After Adelaide I joined a 2 days tour to Alice Spring via Cooper Pedy. Essentially this was just a transport tour to get from A to B. We covered about 850km the first day and around 700km the 2nd day so there was a lot of driving to get to Alice Springs. On the way we stayed overnight in Cooper Pedy where around 90% of the world’s opal is mined and because of the high temperatures people in this area have adapted to living underground. We went on a mine tour which showed us some living quarters of the miners as well as how opal was cut from the rock, cleaned and formed into various items of jewelry. Such amazing colours to this stone, just wish I could have afforded to buy some jewelry from the shop but you were looking at minimum 100 dollars for a basic ring!
Our accommodation was also like the local houses, and although it was underground it was more cut into the rock instead of dug under the ground. So it was not as exciting as I thought it might be although I did have red back spider on the wall by my bed which was quickly killed by my guide. Red backs are fairly small spiders but can be fatal if humans are bitten. I was quite glad I had asked my guide to check it out for me!

The highlight for me though in Cooper Pedy was visiting a kangaroo orphanage which was just amazing. All these kangaroos had lost their mothers to roadkill or hunting. They manage to survive as the pouches where the joeys are kept are made of solid muscle which helps protect them when the mother is killed by the impact of vehicles. These were really friendly kangaroos and loved being fed milk, it’s just a shame that they will never be able to survive in the wild on their own again. We were allowed to meet two of the really young joeys called Blade and Matilda. Both these joeys were kept in like an artificial pouch made of soft material - not too dissimilar to what human babies are sometimes held in. This was meant to resemble the mother’s pouch in order that they felt safe and warm especially Matilda who was so young that she had yet to master standing up.

The next day we carried on our journey to Alice Springs and made it there around early evening. Didn’t see much of Alice Springs as the next day I left again for a 3 day 2 night camping trip around Uluru (Ayres Rock).

The next day started really early with a 6am pick up. I guess most people think that Uluru is fairly close to Alice Springs – not really about a 500km drive away. So the first day started with a lot of driving once again but our guide Scott who was only 22 was awesome in helping us pass the time with lots of interesting stories and games on the bus. Our first stop was at King’s Canyon where we did an amazing 8km hike around the top so we could look into the canyon itself. We even had time to swim in small watering hole in order to cool off. Although it was only 8km it took us over 3 hours to do mainly as the heat really slows you down. Our guide had a thermometer on his bag which went up to 50oC and it broke…so that just shows you how hot it was! After our walk we had a few more hours driving to do in order to reach our first camp site. Before that though we had to go and collect firewood and stop of for essentials….BEER. I am not a beer drinker but I have to admit I really enjoyed my cold can of beer after the hike which we had with our meal around the camp fire.

Our first camp site was just a clearing on some private land with a bush loo (essentially a hole in the ground with a normal toilet on top). I am not much of a camper either but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We all helped to cook a really nice meal for the evening, which we all ate in silence as we were so hungry. We then settled down then in our sleeping bag and swags (heavy duty outdoor water proof sleeping bags). After the fire went out I was glad of all my layers of clothes as it was a freezing cold night and I woke up to a slight crisp feeling to my sleeping bag!

The second day we left again at 6am and went to collect more firewood for that evening’s camp fire. Our guide kindly took up to our next campsite where there were showers that we could use before heading off on our 2nd hike at the Olgas. There are essentially large bits of rock which have been dumped all together in one spot and stand out for miles on the horizon. This walk was again around 8 km and even hotter than the day before with very little shade.

After finishing this walk and having some lunch we finally made our way to Uluru. When we got to Uluru there was a steady stream of people climbing the rock. It is impossible not to know that this is a sacred site. We had been taught quite a bit about the history etc before getting there and you would hope that other tours would do the same but that did not appear to be the case. We did have the opportunity to climb it but were encourage not to. To be honest the climb it pretty steep and takes around 2 hours to do and it is a risky thing to do. Someone died there the other month because he stood up and lost his balance whilst taking a photo and fell all the way to the bottom. That afternoon we did another 2 km walk just to some of the key sites around the base of Uluru where it is believed the aboriginals used to cook food, give birth and carry out certain rituals. It was quite interesting to hear and made it hard to think how they have been forced into our western ways of life especially aspects like the stolen generation. That evening we watched with the masses sunset over Uluru. As the sun is behind you when you are watching Uluru it was not as impressive as I thought it would be and there must have been a few 100 of us all watching in the same place.

The next day however we went to watch sunrise and this was amazing especially seeing the colours change on the rock as the sun comes up more or less directly behind it. This time there were only 3 groups at the site as it was not the official sunrise location! We then went and did with very tired legs the rest of the walk around Uluru. Although this was all on the flat we were so tired from all the walking, early rises and the heat that we pretty much just power walked it just to get it down. This walk was a little dull to be honest as you are just walking around a very big rock!

Considering I had no intention of going to the red centre I am very glad I did. It really is very impressive and just so unusual to have all these features in the middle of Australia. Alice Spring itself made me quite jumpy due to all the aboriginals there who just sit around all day. There is apparently a problem there at the moment between rival gangs so it was not a pleasant atmosphere and also it is not safe to walk around at night for anyone. So I was quite glad I did not have to long after the tour back in Alice before jumping on my plane to Cairns.