We left Darwin with mixed emotions - we werent looking forward to the journey to Alice Springs but we were excited to experience the outback/red centre and see what all the fuss is about. The outback is vast, so serial but fantastically amazing. For me, its like the ocean, and the stars - i never really get tired of looking at it. Although they never appear to change they look so different every time you look. Its hard to explain but these natural phonomenon blow me away. I think its something about their unknown - each appears a unique world of their own kepping their own secrets! Philosophical or what! Anyways - Alice Springs. Yes its in the middle of nowhere but its totally different to what we expected. I am not sure what we expected but its bigger and much more developed than what we expected. Here we visited Anzac hill which gave us great views of this outback town. Its weird as you can the town but then surrounding it is absolutely nothing! We also visited the Bojangles bar - a good craic, an aboriginal centre, the markets, the school of air and the flying doctor service. All in all we were really impressed with this place although we wouldnt want to live there. Next - AYERS ROCK. Did you know that ayers rock is 5hrs away from alice springs?? We didnt - it just gives you an idea on how bloody big this place is! On our trip out to the were rock we stopped at a camel farm - the things stank but quite sweet. Here we got a first taste of what was to come - FLIES! The b*****s are as desperate for water as you are that they seem to target yours eyes and mouth. Yes on a number of occasions we choked and gagged as the flies decided to drink from our saliva. Lovely!! We arrived at the resort we were staying at. It sounds posh and yes it was but what you have to understand is that backpackers, campers and the posh all get lumped together here as its the only place to stay at the rock. So you have your 5 star, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star and then errrr us which has to be said was pretty nice. From here we explored the OLGAS which are said to be sister to the rock its self. They do look like the rock aswell except broken into pieces. LARGE PIECES. Pretty impressive though. The Rock isself is absolutely mindblowing. Its might seem stupid to say but its HUGE! We watched as it changed colours while the sun set even though it was alittle cloudy. An amazing sight! And the following day walked around the base to explore the water falls, the rock art etc. Brillant. We were considering the walk to the top but decided against it after learning that the abroriginal tribe who live in the park dont like it as it is where they perform one of their scared ceremonies. Like pete says it would be like walking into the vatican and walking all over the alters etc. Although this area of australia is soooooooo tourist like (not hard too see why) we wouldnt of missed it for the world - definately a highlight. We left Alice Springs heading to the South of Oz via the GHAN - an old railway which took 1 day and 1 night. The sunset over the desert that we saw from the train was probably the best we have ever seen...... a perfect end too our brillant time in the outback.