We hopped on the greyhound over night bus to Melbourne. After an over ngiht stay in Melbourne we caught a Tigear Airways flight to Alice Springs. During the flight Si feel asleep on me -lazybones. Looking out of the window during the flight made me realise how big the out back is, there was only long straight road that went on for miles and miles.

Safe and sound on the ground, we waited in the terminal for our hostel to pick us up. With are outback tour package we had been given free accomodation at Toddies backpackers hostel. From the outside of the hostel it looked like a nice place to stay, but we realised how wrong were we when we entered. Our one day before the tour was spent being pretty lazy. We ventured into town to buy some food, when we discovered that Alice Springs is probably one of the strangest places on earth! If you have been there you will never forget the stentch of the locals and the adorable flys. On the way to Woollies we popped into a Aboriginal Art Gallery and was shocked at how expensive all the "Art" was. Both me and Si thought the money was definately not going to the artists, but was most likely making the galleries lots of money instead!!!! Alice Springs is more or less a run down Cairns, so we spent most of our time before the rock tour chilling in are hostel.

Both me and Si were extremely pleased to be leaving Alice Springs and heading off to the Out back to do The Rock Tour. The journey was so long, it took several hours of driving through nothingness until we passed a petrol station and then several hours more unitl we reached our first destination - Kings Canyon. The first part of are Kings Canyon experience was called heart attack hill, as it was extremely steep. After climbing around the Blue Mountains earlier in the week, we were more than accustumed to such treks. We walked around the top of Kings Canyon and were taught about the different plants which aboriginal people used to survive off in the bush. We were shown how to numb a Kangaroo with a particular plant. By creating a spear head you could numb its leg preventing the Kangaroo from skipping away making it a lot easier to kill it. We were shown which plants become a glue/resin when heated up and many other cool tricks the native people of the area would use, to survive in the outback.

Just over half way over the walk we stopped at a creek in the canyon, which was called the "Garden of Eden" for a quick swim. The water of the creek was pitch black as the oli from the trees washed through the water, turning it black.

We kept walking and was shown rocks by our tour guide Tom, which the aboriginal people used to sharpen there spears for hunting. The views from the top of Kings Canyon were spectacular of the canyon and the vast open spaces of the out back, which once again highlighted just how big the outback actully is. After the treck of the Canyon Si had just about got used to the flys swarming all around his face, but I was much happy sporting a beautiful fly net hat combo.

On the way to the camp site everyone on the tour stopped to collect fire wood, Si was getting a little to into the whole outback way of things by ripping down entire trees with the help of a few others.

The fire wood was loaded on to the roof of the trailer. The first night we all camped on a outback property which was around the size of Belgium. Si Helped the tour guide Tom start the fire, as the fire was used to cook the nights meal of chili concarne. The camp site had a short long drop and a small shelter made of corrugated iron. Each of the people on the tour had a 'Swag' bag to sleep in, which was an over sized sleeping bag with a small mattress in. The tour guide Tom burnt some bush plants which were intended to make everyone fall fast asleep, but with the early start and the long trek was really necessary. Si checked the area for ants nested and spiders, before we feel asleep star gazing. We all had breakfast before the sun came up, as when the sun comes up the adorable hoards of flies came back out to play on everyones faces. we all jumped in the van after breakfast and headed to the breathtaking Olgas. The Olgas are a group of thirty six small Uluru style rock, which form one large mountain range.

Not long into our walk around the base on the olgas we saw a dead Kangaroo, which has been killed and half eaten by dingos in the night. Although it was a little disturbing to look at, it reiterated the fact we were in the harsh Australian outback. We were once again taught about more outback plants by Tom and ate several different types of bush plumes. At the highest point of the trek we were taught about how the rock/mountains were formed. Thousands of years ago the outback was home to an inland sea and when this ceased to exist it formed the Olgas, Uluru and Mountain Conner in once perfect straight line over hundreds of kilometers in the outback. we were also shown the different stones that the aboriginal people used to make body paint out of. The way the aboriginal people did this was by crushing the stones and mixing them with animal fat. Aboriginal people used these different colour paints to paint there bodies in different ceremonial activities.

The group carried on walking for another further few kilometers, before we all turned back and headed back to the tour bus for a well deserved rest and lunch. Everyone had to open the windows of the bus every time we drove, as the flush all the annoying flys out of the tour bus which made for a comical few minuets swatting flys. We headed to our second campsite which thankfully had a shower block. We had lunch then I cleaned myself up whilst Si went to collect firewood with the men. After they had returned we made our way to Uluru. We did a short 4k walk around the base and were told about how the Aboriginals used the rock to live off. Each cave on the Uluru rock was like a different room for Aboriginals. We saw paintings and were told stories about the traditional way of life. After the walk around a section of Uluru we had a look in the culture centre where we read about how Aboriginal people don't like people walking over their rock, as it is sacred to them. It's also very dangerous, 38 people have so far died whilst attempting to climb the rock. Whilst in the Culture Centre we learnt how white people had desecrated sacred sights around Uluru. One of example of this is a cave that was used for thousands of years for local Aboriginal tribes to give birth. White explorers found this cave and saw that it was shaped like a bell so used it for mock wedding photos destroying the sacred birthplace of Aboriginal people.

Although the rock had been handed back to Aboriginal people there was one condition - it must remain open to the public for 99 years. There are areas of the rock known as sacred sites and these areas are forbidden to be photographed.

Despite the rock looking smooth in Australia advertising photos there are lots of caves and creeks at its base. After a short walk we went to watch the sun set. Sadly the rain and clouds made it a little disappointing. But nevertheless it was an awesome sight to witness. Once the sun had set we drove back to camp which was in the Uluru resort. We had all chipped in to get kangaroo tail for tea. I munched on my marshmallows on the campfire before we threw in the tail. When the tail was cooked it started to curl up. Not all of the fur was burnt off so Si had to help cut it up with our guide Tom. They pulled out the tendons and Si had blood splattering on his face.

The group then spent the rest of the night around the camp fire having a few drinks. That night it rained quite a lot, so there was a mad rush to find shelter, which made for a comical ten minutes watching everyone try to fit under the small shelter.

In the morning we drove back to Uluru and walked around the entire base of the rock, which was around ten kilometers. After the walk we all once again boarded the bus and played a few games on the long drive back to Alice Springs which only took about seven hours of non stop driving.

Later that night after everyone had had the chance to wash themselves and there clothes, everyone met and the pub in town for dinner and a jug of beer. The night started of slowly, but soon became a beer free forall, which made for interesting photos and a cracking hangover in the morning. We both had another day of chilling at the hostel and in town, before we flew back to Melbourne and civilisation the next morning.