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Day 58 We boarded our first plane at 23:00 and after 3 and a half hours and only about 2 hours sleep we found ourselves in Sydney at 6:30am due to the +3 hour time difference - jetlag galore! Our next flight to Ayres rock was not for another 3 hours so we found a quiet spot in to airport and caught another 2 hours sleep. On the second plane we managed to get about another hours sleep and then our wathces had to go back 45mins with the time difference. After all the travelling and lack of sleep we were feeling very tired, we got picked up from the airport by our tour bus and sat beside the 20 other people who had been on since early that morning. The bus had drove 6 hours from Alice Springs so most of the people on the bus were feeling just as tired as us, the bus was small and crowded and the guide wouldn't put the air con on because she wanted us to get used to the heat so it was very very hot. Our first stop was the culture centre which told us about the history of the area and the Aboriginal culture, after which we went straight to Uluru (Ayres Rock) where we were told to walk around the base and the tour guide would meet us back at the start in 2 hours. So off we went, the rock was massive so much bigger than what we expected and so red. After walking for about an hour a sandstorm began, it was pretty scary as there was only about 6 of us up front and the rest of the group were behind, the storm lasted about half an hour but we just kept walking through it. At the end of the tour our guide (Ally) was waiting for us and was obviously very worried about the quick change in weather, She took us to a special section of the rock where we could see ancient rock art done by the ancient Malla people, some paintings were as old as 5000 years old which was amazing, she told us some stories too about the Aboriginal culture which were interesting. We then headed to the sunset spot to watch Uluru change colour. Unfortunately it was really cloudy so the colours weren't that amazing but still a beautiful sight. We ate dinner then headed to camp. We were given swags (a canvas sleeping bag within in-built thick sleeping mat) and a sleeping bag to go inside. It was dark by this point and Ally pointed to an area of scrubland and said sleep where you want. Just as we settled in to the swags we felt rain and all 22 of us rushed under the small shelter used for cooking and somehow managed to fit under.
Day 59 Ally came round to wake us up in the dark at 4:30am, she said we had half an hour to be washed, dressed and have our swags packed into the van. By 5am we were on the road to watch the sunrise, she took us to the sunsetting spot again instead of the sunrise spot because we would get to see the sun shining from behind the rock and see the sillohuette insteaad of the changing of colour like the night before, we wern't really happy about this but didn't have much of a choice. After breakfast was finished we headed to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). We did the Valley of the Winds walk which was 2 hours again but this time it was uphill, at the top the view was beautiful and we rested for a while to take pictures. We walked back to the van and drove until lunch time stopping breifly at a sandune viewing point where you could see Uluru and Kata Tjuta at the same time. After lunch we were back on the road heading towards the King's Canyon, we slept most of the journey. We stopped an hour away from camp to collect firewood, this was fun and Lloyd got right in to it as the did the rest of the boys, us girls got bored quick. Once we arrived at the camp some of the boys started the campfire while the rest made tea. There was a massive thunder storm and fork lightening and the loudest thunder ever, it was beginning to rain too. We just about got tea cooked when it started lashing it down. We ate tea under the shelter but we were worried about where we would sleep as the shelter wasn't big enough to fit us all under and the storm was really bad! Luckly Ally had managed to sort us out with tents so we packed up and drove 5mins down the road. The tents were amazing, this was glamping not camping with actual beds inside. After a long day and an early morning we went straight to sleep.
Day 60 We were woken again at 4:30am but had a bit longer that morning to get packed up as we were eating breakfast onsite, at 5:30am just as it was getting light we were on our way to King's Canyon. We were warned that the walk was hard and we would have to climb 'heart attack hill' which is why we were starting so early as it was still cool at a mere 30 degrees. Three people decided to not join in and the rest of us started, the walk was all uphill but extremely over exagurated, it wasn't that hard at all. Ally told us all about the geography of the land, explaining how Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Conyon were formed and walked us along the top of the Canyon. We stopped at amazing view points to take picures and Ally showed us evidence such as fossils engrained in to the surface proving that the Canyon was once under water. After Kings Canyon was over it was a long journey back to Alice Springs. We stopped off at a kind of farm on the way to Alice and we saw a Dingo, an Emu, Camels and Kangaroo's, the cutest animal was a lovely white and pink bird that let you tickle its cheek. Once at the hostel we washed all our cothes as they were stained red from the dust and sand. We then got dressed and headed to the Rock Bar where we were meeting the rest of the people from our tour for tea. Just before we were about to leave a massive thunder and lightening storm broke out, the rain was so heavy it was scary! The meal was nice- lamb chop for $10, the beer and cider was expensive though. Lloyd and 3 others on the table waited an hour and a half for their meal by which time everyone was totally finished so he got a refund and they got a jug of beer each which was great! We headed back about 10:30pm and the storm was still heavy.
Day 61 We thought about having a lie-in but everyone in our room seemed to be long-term guests and were all up dead early for work. There was free breakfast on till 9am so we got up in time for that. We headed into the town centre to have a look around, it was tiny with not much to see and do sowe just wandered around and picked up a few things we needed. Once back at the hostel we spent most of the day researching and catching up on things.
Day 62 We checked out and headed back in to the town centre to purchase a mobile phone. We really didn't want to have to buy one but it's also impossible to find free internet or even decently priced internet so everyone seems to communicate through phone which is still over priced, about $1 a minute to make a local landline or mobile call. Nightmare! We set the phone up back at the hostel and made lunch. We booked a hostel for Cairns and headed to the airport.
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ann purdy would have loved to see ayres rock.. sounds amazing xxx