G'day! Well haven't I been busy! Its been ages since I've updated my blog, I've not had a chance to until today!! Well where did I get to? Last time I blogged it was about Kakadu! Well, the next day I started my adventure to Alice Springs!

Day 1 Darwin - Katherine

We were picked up by our tourguide, Ryan (you can call me Johnno)! There were a few other girls who were on the Kakadu trip so atleast I knew some people!! Our first stop was Adelaide River Roadhouse, home of the legendary Charlie the Water buffalo from Crocodile Dundee... Unfortunately I didn't see him so no pics to prove it! Then it was off to Katherine Gorge and we had a choice of what to do. I chose a Katherine River cruise, and a good choice it was too! There were trees full of bats down at the wharf which was pretty cool then on the boat we went! The cruise was so relaxing but it was very hot in the gorge! Lots of nice colours (you know me and my colours!). We saw a freshie too which was pretty cool, I thought it was small until it climbed outta the water!! We walked between the gorges too over blisteringly hot sand! But it was all good, fried off my dry skin so my feet were lovely and soft!! After the cruise it was off to our camp for the nite! Ryan showed me pics of a huntsman he had found in the camp... I wasn't best pleased and as a result didn't have a great nite's sleep!!

Day 2 Katherine - Tennant Creek

Our first stop today was Mataranka, natural thermal pools. So we hopped off the bus and into the pools. The water was about 26 degrees! Lovely and warm, so we swam about for a bit then I spotted some spider webs that stretched right across the pool with their designers sitting right in the middle, so I got out quite quickly! Then it was off to Daly Waters, an eccentric little town. The local pub was full of things left behind by previous visitors, so I had to leave my mark! And I did! We had lunch there before moving on to Tennant Creek, quite scary actually as there were lots of Aboriginals about the place! We didn't stay there long, but moved on to an outback station, Juno, where we camped out under the stars in swags! It was pretty cool! And I had a great nights sleep!!

Day 3 Tennant Creek - Alice Springs

First stop was the Devils Marbles! Big balls of rock just sitting in the middle of the desert! Pretty cool! The Aboriginal story behind it was that the Rainbow Serpent (one of their gods) laid her eggs in the area and the Devil's Marbles were her eggs! So we climbed around them for a while before moving on to Wycliff Well, the UFO centre of Australia... talk about bizaare places, I thought Daly Waters was weird!! There was a mini museum and a doll collection there too! Madness! But I did get my fix of chocolate milk so all was good! We then stopped in Barrow Creek Telegraph station, run by Aboriginals, and the toilets were horrible!! Lol. We then stopped at an Aboriginal Art Gallery where I bought myself a didgeridoo!! Shipped it straight off home so can't wait to see it wen I get back!! We eventually reached Alice after crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, for the second time in my trip!

Day 4 Alice Springs - Yulara

A very exciting day for me today, a new guide (Kenny) and we were on our way to Uluru!! We got to Kings Canyon first and I got myself prepared for a 3.5hr walk, starting off with wot the guides like to call Heartattack Hill!! But I made it up and the triumph began!! The scenery was amazing (not another gorge you all cry!!). I really enjoyed the walk and my fitness has definitely improved! It was my favourite place of the whole Northern Territory trip! We were back on the bus shortly after recovering and a long trip was ahead! I was sleeping then suddenly woke up and looked out the window and there it was Uluru!! My heart leapt, I was so excited! Then Kenny came over the speakers and told us that it was Fooluru, or Mount Connor! I was gutted lol. But soon got over it wen I saw the real Uluru!! Beautiful! And we also saw Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), the sillouette of which looks like a famous cartoon character lying on their back, but I'll let you guess for yourselves wen I get the pics up!

Day 5 Yulara - Alice Springs

Up early today to see the sunrise over Uluru! It was amazing, though there were clouds so it didn't change colour the way it usually does! But still spectacular... I'm really in Australia now!! After the sunrise we did a half base walk and learnt all about the Aboriginal culture there. It was fascinating! And there are still sacred sites around Uluru where no pictures are allowed and your not allowed to stray from the path! We left Uluru and made our way to Kata Tjuta, which was also spectacular! We walked through the centre of the two largest "heads", then went back to the bus. On the way back to Alice we stopped at Fooluru to take a few pics. We climbed a red sand dune to find a salt lake in the middle of the desert! It was very surreal!! Then back to Alice we went!

Alice Springs was a gorgeous wee town, all spread out with hills of rock scattered around it! I spent most of my time wandering around the shops and drinking Mega Choc Shakes from Wendys, amazing!!! On my last day we went to the Reptile Centre, and it was sooo cool!! We got to hold a blue tongued skink (been there done that!), a sleepy lizard, a bearded dragon, and an olive python (it was rather big and I was rather scared!! Though he felt he knew me enough to put his tail in my back pocket!!).

I had a great time and made a lot of new friends!! I'll miss Alice Springs, its somewhere I'll hafta come back to at some stage! Next update will be from Tropical Queensland!!