After an okay nights sleep we made breakfast and headed off for the last leg of our journey to Ayres Rock. Seeing it on the horizon was very exciting. The drive was very similar to how the last few days had been, on straight road and desert either side. Gem was driving on this occasion and Martin reminded her she had killed a flaming Galah on the journey - it just flew into the bonnet. A lizard took a bit of injury to it's tail also that day but Scott reassured us that it did hobble off so was definitely still alive!

Driving this journey has been quite dangerous, especially at and after dusk as this is when the kangaroos start jumping around everywhere. We see evidence of this daily on the side of the road. Big haulage trucks drive through the night and they just plough through them but we are sensible enough to know that a kangaroo could write off our camper so we stick to rule number 1 of always getting to camp an hour or so before sunset.

We arrived at Ayres Rock resort early afternoon and decided to go to the information centre to ask about walking round and see if they had any further information. The guy behind the desk warned that they were not advising walking round the rock that day as temperatures were due to exceed 45oC. We sensibly decided to wait another hour for the temperatures to drop a little more and then we drove to Ayres Rock. We went through the ticket kiosk and bought our national park tickets and drove for 15 minutesd before we were right next to the rock and parked the camper van up. On the way we saw signs warning of camels in the desert, something none of us expected to see! We cooked up some noodles on the stove and had a bag of crisps each to give ourselves a bit of extra energy ready for the walk.

It took about 2 and a half hours to walk the entire circumference of the rock. It was extremely hot but we took plenty of water but still needed to refill at the 2 stations with water on the way round. It was an amazing walk with lots of wild birds chirping around us and we saw some original aboriginal paintings. As you walk round there are different signs explaining what each part of the rock means to the Anangu (aboriginal) people. There were certain areas where the signs politely asked for visitors not to take pictures as the sites are so sacred.

We were happy to have achieved our first missions of seeing Ayres Rock and it is a wonder but Matt and I both agree that it is nothing on places like Ankor Wat or even the jungle in Sumatra for example.

That night we checked in at the Ayres Rock Resort campsite and enjoyed a nice swim in the pool which was much needed after our long walk! We cooked for the three of us plus Martin that night in the camp kitchen, curry and rice! We finished off a box of goon and retired to the camper van looking forward to Kings Canyon the next day.

We left Ayres Rock and drove to Kings Canyon in the morning. The drive was amazing as there were several sand storms that whisked across the road in front of us making it seem like we were driving in thick red fog. Martin decided that he wanted to stay at Kings Canyon for the night so after our walk through the canyon he left us. We enjoyed his company and it had been a little more reassuring having someone following you, someone to be there in case a tyre went for example. We all agreed that Kings Canyon was probably prettier than Ayres Rock, we walked through a valley on a path by the side of a dried up river and we were able to go to a viewing station at the end of the walk with lovely views of the canyon, and we got some great photos of the three of us and the camper before Martin left us!

We had decided on our next stop for the night and made our way to a dirt road that was going to be a nice short cut for us. Matt was driving. Gem read all the warning signs at the start of the road that advised not to go this way unless you were in a 4x4. Matt kept driving, Gem was very nervous, in the end Scott got in the front and Gem hid in the back! Scott was helping Matt in terms of where to aim the camper on the road and what speed to do but the camper was still skidding as if we were driving on snow. After about 10 minutes of not getting very far the lads decided we would have to go the long way round!

This meant that when we finally reached camp (a rest stop again) we didn't have much time before sun down, it was still quite winding also and very hot sso yet again the stove wasn't working. Luckily we had bought some rolls for the next days lunch so tuna and sweetcorn rolls were on the menu for dinner. No sooner had we finished eating than a sand storm came rolling in, it was very eery and went a very strange dark red/black colour everywhere. We couldn't see much as we were packing away the tables and chairs and by the time we got into bed it was pitch black outside apart from when there was a strike of lightening! It must have been about 50oC in the van but we couldn{t open the windows because of the sand storm! By the time the storm had passed Gem had got herself in a bit of a tizz and was convinced a man in a car about 50 feet away was a murderer and Scott was sure he heard dingoes right by the van. So, we all tried to fall asleep with the windows shut, the rest will be left to your imagination!

After an awful nights sleep we made our way to Alice Springs the following day, not the nice town we had expected, still a bit backward! After leaving Alice Springs and a well earned KFC lunch we drove across the Tropic of Capricorn and stopped for some photos. We made it to the rest stop just before sun set and that was when Scott first spotted a donkey. Gem was just repositioning the camper nearer to the shelter at the rest stop when Scotty shouted, "donkey!". Matt went straight into the back of the camper and pulled out some dry pasta to feed it. Maybe the biggest mistake that day.... Gem tried to start cooking pasta but the donkey (who we had now named Steve from the film Waterboy) would not leave us alone. He followed Gem into the camper and even tried to take a bite out of Scotts plastic suitcase! We made the very hard decision that we were going to have to drive 40k back on ourselves in the dark because Steve was never going to leave and he could eat the wing mirrors or worse whilst we were trying to sleep.

That was definitely the most dangerous drive that we have done. We crept along the road at about 20k an hour with Gem driving and everyone keeping an eye out for kangaroos. By the time we arrived back at the roadhouse we had driven past earlier in the day we were all whacked. A very drunken Aussie guy showed us where the toilets are and we parked up around the back and finished Mike's vodka, a real treat after our nervous night! The drunken guy had warned Gem to watch out for frogs in the toilet and then laughed so we had all laughed along but when Gem went to the loo before bed there were 4 frogs sticking their heads out of the cistern croaking!

The next morning we set off early, our aim to get to Townsville in the next 2-3 days...