Woke up really early in Alice Springs after spending the night at yet another hostel and ate a free breakfast (!) before jumping on my bus with G Adventures (its the same company ill be doing the trek in nepal with, so I'm glad i got to check them out before). It was about a 5-6 hour drive out to the place we were camping near Uluru (Ayers Rock) with only a few bathroom breaks. After getting to the campsite for lunch and having some sandwiches, we got back into the bus and went to see Uluru 'the rock'. We first stopped at the cultural center to learn a bit more about the Aboriginals and their beliefs about the rock. Next we went and drove around the rock with our tour guide telling us about the aboriginal stories and how their stories coincide with the cracks, holes and stains on the rock.
We had a choice to walk either 8K or 4K around the rock (we could have done the whole thing, but we were running low on time). So i chose to do the 8K which i finished in 1&1/2 hours! After barely making it to the bus alive, we loaded up and went to watch the sunset with bubbly! We had a light snack of nuts, fruit, and chips & dip - along with the champagne as we watched the sun set on Uluru. It was a great sunset with just the right amount of clouds to highlight the colors. We packed up and went back to our camp where we had a bbq dinner of camel burgers, kangaroo steaks and sausages (along with salad and bread). The camel was pretty good and the kangaroo was a little on the tougher side to chew. We slept under the stars since the weather was perfect in what Aussies call swags which are basically a big canvas bag with a small foam mattress pad inside. We each got a pillow and put our sleeping bags inside and slept like babies until the dingos howled.
The next morning we woke ip really early to a breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, oj, cereal, etc. and it was delicious. We packed up the bus and drove to watch the sunrise on Uluru and the Olgas, which are another rock formation/ slight mountain range in the desert only about 50km away from Uluru. The aboriginal boys have their initiation tests into manhood at the Olgas. After watching the sunrise we went to the Olgas to hike around and get a better look at them. The Olgas were really beautiful inside and the back end looked like a scene from 'The Land Before Time' movies. It was so lush and green but surrounded by red rock formations. We went back to Uluru for a little walk and talk by our tour guide about the caves and other important parts of the rock. Went back to camp for lunch before packing up the car and got on the rainy road to our next campsite. We made dinner played games and slept inside because of the rain.
Woke up the next day at 5:30 again to go on a hike of Kings Canyon. We first hiked almost directly up the canyon to the top for a great view of the area. The hike was a couple of hours along the top of the canyon. There was one particularly cool part where we crossed a bridge over a little revine that was named 'The Valley if Eden' because it was to lush and green in the middle of the red desert. The hike was fun in the rain but cold when we stopped to take photos.
After the hike we packed up the car and drove back to Alice Springs where we all met up for dinner and drinks. It was a fun drunken evening!
