I got the shuttle bus to the airport with Alex so it was cheaper and it turns out it takes only 15 minutes to get to the airport rather than the 45 we'd been told so once I'd checked in (no queue) and gone through security there was still 3 and a half until my flight! Had to say bye to Alex and to that marked the end of my East Coast Trip.
The flight was pretty cool as you were able to see the change in the scenery from ocean (took off towards the barrier reef) to tropical forest to farm land and then to desert as you get towards the red centre.
Got a lift to the hostel and then went for a walk into town to explore with someone from the hostel. Alice Springs seemed pretty empty, everyone seems to be passing through. Came back to the hostel to write the Christmas cards and then went back to town to post them. This time I got to see more of the sad side of westernisation of Australia. Local aborigines sitting in the river bed drinking and shouting. It was a bit intimidating so I ended up walking the longer way back.
Back at the hostel we had a free BBQ (I keep timing it well!) with sausages and a fresh fruit platter and then it started to rain. I can make it rain in a desert in summer! Clearly got a real talent for this!
Chilled out in the hostel playing pictionary with a couple of people from the hostel and a few of the people who work here. Even though we were playing in English we lost to the German team! Clearly our drawing skills weren't up to it!
Day 58: West MacDonnells Ranges
I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm feeling surprisingly refreshed. It began to rain as I waited for the Emu Run bus to turn up. It was still spitting slightly as we reached Standey Chasm. We walked down from the car park into the chasm and then back. I got to play mummy bear as I made teas for everyone as we ate cookies. Yum yum!
Standley Chasm
We then visited one of the Ochre pits where aborigines used to get the Ochre for ceremonies. We went to Glen Helen resort for lunch and then to Ormiston Gorge. We went for a little walk up and along the gorge and then for a swim to cool down.
On the bus back I did something I never usually do.... I slept whilst in the front of the bus! I should have been chatting but instead I slept with my mouth wide open!!! He had a good giggle when I woke up!
The final thing we did on the tour was visiting Simpsons Gorge where there were little black footed rock wallabies hoping around in the rocks which was nice.
After dinner I just relaxed in the evening before going to bed. I had the dorm room to myself which was good as I had to be up early the next day.
Day 59: Uluru
Had a nice and early pick up (5.45) from the hostel to start the long drive to Uluru. No one was sitting in the best seat with the wide screen view of the road so I took the front seat on the bus. I'm getting very good at chatting with tour guides!
Our first service station was on a racing camel farm so I paid $7 to have a ride on a racing camel. Got to do a little bit of walking and have him trot (if tou can say that for a camel). Having a camel stand up whilst you're sitting on it isn't too scary but when it sits back down and you go flying forwards it's a little bit terrifying and causes the guy to laugh at you as you laugh in fear!
We all got what we thought were our first glimpses of Uluru about 3 hours before we actually saw it. Mount Conner's nickname is Fool-uru as so many people mistake it for Uluru but once you've seen Uluru in person you have no idea how you ever got confused!
We managed to go through rain storms (note plural!) on our way into the desert in the middle of summer! My super 'bring all the rain powers' worked again! But, because of the rain, I saw two red kangaroos that the rest of the bus missed because they were all asleep! One was drinking the rain water off the road and the other jumped right across the road in front of us and then off into the bush. It's so rare to see kangaroos even though there are so many of them. They just don't hang aroun the road where it's noisy and they could get killed. Also found out that in one of the aboriginal languages kangaroo means 'I don't understand what you are saying'. When Captain Cook saw one and asked 'what is that animal' the aborigine replied 'I don't understand' but he wrote it down as the name. Apparently lots of things are missed named due to confusion when translating the word.
We then got our first tantalising sights of Uluru as it appeared and then disappeared in between the sand dunes.
We stopped off at camp to leave the sleeping bags to dry out from the rain under the shelter and to have some sandwiches, cake and fruit for lunch before we got our tickets and entere Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park. Our first stop was the aborigine cultural centre to learn about the history and the significance of this site to the local people as the they both sit on Anangu land.
Next it was off the do the 10km walk around the base of Uluru. We saw where you can climb it and its scarily steep but also very disrespectful to do so so no chance of me wanting to climb it.
It was amazing being so up close to 'The Rock' that you could touch it in parts. I walked around the walk chatting to two guys from San Francisco, both are accountants, one was an ultimate frisbee player and the other looked like what the love child of Hayden and Mark's would look like.
We stated at Warayuki and walked the whole way to the Mala car park and because we walked it so fast we still had time to do the Mala walk to Kantju Gorge so we ended up walking about 12km in total.
Map of the walks around Uluru
There are sights around Uluru that are very important sites to the local people and so no photographs are taken of there and the tour guide isn't allowed to know the full story behind these area as an uninitiated person.
We were able to see the only permanent waterhole at the base of the rock, cave paintings and a kitchen cave but it started raining as we were finishing off the walk and so just as we were all getting disheartened about there not being a good sunset the clouds broke over the horizon and we were able to see, from the viewing area with our cheese, nibbles and champagne, the rock change colours as the sunset. It went from an earthy red to a beautiful firey red which no picture will ever do justice. You have to experience the change to understand just how amazing (and big) the rock it.
We got back to camp and had a lovely chicken stir fry for dinner (I was on veg chopping duties) and then we laid out our swags (a thin mattes inside a protective covering and you put a sleeping bag inside it) to spend the night under the stars.
What a busy day!
Day 60: Kata Tjuta
We were up at 5am to walk to a viewing spot in the camp to watch sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta but most of us where up much before that due to the orchestra of snores coming from our camp.
Kata Tjuta is a very sacred site and so every though its a very big and there are lots of different formations you are only allowed to walk on two paths. Fair enough really as the site is used all the time and I don't think I'd want a bunch of tourists walking past shoving cameras in my face whilst I undertook a sacred ceremony.
We walked the valley of the winds track (although walpa, the other track, just means windy local language!). The track was a nice 7.4km walk that we started at 7.30am and the whole group took less than 3 hours to walk it. Simo has had groups take 4.5 hours to walk it so was pretty shocked at the 2.5 hour mark when the boys and I opened up the bus door to cool down in the air con.
The walk wasnt as flat as Uluru and there were some steep slopes to climb up and down to get to the two lookout points.
We drove back to camp for some delicious burritos for lunch (my eyes were much bigger than my belly) before the 4 hour drive to the Kings Canyon campsite where I managed not to fall asleep in the front. As we neared the camp we pulled over to collect fire wood for cooking and the campfire later. We pulled down some massive branches from the dead trees and loaded them up on top of the trailer to take with us.
When we got back to camp we had a swim in the pool to cool down before a traditional Aussie dinner: a BBQ that included sausages, chicken skewers and kangaroo steaks! We also had mash potatoes and tradition bush bread that had been cooked on the campfire. The bush bread was delicious.
We threw around the frisbee for a bit that I'd brought (I knew it was worth putting it in) before walking up to watch the sunset and Kings Canyon change colour.
Once it was dark we added more logs to the campfire and me and the American guys made some delicious s'mores before another night under the stars in our swags.
Day 61: King's Canyon
Woke up at 4.30 with the Milky Way above my head having slept the whole night through. Some people had chosen to sleep in the tents last night so all the snorers must have gone there.
After breakfast we started our walk up and around the rim of King's Canyon at about 6am. It's too hot to do and you can't carry enough water to stop yourself getting dehydrated if you start any later.
The beginning of the walk is up what is lovingly referred to as 'heart attack hill' as its you climb up 100m on a very steep slope. They start you off on the hardest bit so we were all red, out of breath and sweaty when we got to the top!
Simo explained to the group the group the difference between a canyon and a gorge. I wasn't allowed to answer any of the questions as I'd been chatting to Simo about it in the bus and I didn't fancy being pushed over the edge if I answered it and ruined te surprise.... The Grand Canyon is actually a gorge and not a canyon.
The walk was really fun and there were some parts where you had to jump over the smaller cracks in the ground where you can see very far down. At one point where we could crawl to the edge and look down into the canyon which was pretty spectacular.
We walked down into the canyon and rested in the 'garden of Eden' - a little cool (temperature wise) peaceful pond surrounded by trees compared to the heat on the rim of the canyon.
We walked back up to the top (up proper stairs which was easier than the slope) and then along the top where there was very little shade. We were all glad when we saw the slope back to the car park and we could go to the toilet (3 litres of water had been drunk each to keep hydrated) and get into the air con. It was only 9am but already 33C!
All the walks we did over the three days were very different. Uluru was a very flat walk, Kata Tjuta was half flat and half rocky whilst Kings Canyon was very steep getting up and down to the rim and the flat at the top had both softer rock and was a more challenging walk. Pretty sure a few years ago I would have been so scared at parts of it so I'm glad I'm a much more competent walker (thanks Will!).
Back at the camp the boys and I played frisbee and Johnson and I taught Tom to through a flick. I did try to help prepare lunch but I'd done something at pretty much every meal and so Simo, our tour guide, sent me outside to throw instead.
We ate our lunch at 10.30! It seems early but breakfast was at 4.30 and we were on the road for the rest of the day. We had camel and beef burgers and salad for lunch before we packed up camp and hit the road.
The drive back to Alice Springs took 5 hours but we stopped once at a very nice service stop who refilled the boys slushys for free and then stopped again because there was a flock of large wedged tailed eagles feeding on a dead kangaroo right on the side of the road. They were huge and they weren't even fully grown. Their wingspan can reach 3m at fully maturity!
We stopped at the Alice spring sign on the way into town to get a photo of our group with it.
When I checked it I started packing for the flight which basically consisted of an explosion of clothes in the room and then going to relax by the pool before I could face the smell (I'd been doing a lot of walking!)
We had a final farewell group meal and drinks at a backpackers hostel and bar called Annie's. Stayed there until gone midnight and my hostel was the furthest away (obviously) so the boys walked me home. Spent the journey explaining to them how it should be 'hold the fort' not hold down the fort'! Silly Americans!! As thanks for walking me home (I didn't fancy walking across the river bed in the dark) I made them tea and biscuits as a proper English way to end the night.
I was told I had the room to myself so I was terrified at 1am when a French girl walked into the room. She had a key and her stuff was locked away in a locker and through her broken English I decided she probably hasn't broken in and was meant to be sleeping there so I could fall back asleep.
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