Hi,

We landed in a rather empty airport wondering what we had let ourselves in for. The 'big' farm I could see from be plane turned out to be the airport!!!

We made it to our hostel and looked around the town (took about 15mins). We went back to the hostel and pack our small bags to take with us, very exciting not having to carry my big backpack!!! I think I was more excited about this than anything else! We went to bed early as had to be up at 4.30am (didn't even know this time existed).

We met the rest of our tour group then set off with Dave our guide to Ayers Rock. The journey took about 6 hours we stopped every couple if hours in random isolated petrol stations, where the fuel still costs less than England!!!! We get to the camp site about lunch time, then it's time for a walk around Kata Tjuta. This is a rock formation near Ayers Rock that is also important to the Aboriginal culture, this 'walk' is more like route march over uneven paths and hills, it should take about 3 hours. We did it in 2 1/4, as you can imagine I didn't moan once!!!

The flies out here are so annoying they are every where and all over you, some people had nets on their heads, we didn't though just had to get on with it (again I didn't moan!! Yeah right)

We then headed to a watering hole near Ayers Rock, before heading to the sunset look out point. We had cheese, biscuits and champagne (cheap stuff, we are backpacking after all) while watching sunset. It was so good the colours are amazing, just like in the pictures you see.

Then it was back to camp for dinner and 'bed'. This is when the reality of our sleeping conditions hit us, we were sleeping under the stars in swags (big sleeping bags with a bit of padding on the bottom and a flap to cover your head. I knew this when we booked it but it was still a shock, especially as there are snakes, spiders and dingoes around!!! Needless to say I didn't get much sleep the first night, Dan didn't seem to have a problem though!!

We up early again the next day (5am) to go to Ayers Rock for sunrise (bloody rock I don't do mornings) it was sooooooo cold, but it have to admit worth it as it was very pretty. We then headed to the cultural centre for breakfast before another 'walk' (route march) around Ayers Rock. We didn't have enough time to get round the whole rock but we walked about 3/4, probably my slow pace. It is impressive though and looks so different up close. After our walk we heard to Kings Canyon which was a few hours drive away. We stopped at a look out over Mount Connor on the way.

The next campsite seems even more remote although we have a shed this time to eat in! Oh the luxuries of the outback!!!! We set up a camp fire to keep us warm before our second night under the stars, the problem with this is the sky was clear so the moon was very bright and no one had a switch to turn it down!!!! Still didn't keep me awake for long I slept loads better and didn't want to get up at 4.45 for another one of Dave's 'walks'.

This time we were walking up Kings Canyon for sunrise only the first part is called "heart attack hill" we soon found out why. But the views from the top were amazing and this walk was the best I think plus we went at a slower pace (3 days of moaning got me somewhere). There was a pool in the middle and loads of different parts to the canyon. The walk took about 3 1/2 hours, we made lunch and set off back to Alice Springs. This means by 10am I had been on a hike and had lunch, I never do that much in a day normally.

We got back to Alice Springs about 4pm, there was a group meal in the evening, so we fed the rock wallaby sat another cam site. They are so cute but a bit timid at first, we sat patiently waiting for them to come down, unfortunately the Chinese girl in our group was not so good with animals. As soon as she saw one she went stomping over and threw some of her food at it, Dan and I nearly fell of our log laughing!!, the poor wallaby just looked at her and funnily enough didn't come any closer.

On the last day we had a few hours took ill before our flight to Cairns so we had booked a didgeridoo lesson. Well I am defiantly not going to be making any money out of my playing skills, Dan was good though and I think with a bit of practice could make a go of busking on the streets of Bath. We also did a tour of the flying doctor base then headed to the airport. The flight was fine and we made it to Cairns.