my bday.

we had to introduce ourselves to the bus, which was good. we drove into Quorn and unloaded our stuff at the accommodation, had lunch and then went to the Dutchmans Stern. it was a 4 hour walks. erughh

Sean kept telling us it was just around the corner, and 3k later we still werent there, so that became a bit of a running joke as well. the walk was so worth it. the views were amazing.

on the way down Chris told me that he wished i would just be quiet some times....so i thought i would be, and i refused to talk all the way down the mountain. it was amazing. the conversation just stopped!

went to see some yellow footed rock wallabys and then had a bbq with emu, camel and kangarro.

a couple of us went out for my birthday and i got lots of drinks...from locals haha!

Day 2 - had a little bit of a hangover and hand to climb a mountain! we went to Wilpenna Pound and climbed Mt Ohlssen Bagge. it was a 3 boot hike and i really struggled. was about half hour behind the others. I passed a 4 year old girl on the way up who had been walking on her own and there was me sounding like a flipping old woman!

drove to Yourambulla Cabes to see some aboriginal symbols. looked at kanyaka homestead remains. dinner was yummy

Day 3 - really early start. 4.30am! got in the bus and ended up falling asleep in the most awkward position! drove to lake hart (salt lake) and went for a walk around. drove on the cooper pedy! which i loved. its an underground mining town and most of the houses are underground because of the heat. we went on a driving tour around the town and then stopped at josephines gallery. (aboriginal art and baby kangarros) i loved it. they look after orphaned joeys and try and get them back into the wild or into sancturies! we got to hold them and i met a guy who was wwoofing there. i was chatting to him about it and he said he loved it.

i am planning on going back there next week to help out with the roo's..

had a tour of the opal mines and then dinner and the pub.

Day 4 - drove to the border of South Australia and Northern Territory. - we all climbed the sign to have a group pictures. i lay across the border line! crazy chick.

we continue on our journey to Uluru and stopped for a couple who had broken down on the site of the road. the wheel had come off their caravan. we tried to flag down the police. they pulled over and then just drove off again. i couldnt believe it!!

we unloaded at the campsite and then went for sunset and uluru. (and it was a full moon) it was stunning! came back and had dinner. i had to chop up the roo...eurgh

we slept in swags tonight, they were so warm!

day 5 - sunrise at uluru, i did the base walk (8.2km) around it in record time! 1.45 and was back about 20mins before some people (and hour before others) we did the Mala walk and got some info on the aboriginee culture.

drove to kata tjuta and did the valley of the winds walk. pretty exhausting but stunning views. drove to camp and picked up our stuff and then continued on. drove on to the campsite and kings canyon. (and i had a pretty bad allergic reaction...)

slept in swags tonight also.

Day 6 - last day of safari. packed up camp and drove to kings canyon where we climbed heart attack hill! (wow it was so steep!) did a 3 hour walk through kings canyon, stopped at a waterhole where there were 3 other adventure tour groups. this girl went in and it was flipping freezing.

after the walk we had a couple of stops and then road-tripped it into alice. Sean rang Coober Pedy to ask if i could do some wwoofing and they said yes, they had a friend staying this week but i could come when we was gone :)

went for a group meal at toddys in alice springs, and then onto a nightclub. i got a birthday shout out and didnt pay for any drinks. got pretty drunk. everyone disappeared and i was left on my own. i asked a policeman if it was safe to walk back on my own and he said yes, so i did. i am never doing that again. i didnt come across any drunk people but i didnt really know when i was going and ended up walking along stuarts highway! idiot!

met some people when i finally got back and ended up chatting to them for a while. spilt water all over tim! woopsies!