30th May 2006 - Day 60

Spent most of the day relaxing, strolling around Alice, taking in the sights and wandering around some of the aboriginal art galleries. Amazing stuff. Headed off to Emily gap for lunch, saw some aboriginal rock art - cool. The headed off on the road again towards Uluru - hoping to cut down some of the driving time tomorrow. Stopped at a free camp just outside Alice - Stuart's Well.

31st May 2006 - Day 61

Got up early heading off for the long journey down to Uluru. Journey was pretty cool - blue skies, red dusty roads and not much else really. Tried to keep ourselves entertained playing eyespy but got a bit boring after we did all the obvious stuff - i.e. road, tree, etc... Managed to reach Uluru by late afternoon, so visited the Cultural centre and learned about the aboriginal stories relating to Uluru. Wandered around some of the base of Uluru and took lots of pics of the different aspects of the rock. Headed to the sunset spot, with the rest of the tourists. Thought the sunset was going to be a bit disappointing as it was very cloudy - but just as the sun was about to set the clouds broke and Uluru light up bright orangey / red and the sky was light up bluey purple - spectacular!!! Once the sunset set off to camp at Uluru resort the only camp for miles.

1st June 2006 - Day 62

Woke up early (6:30) to head off for the sunrise, was a little disappointed as it was still cloudy and Uluru didn't really light up, but still what an amazing place to see the sunrise anyway! Set off for the climb up Uluru, i was a little unsure about the climb and only managed to get a small way up before getting a bit scared and walked back down. Anyway decided to give it another go and after 1 and 1/2 hours hard climb got to the top - wow!!! Amazing!!! Well worth the fear of heights and falling. Stopped and took in the sights then headed back down - the climb down seemed much easier although still very steep!! After the climb set off to see the Olgas, which i must say seem much more amazing further away. Walked though the main canyon at the Olgas, which was pretty cool. Set off for a long drive towards the Kings Creek station just outside the Kings Canyon and set up camp for the night.

2nd June 2006 - Day 63

Set off from our campsite to Kings Canyon, got there and set off on a 7k hike up and around the rim of the canyon. The views were cool and the landscape astounding, very moonlike!. After a tiring walk and far too many photos, (p:Rach seems to think I'm a Japanese tourist), we got back into the van and headed east then south then east again then north to Alice! Got to a free roadside campsite for the night as it got dark about 100k south of Alice, and set up a log fire under the stars on our last night in the outback proper!

3rd June 2006 - Day 64

Drove back to Alice quite early after an early start, visited some Aboriginal galleries and picked up a painting, for the wall back home, but avoided the tacky didgeridoos etc from the millions of tourist shops. Camped in Alice overnight, our last day in the Northern Territory - our last night with Matilda the Van - Ahhhh!!