Today we were picked up from our hotel at 5.20am so we had set our alarms for 4.45am. Stephen was reluctant to get out of bed but we felt a bit better after showers. The coach took us to Uluru again and we climbed some sand dunes in the dark with cups of coffee to a viewing deck at the top. The damn flies were out with a vengeance again and with one net between us (as I had left mine in the coach) Stephen gallantly let me use his and he fashioned a bandana type covering with my shirt!

As the sun crept up the sky the rock changed from a dark brown to a deep red and then to a burnt orange. It was well worth the early start.

We then boarded the coach for our journey to Walpa gorge. This is another aboriginal site, one reserved exclusively for men. The site is important to them as a certain type of wood (the name of which has escaped me) grows there and is used to make their hunting weapons.

The trek to the top is quite rocky and steep but being super fit as we are we made it to the top in 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the group! It was fly central again so we didn't stay long but the view from the top of the valley below was pretty spectacular. As there has been a lot of rain recently it was very green.

From here we travelled to the Olgas, a large range of unusual rock formations. Similar in colour to Uluru but a compete contrast they were well worth the visit.

Our shock came later in the day when we arrived at our accommodation, the Kings Canyon resort-sounds lovely doesn't it? Suffice to say it wasn't. We stayed in a tin chalet which, whilst containing most of the mod cons was also a Mecca for just about every insect under the sun-spiders, ants, crickets, beetles-you named it they were sharing the room with us. Strangely I managed to take it all in my stride and even went for a swim (albeit a very brief one) in their natural pool which was also teeming with insects both dead and alive....

The bar/restaurant was also a bit of an eye opener. It was basically a tent with long wooden tables set out on dirt and sand, spiders all over the shop. We ordered pizza and ate it as quickly as possible so we could get out of there. This experience has just reaffirmed that camping is not for me!