Waking up in Coober Pedy so early on Friday morning it was actually relatively cool, and we got on our way quickly to start eating up the 800km we had to cover today. We did get treated to our first outback sunrise shortly in to the drive and we pulled over and got out to look back down the seemingly endless road that seemed to lead straight to the sun itself (although there was an ulterior motive to the stop - Hutch was desperate for the loo and had to persuade Trevor to pull over).

We then ploughed on northward, stopping for a 'splash and dash' a few times, and crossed the border into the Northern Territory where shortly after lunch we saw some huge camels on the side of the road, and one even crossed in front of our bus - it was soooo big!!

To help pass the time Trevor introduced us to the game of bus bowling, which involved stopping to collect some 'desert melons' from the side of the road and then trying to hit any road sign we passed by throwing them out of the window - surprisingly difficult at 100km/h, but really fun! Small things hey!

So after a LONG day of driving and faffing in the little Uluru community village, we eventually arrived at our base camp within the Uluru National Park and had a team cool off in the pool along with a fresh fruit salad rustled up by Trev!

We then headed up to our little lookout to get our first view of Uluru, glowing red in all it's glory. The sun setting over the Olgas in the distance, together with lightning from the storms brewing in South made for a really dramatic setting.

Back at camp we had dinner and then tried a bit of star gazing using a glow in the dark constellation map. After trying to cool off a bit in the shower (all we wanted was a cold shower for once-but even the water from the cold tap came out hot!) we got in to our swags - basically a heavy duty sleeping bag with a thin matress built into it - and we found a spot on the ground and slept under the stars, falling asleep in the middle of the Outback under the watch of Orion and his chums!

Saturday was the earliest start yet with a 4am get up so that we could have brekky and then get out to Uluru in time for sunrise. As we approached in the low light to this huge dark mass of rock it was pretty majestic and there was a definate sense of mystique around the place. The only thing that got in the way of enjoying watching the rock turn red as the sun gradually rose was the fact that you had to share that experience with literally dozens of flies all buzzing round you, with no part of your body sacred - the head nets were worth every last cent even if we do look like an extra out of a scene of Outbreak!

We did the 9.4km walk around the base of Ayres Rock and along the way we made plenty of stops as Trevor told us the many stories (most for the second or third time!) behind the rock and the Aboriginal culture attached to it in his own unique way - meaning that a 3 hour walk turned into a 6 hour one and by the end of it we were in the really hot part of the day that we were trying to avoid! After the walk we spent a bit of time at the cultural centre and then got back to camp about 1pm feeling pretty tired having already done a good days work!

At snooze o'clock I grabbed my swag and headed to the nearest tree to try and get a bit of sleep in the nearest bit of shade. Although it was still pretty damn hot and the rest of the group seemed to think that I was crazy by the time I woke up there was more than a few people scattered around me following suit!

In the evening we were supposed to go to a different lookout for sunset but we had a little drama in the camp and so just had to head up to the same one as the previous night where we probably repeated every single picture again until the flies just got unbearable and we settled back for our second night in the swag and saw our first shooting star!

The usual start time on Sunday morning was needed so that we could get to the Olgas nice and early before the temperature started creeping up. They had looked pretty mysterious from our Uluru sunset lookout the previous nights and up close they were a series of huge boulders, some twice as high as Uluru. Trevor had bigged up a view of the valley as 'Jurassic Park' a little too much and it wasn't quite like that, but it was still an enjoyable walk once you were able to ignore all the pesky little flies. There aren't any stories attached to them because they are still used by the Aborigionies even now for ceremonies and therefore all the important spirituality around them remains a secret!

After that we started yet another long section of driving - the distances out here really are massive and just occasionally you pass a small standalone building and wonder how on earth people live there. We arrived at Kings Creek cattle station around 3pm and jumped straight in the pool to cool off. In the evening Hutch and Andy took the lead role on cooking tacos and we chowed it all down as the sun set behind the trees. Our little camp area was definately rustic and there were ants EVERYWHERE, which got us a bit worked up when you have just had a shower and then trying to keep them off your sandwich at the same time as negotiating the standard food scrum. It gave a whole new meaning to getting antsy!

By the time Tevor had bored us all with the same stories and life advice again, the conditions of the last few days started to catch up with us and we were all pretty shattered and so got in to our swags for the last time quite early, and Hutch found company with a big beetle!

The temperature was a bit cooler and the sky even clearer than the previous two nights and so we were determined to stay awake and properly lie there for a bit looking up in to the night sky. In between the haze of the Milky Way and where I think Taurus was, we saw 3 more shooting stars to send us to sleep nice and content, even if we were feeling like we were sharing our bed with the whole of the insect kingdom!