Well I have finally done something worth writing about! I flew to Alice Springs on Saturday morning with my friend Caroline (Who I met in Fiji). The views flying in were amazing - It was literally the desert...Everything was red and there was no sign of life anywhere!

We arrived at our hostel called Annie's Place in the afternoon after turning our clocks backwards 1 and a half hours! Amazing that there is a time difference when its only a couple of hours away from Sydney. We went for a walk to check out our new surroundings! The weather wasn't very nice thouigh and it soon started to rain so the pool at the hostel did not get used :( !!

That evening we went out for dinner at a place called Bojangles Saloon Bar! It was a very strangely decorated place with cowboy boots attached to the ceiling, but it served good food. We both ate the mixed grill which consisted of:

- Buffalo
- Camel
- Kangaroo
- Crocodile

It was absolutely amazing..And I do love my meat! After our meal we headed back to the hostel for a couple of drinks and a game of cards then headed to bed for an early night.

We woke at 5.15am had had some toast for breakfast before jumping on the tour bus at about 6.15ish. This was the start of our journey to Ayres Rock.

Our guide was called Glenn who was originally from Melbuorne. He seemed like a good natured bloke although I didnt talk with him much - Our spare time was spent sleeping! There were 24 of us in total on the tour, the bus was full. It was a mixture of people some very strange people - Bill the 50 year old American who had to know everything to the young girls who I have no idea where they come from but always had to be last on the bus!

We drove for an hour and a half then stopped at a camel farm. Optional camel rides were offered here but I didn't do this - They only had one hump I want more humps!!! After 20 minutes we were back on the bus for another 2 hours. We then stopped at a place called Mt. Ebenezer. Glenn then found there was no diesel so he left us there for an hour and a half whilst he drove back to a place to get petrol!

We then drive some more until we arrive at Kings Canyon - Our first adventure and the first of many walks! (Yes me doing exercise!!) The walk was 3.5hours in total and I was dreading it! We started the walk by climbing up a cliff and I managhed the entire walk with a surprising ease! Part way through the Canyon is the "Garden of Eden" where there was a little pool. A few of us jumped in - Myself included. You could see all the bugs in the water though so not very pleasant but very refreshing as we were all sweating!

After 3.5/4 hours we had all made it down and were back in the coach for another hours drive to our "campsite" for the night....I use campsite but really it was about 10 minutes from the actual campground in the bush!! On the drive kangaroos, cows, horses and even a buffalo could be seen - Most of them jumping in our path so we had to swerve to miss them or stop to let them cross. It was entertaining if not slightly annoying as we were all so tired. We weren't allowed to shower until the following evening so we were all feeling rather smelly too!!

At the "campsite" we were told if we needed the toilet we had to go in the bushes! Luckily it was dark when we arrived as the bushes were very thin! We prepared dinner (Myself and Caroline 2 of the helpers) and ate by a bonfire on swags (Like a big sleeping bag but you go inside it in a sleeping bag - Makes no sense I know sorry!). We had Chilli con Carne which was actually really nice! Our beds were these swags and we all lay down in a circle under the stars and went to bed very early. The light was so im and we couldnt see a thing plus we were all so tired. I slept really well but did wake up at about 3am to the sound of cows mooing right through the bush...I was quite scared then that they were gonna come closer but they stayed away luckily!

We woke at 6am and had breakfast - Cereal, bread, jam, fruit and tea/coffee. Today's adventure was Olgas - AKA Kata Tjuta. This was loads of rocks together but you could walk through them. On the way to the Olgas Glenn saw a passage where he wanted to check if we could camp there. We drove into the bush for a few minutes but came to a steep hill which the bus wouldn't get up. So instead we all got out and walked up the hill to see Ayres Rock lit up in the sun - Amazing! We all piled back into the bus only for it to get stuck in the red sand. all of us had to get out and push the bus out! A further few seconds later it got stuck again so we all jumped off the bus to push!

We drove through the sunshine into the rain! Bloody typical! We went to a lookout point first to take some photos - We all got soaked though. We then drove to the entrance to start our second long walk of the trip. There were 3 walks for this -

- 20 minutes
- 2 hours
- 3.5 hours

We all started walking - Myself thinking I would only do the 2 hour walk - but the rain had stopped and the sun was shining..Also I would never be doing this again so I continued and did the full walk around. I felt I could have walked further at the end!!

We had lunch after the walk which was tuna and salad and then went to the Ayres Rock Resort to shower!! Yipee!! We had 50 minutes at the resort and Caroline and I sat and read for a bit only to see a massive lizard shimmy past! I didnt have my camera though but it was big!

We went to watch the sunset that evening and had a chicken satay sit fry for dinner which again was gorgeous! We had dinner on our laps in front of Ayres Rock watching the sun go down...Beautiful! We got some free wine as there were lots of coaches there full of people and when they left we got the wine..So we shared that then headed into the bush to set up for bed. We had a sing-a-long on the coach to Michael Jackson and Madonna - Just to pass the time!

We got to our destination at 7ish and got the bonfire lit. Again we were in a circle and soon people started to drift off to sleep - We had a 4.30am wake up call for the sunrise! I, however, stayed up with 3 Irish people playing a game (one person says a famous name then the next person says one but the first name has to start with the first letter of the previous persons surname) and drinking a few cans of beer! We went to bed about 10pm.

Glenn woke us at 4.30am and we slowly got up. The sunrise wasn't that good as the sun rose from behind Ayres Rock and we were in front of it but we ate breakfast and slowly woke up. We then headed to the rock and found that the rock climb was open. It was about 6.30and half of the group started to climb Ayres Rock - Myself and Caroline included. This was so scary, it was so steep and there was only 1 pole for everyone to hold on to - Going up and down. It was also so high - The Rock is 438m high! I made it about 75% of the way up but got so scared about how I was going to get down I couldnt go any higher! So we started to go down, it was slippery at parts and I went halfway down on my bum clutching for my life to the pole! My legs were shaking I was so scared..The photo's dont really show how bad it was - You should all go and do it!! It wasn't until I reached the bottom that I saw people had died and many get injured from climbing it - And it really is no wonder. I need to stop messing with heights!! I jumped for joy when I got to the bottom of the Rock! It was only 7.30am when we had finished! Sooooooo early!

The next and final stop was the cultural centre to find out about the aboriginals. This was slightly boring if iI'm honest but I did sign the guestbook! We then started the 5 hour journey back to Alice Springs. That evening we all went for drinks at the hostel bar and played drinking games - Jugs of beer was $10 (about 4pounds!). It was a really good evening and a great way to end the tour.

This really was the highlight of my trip so far - I have done things I never would even think about normally (Sleep in the bush with bugs - No thank you!)