What a week I've had!! It all started early one morning in Darwin. Kelly and I had to get up at 4.30am to pack and check-out of our hostel in time to catch our tour bus down to Alice Springs. Well I have to say we did a pretty good job considering we didn't go to bed till late and I only got 2 hours sleep!! So as you can probably guess I was in a brilliant mood to start off with!! We sat around waiting and waiting (this seems to be fast becoming one of my favourite past-times!!), eventually the bus turned up (it turned out the driver couldn't find the hostel - I don't know how he missed it, its on the only main road in Darwin with a bit YHA sign outside it!!). To top it off the tour guide (Luke) was far too chirpy and happy for that time of the morning! So we just chucked our bags into the trailer, found some empty seats and tried to ignore him and get some rest!! This proved easier said than done. To start off with I had a middle-aged Icelandic guy sitting opposite me who insisted on staring at me - this became rather spooky after a while. I kept whispering to Kelly that he was freaking me out and eventually he got the message because after 5 hours he eventually changed seats - thank god!! On our first day we headed to Katherine Gorge which was pretty! As it was a very hot day Kelly and I opted out of climbing a huge rock to see over the gorge and did a boat ride down the gorges instead. We got to see a fresh water crocodile (they apparently don't eat people, but I wasn't about to test that theory!!), a turtle and rocks! There isn't much to see between Darwin and Alice Springs, just some rocks which they call the Devil's Marbles and a pub! We eventually managed to make it to Alice Springs unscathed - that is without hitting any wild kangaroos, cows or camels! We went out that night in Alice - a final farewell to our group. I did send a text out to some of you as I was in this pub/club place that broadcasted live over the net. So the lucky few who were close to a computer at the time got to see me drinking and 'dancing' -I hope you enjoyed it!
The next morning we were off on our trip to Ayers Rock. This time we didn't have such a good group. There was a dutch couple where the guy was just rude, and then 3 Asians who's English wasn't that good so the conversations were mostly one way. Luckily we were saved by our tour guide - Will (aw yeah!!) who was in fact English but had been in Australia for 6 years and was therefore mostly Aussie!! At least he looked like it, dressed up like Steve Urwin, wearing a cowboy hat and using so much Aussie slang that Kelly and I spent most of the time taking the piss out of him!! Anyway he made the trip as he was pretty much the only one we could have a decent conversation with. Although, he was a huge liar!! On our first night he told us that there were no tents and therefore we had to sleep outside with a swag and a sleeping bag. For those of you who don't know a swag is like a canvas bag with pretty much a piece of foam as a mattress inside. I might add it's not very comfortable (therefore I requested I slept with two!) and not very warm. I know most of you might be mistaken in thinking that Australia is a hot country and this would especially be the case in the middle of the desert! Well you would be wrong. For a start it is winter here right now and in the outback it gets very very cold - it was 2 degrees Celsius when we were there at night. I had 2 swags, 2 sleeping bags and 7 layers of clothes on just so that I felt slightly warm sleeping outside. We also had to contend with the fact that there were wild creatures about - i.e. dingoes, snakes, spiders and any other nasty creatures. This did not make sleeping on the first night very easy!! Luckily for us we were not bothered by any of these, but Will did get a thrill out of telling us that not so long ago he had a snake at his camp site and also that a dingo bit him on his foot while he was sleeping - Oh how I felt so much better about the whole thing!! Anyway, going back to the story - when we woke up the following morning we found that there were in fact tents that we could have slept in - so thanks Will!! Although I have to say that despite being tricked into sleeping outside I did enjoy the experience - but I think I would prefer to camp during the spring when it is slightly warmer!
So the reason we were going through this crazy camping was to see Ayers Rock (Uluru) which we did. We walked around it - it took us 2 1/2 hours - its pretty big! We also got to see King's Canyon and the Olgas. It was all amazing and beautiful and I must have about 300 photos now of red rocks sticking out of the ground - during sunrise, daytime and sunset! Once our 3 1/2 days was over Will kindly drove us back to Alice Springs (some 5 hours away!). The following day Kelly and I parted ways. She was off on a 3-day trip to Cairns (I wouldn't mention the fact to her that you can fly there in little over an hour for the same price!). I spent the day in Alice Springs which I slightly regretted as there is absolutely nothing to do there. I know I was warned but I thought that the place could at least occupy somebody for a day - I was wrong. I did manage to find the baby kangaroo rescue center where I got to hold a baby kangaroo called Uluru who was only 6 months old. He was very cute and more importantly very warm (Its still cold!!). It was then time for me to leave the outback and head back to civilisation.
The next morning we were off on our trip to Ayers Rock. This time we didn't have such a good group. There was a dutch couple where the guy was just rude, and then 3 Asians who's English wasn't that good so the conversations were mostly one way. Luckily we were saved by our tour guide - Will (aw yeah!!) who was in fact English but had been in Australia for 6 years and was therefore mostly Aussie!! At least he looked like it, dressed up like Steve Urwin, wearing a cowboy hat and using so much Aussie slang that Kelly and I spent most of the time taking the piss out of him!! Anyway he made the trip as he was pretty much the only one we could have a decent conversation with. Although, he was a huge liar!! On our first night he told us that there were no tents and therefore we had to sleep outside with a swag and a sleeping bag. For those of you who don't know a swag is like a canvas bag with pretty much a piece of foam as a mattress inside. I might add it's not very comfortable (therefore I requested I slept with two!) and not very warm. I know most of you might be mistaken in thinking that Australia is a hot country and this would especially be the case in the middle of the desert! Well you would be wrong. For a start it is winter here right now and in the outback it gets very very cold - it was 2 degrees Celsius when we were there at night. I had 2 swags, 2 sleeping bags and 7 layers of clothes on just so that I felt slightly warm sleeping outside. We also had to contend with the fact that there were wild creatures about - i.e. dingoes, snakes, spiders and any other nasty creatures. This did not make sleeping on the first night very easy!! Luckily for us we were not bothered by any of these, but Will did get a thrill out of telling us that not so long ago he had a snake at his camp site and also that a dingo bit him on his foot while he was sleeping - Oh how I felt so much better about the whole thing!! Anyway, going back to the story - when we woke up the following morning we found that there were in fact tents that we could have slept in - so thanks Will!! Although I have to say that despite being tricked into sleeping outside I did enjoy the experience - but I think I would prefer to camp during the spring when it is slightly warmer!
So the reason we were going through this crazy camping was to see Ayers Rock (Uluru) which we did. We walked around it - it took us 2 1/2 hours - its pretty big! We also got to see King's Canyon and the Olgas. It was all amazing and beautiful and I must have about 300 photos now of red rocks sticking out of the ground - during sunrise, daytime and sunset! Once our 3 1/2 days was over Will kindly drove us back to Alice Springs (some 5 hours away!). The following day Kelly and I parted ways. She was off on a 3-day trip to Cairns (I wouldn't mention the fact to her that you can fly there in little over an hour for the same price!). I spent the day in Alice Springs which I slightly regretted as there is absolutely nothing to do there. I know I was warned but I thought that the place could at least occupy somebody for a day - I was wrong. I did manage to find the baby kangaroo rescue center where I got to hold a baby kangaroo called Uluru who was only 6 months old. He was very cute and more importantly very warm (Its still cold!!). It was then time for me to leave the outback and head back to civilisation.
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