Tuesday 13th October 2009

Today was our only full day in Alice Springs and because we camped last night we were awake by about 7:30am!!! After a slow start Daisy and Mark dropped us off in town at about 10am, so we could sort out our future plans.

Now most towns at 10am would have everything open but it appeared this was not the case in Alice Springs so we grabbed a coffee at a local café and had that before going to various travel agents!! Because of the legal problems of us being in a camper van with no seats or seatbelts we had decided to quit whilst we were ahead and sort out alternative travel to Adelaide. Firstly though we needed to find the cheapest and best way to see Uluru (Ayres Rock). Uluru is actually 5 hours away from Alice Springs so you can't just jump on a bus.

So anyway to cut a long story short we spend 4 hours going between travel agents, the internet and tourist information before got some thing sorted!! In the end it worked out more economical and a better experience to do a 3 day, 2 night tour to Uluru. This tour was $295 (plus park fee) where as a one day tour was going to cost us $200 (plus park fee). And with the 1 day tour you leave at 6am and don't return until midnight, with most of the day spend sitting on a coach. No thank you. We also ended up booking flights to Adelaide as believe it or not this was the cheapest way to travel. A lot cheaper than bus or train!!!

After all our sorting out and using the internet we eventually at about 4pm made our way to the YHA hostel where we met back up with Daisy and Mark. We'd managed to get a family room for us all as it worked out cheaper than 4 dorm beds!! After sorting our bags out for the next morning and getting changed, we all went out for a Thai meal too celebrate Daisy's birthday.

Wednesday 14th October 2009

Today started at 5am, god help us!! After showering and sorting out our remaining packing we were picked up by our tour guide Dom, at 6am. After a quick stop at the office it was on the road for our first drive of the day. There were 21 of us on the tour but the first 200km, we all slept, so apart from the person next door to me it was a while before we all started to get to know each other.

First stop of the day was a road house where we all had coffee and some breakie. After this it was a further 300km or so too our first stop which was Kings' Canyon.

We arrived at Kings Canyon at about 11:30am and then we set off for a 3 and a half hour walk. The first section of this walk was up a hill commonly known as Heart Attack Hill. As you can tell from the name, it was steep!!! Once we'd all made it up the hill we had lunch up there over looking the canyon. After this we then did the walk of about 7km over and around the canyon, taking in the sandstone domes of the lost city and the fabulous views of the canyon. It was impressive but we are both just a little bit over gorges/canyons at the moment due to the amount we've seen so far in the past month. But we both said if we hadn't have come here straight from the West coast then yes it would have been pretty cool!!!

After the walk around the canyon it was back on the bus and then it was another couple of hours drive to our camp for the night, Curtain Springs. Curtain springs is a outback farm and so camp tonight was bush camping, shovel and all!!!! Great for us as it meant going back to sleeping in swags under the stars! Beautiful!!!!

Dinner tonight was Chili and Rice done on the camp fire!!

Thursday 15th October 2009

Today's start was 5:30am!!!! Once up, dressed, fed and watered if was onto the bus and on the road too Kata Tjuta or the Olga's. We also got our first glimpse of Uluru this morning whilst on the road!! Here we did the Valley of the winds walk around the Olga's. The Olga's are large dome rock formations, they were very impressive and the views across the land were magical. I opted too do the 5.5km walk with some of the group whilst Caroline opted for the 7km walk including a steep hill. I decided against it as I wasn't feeling that wonderful. Both walks ended up in the same place so we were all reunited for a final great view over Kata Tjuta!! Kata Tjuta is the Aboriginal name for the Olga's.

After visiting the Olga's we went too the Aboriginal Cultural centre where we spent a couple of hours reading and gaining knowledge on the Aboriginal culture. All the tours we have done have been great at giving us a better understanding of the Aboriginal culture, Dom our guide was also very clued up so gave us all some great information on there history.

From the Cultural centre it was over to Uluru. Uluru is the Aboriginal name, Ayres Rock is the Western name. Because a lot of land has been given back to its rightful owners, the Aboriginies, a lot of places are now known by there Aboriginal name.

Today at Uluru we did a 2km round walk looking at some Aboriginal Art works on the rock and been given some of the stories associated with the art work. Now because were non aboriginal people we are not allowed too know all the stories. We are only allowed to know the children's versions. They also have woman's stories that men are not allowed to know and vise-a-versa. We both quite like the fact that everything in this world has a story for creations etc, they don't use science!!!

After the walk it was over to the sunset viewing area. We arrived about 5pm which was fairly early. But this gave us all a good chance to get a good position to view sunset. It also meant we could take lots of photos of Uluru and each other before too many people arrived. Sunset was about 7pm, whilst waiting for dark we had dinner and a few sunset beers!! It was a beautiful sunset. From here it was a short drive to camp, tonight we had facilities! Yippee! So we all spend some time around the camp fire, showered and crawled into our swags about 11pm!

Friday 14th October 2009

Help me!! Today we were up at 4:30am! Are you mad I hear you ask!!! Not quite but I don't think either of us will be volunteering to watch sunrise again for quite some time. Not only was it early and dark but it was COLD!!! In the desert it appears to be very warm in the day but in the night time hours it was freezing!! We arrived at the sunrise viewing area about 5am and we both got back into our sleeping bags too keep warm. Sun rise was nice but oh my god it was freezing!!!!

After sunrise we did the 8km base walk around Uluru. Now I'm sorry to say but this was the most boring walk I have ever done in my life!! It was horrendous! It was all flat and as much as the rock is it impressive you really don't need to see it from every angle!!

There are several sacred sites around Uluru but the actual rock itself is not sacred. But the Aboriginal people would prefer it if you didn't climb it. The climb is still open but a lot of people these days don't climb. None of our group wanted too out of respect for the Aboriginal people but also because its so bloody dangerous!! Over 80 people have died trying to climb Uluru!!

After the walk it was onto the bus and a long drive back too Alice Springs. We did stop at a camel farm on the way back and yes we did have a ride, I didn't want to but Caroline persuaded me! It was ok, but not much else!!

We arrived back in Alice at about 4pm and after checking in to the YHA, showering and sorting ourselves out a bit we joined the rest of the group at The Rock bar at about 7:30pm for dinner, drinks and a dance.

Saturday 15th October 2009

Up and checked out by 10am. Dressed and packed by about 11:30am. Saw some of the others, had some food and then caught a taxi too the airport.

Flight left Alice Springs at 4pm and arrived in Adelaide at about 7:10pm local time. We had jumped another hour ahead. So we are now 9 and a half hours in front of you guys!!

Once in Adelaide we jumped in a taxi and headed straight for our hostel. It was then food and bed. We were knackered!!!!!!!

Goodbye for now, see you in Adelaide! xxxx