Sheila writes:

We're back in civilisation (Alice Springs) after the most amazingly fantastic 8 day tour in the Outback, including the visit to Uluru and 'fossicking' for opals in the mines at Coober Pedy! We've had our requisite 12 hour sleep last night to recover from sleep deprivation after 5 early morning starts in a row (why does everyone want to see Uluru at sunrise? We had to get up at 3.30am to get there in time!!) Other mornings were all 4.30 starts to get us to the start of big hikes early enough to finish before the main heat of the day (>40oC)!! Uluru is an astonishing sight close to. It really is massive (although only the second biggest lump of rock in the world (according to our guide)). We were fascinated by the Aboriginal stories explaining why Uluru is a sacred place and interested to hear how the area and the rock were "handed back" to the Aboriginal community that live there - but disappointed that we didn't meet any of the local community and we would have liked to hear the sories from the Aborigial people themselves. The National Park/World Heritage Site has tried very hard to integrate Aussie Rangers and management with at least equal numbers of local Aboriginal people - but they don't take a front role in meeting tourists. We also did two walks in other parts of the "Red Centre" - at Kata Tjuta (a series of 36 massive sandstone domes near Uluru) and Kings Canyon (a gash cut by river through a series of sandstone escarpments). Hey - you know me - I could go on and on and ....on...!! Only a couple of mishaps so far - Clare twisted her ankle on Day 1 of our outback trip - after scaling the most difficult moun tain of the whole 8 days in the Flinders Range north of Adelaide. Although she has been incapacitated (and is getting much better now) she managed to do decent chunks of all the hikes we did. Otherwise we are both fit as fiddles, enjoying the luxuries of being back in civilisation (after roughing it for 8 days) and raring to get on. In terms of roughing it - one of our highlights has been sleeping in "swags" - a matress with sleeping bag on top - under the stars!! (and boy are there fantastic starry skies out in the bush where there is no light pollution!!). Clare writes: I didn't have much luck, it's true - my sprain meant I couldn't do the bike ride and had to stick to easier versions of the other walks (eg i only did part of the Ulhuru base walk... although bizarrely my sandals did the whole circuit - long story)). I also managed to drop my camera in the washing up water at the camp at William Creek - the most remote town in S. Australia... but I mustn't grumble because we had a fantastic time - loved sleeping in my swag under the stars... lots of pics to come!! (thogh obvioulsy most of them will now be Sheila's.