"G'Day Mates!!", as we say down under.

Alice Springs was a bit of a surprise. We didn't like it much at first. There was a bit of an odd atmosphere with lots of very poor aboriginal people wandering around or hanging out in groups. Most of them looked a bit ill in an east end of Glasgow sort of way. We were warned not to be out at night on our own and with lots of police around it felt slightly menacing. We visited the Flying Doctor Museum which was excellent and then set off to find the Todd Mall for a coffee. It turn out that the cafes close at 2pm in Alice except for the Red Dog cafe in the Todd Mall. We usually think of a mall in terms of escalators and air conditioning - in Alice its just a street with closed shops. The only place that had AC (temperature 40 in the shade) and wasn't closing was the Culture Museum. And so, being people of culture, we went in. It was mostly Aboriginal painting and a section of artefacts and photographs. Some of the paintings were truly beautiful and would have graced any wall. We were approached by the curator, whose granny was Scottish, and had a half hour lecture on the symbology and meaning of the pictures. Each painter has a personal totem which may be an object, plant, animal etc. and that is all the are allowed to paint. To make a representation of someone else's totem is theft, punishable by having your legs broken. This had recently happened to a painter of some standing. Anyway, we chose a painting by an upcoming artist whose totem is the wild onion and I now have to hump it around for the rest of the trip.

We were recommended an Italian restaurant by the curator as it made the best pizzas in the world. Passing through the restaurant door was like going back to 1955. We both ordered pasta.

I'm writing this as we travel through the dessert on our way to Uluru. It is an 800km drive from Alice Springs including a 300km diversion to have a walk in King's Canyon.

We arrived in the Outback expecting to see the red centre of the continent but instead we have seen the green centre. It had been raining here too and after years the desert has sprung to life. Bright green grasses have sprung up from the red soil and the effect is astonishingly beautiful. Beautiful Desert Oaks have lined the road for hundreds of kms now. We have seen wild camels (estimated to be around 500,000 in Australia), cattle and wild horses. The occasional big lizard has scuttled across the road in front of the bus but so far no dangerous snakes.

King's Canyon is a special place in Aboriginal culture - a place of ceremony, magic and secrets. Its red sided cliffs towered above the canyon floor as we made our way through. We took a walk up the canyon and saw the most amazing ghost eucalyptus tress. They have brilliantly white bark and look stunning against the clear blue sky or the bright red of the canyon's towering walls.

With 30km still to run, Uluru has just come into view in the distance. Its huge dome is dark red as the sun begins its final descent into the horizon. We will see it twice tomorrow - at sunrise and sunset. Watch this space for the full report.