Australia. Alice Springs and Uluru tour.

After a rather unpleasant stay in Cairns airport I was so excited to get on the plane to leave! It was a really empty flight which may explain the super expensive ticket! But it was an amazing journey to sit and watch the ground below the window (through sunglasses still!) as the landscape changed so rapidly and so many times. It just went red and dry so quickly and just like a desert, and then more river beds could be seen and finally some bush came to fill the red sand. When we were on out descent into Alice Springs you could see that the town was surrounded by hills which had been blown up in places to get the road in. Getting off the plane it felt so cool! It was 27oc but it was so dry it was such a pleasant change!! 

I went to my hostel at about 2pm and then went to town. I had an optician appointment later in the afternoon so I also wanted to check out where I was going. I walked the short walk to town and unfortunately instantly felt uncomfortable as there were so many drunk aboriginals hanging around the streets shouting and being generally anti social. But I had a look around the shops and especially the aboriginal art galleries and souvenir shops. I bought mum another tea towel and myself a fabric bag both out of beautiful printed fabrics. 

The town was pretty crappy and not much going on so filling my time until my appointment was hard! But when my time came I saw the optician and he said my eye had not got better as well as it shoul have been after 8 days of antibiotics but I got prescribed some anti inflammatories which should help with my light sensitivity. He said I needed to be seen again after taking these drops so he so kindly offered to come in on Easter Sunday after I get back from my rock tour for another check up! So nice! And the appointment only cost $30, bargain!

I went back and as I was exhausted from the crappy airport sleep and as we were getting picked up at 5:30 am I went to bed. Luckily the girls in my dorm were on the same tour so we all went to bed and set out alarms for 4:45!

We got collected by our Irish guide and set off on our hot little bus! Everyone on the bus was really nice, half German of course! Our driver was really nice if a but annoying but he told is that we weren't allowed to ask how long we were going to be driving, as the answer was always going to be "forever". And it always was! So we drove forever and then went to Kings Canyon which was a giant canyon, as the name suggests! We went for a long walk around it and through some spectacular scenery. The rock are so red and sky was so blue that it was amazing. 

There was also a lot of cliff edges to get some good photos on!!

The rocks were like slate in their formation with lots of layers. When we descended into the gorge we got to the water and the landscape became more lush and like a rainforest almost. 

After our walk we set off and drove forever. We stopped by the side of the road and had to set off and collect fire wood. Out guide was very specific about what he wanted size and thickness wise it was a really shitty job. We had to pull down the trees and a lot of them were burnt so they were really sooty and and we got so dirty and had no showers in our camp in the evening! We were allowed to wash up in a toilet we passed on the way during the beer stop, then drove forever to out camp. We were camping out in the bush in the middle of absolutely nowhere!  There was a fire pit, a shelter for the kitchen and a really grim long drop toilet. We made the fire and cooked dinner on it. Our guide was a shit cook and really needed a more extensive supply of spices that curry powder and paprika to cook our meals with for the three days! So we had a crappy chilli with no spices in and rice. It was warm and it was dark when we ate so it went down ok! After a few beers we went to sleep. We were sleeping out under the stars in swags. I though a swag was going to be like a hammock, but no it's like a mattress with a canvas sleeping bag type thing attached and a big flap which you can flop over your head. We made the beds and then in order to keep the snakes away apparently, we made a line around our beds as apparently they can see the straight line and think it's another snake, and put salt in the line to keep away the spiders. Thought that was just for keeping witches away, but we did it anyway! The stars were amazing too but the moon was so bright it made them a bit less bright. I slept pretty well despite the snoring in stereo! I felt pretty safe until the dingos started howling!! There were two on one side of us and then another one started calling too on the other side, at which point the flap went right up over my head! 

We got up earlyg and drove to our next camp which was at the Uluru resort where everyone stays who visits Uluru. We had breakfast and showers! I was not expecting to get a shower for the three days so this was amazing! We then set of another forever drive and made it to Kata Tjuta and walked through the Valley of the Winds. The rocks here were made from rocks stuck together over millions of years and looked very different to Kings Canyon. 

It was definitly my favourite place we went to on the tour. After this we went to a look out place and got some great views. 

We set off to go to the Uluru cultural centre. All tour visitors have to go to this before they can go to Uluru. It explains about it's significance to the aboriginal people and explains why you shouldn't climb it and asks you not to. We were then allowed to go to Uluru! Our guide took us the Mala walk and told us some stories about Uluru. After this raced off to a lookout point for dinner (terrible) to watch the sun set over Uluru. 

We went back to camp for the night and slept under the stars again. We were up early to have breakfast at the same look out to watch the sun rise over Uluru. Unfortunately my camera took all the sunrise photos looking the same!

After the sun had risen we drove to Uluru and did the 10km base walk around it. 

There were lots of areas in which you can't take photos but they were so badly signposted that I think I might have accidentally taken some in these areas. 

We walked past so many people climbing it, I was so surprised! I'm not sure if there was a lot as it was Easter weekend or just lots of people like to ignore the please don't climb sign at the bottom. 

After this we made the forever drive back to Alice Springs. We stopped off on the way back to ride camels. I though this sounded cool so we paid our $7 and lined up for our rides. It was literally a lap around a paddock, one half walking and one half trotting. The biggest waste of $7 ever! 

Just as we got back into town we stopped of to get out photo taken on the Alice Springs sign! Kat (a kiwi nurse working in the Alice hospital) said it was the lesbian capital of Australia so I had to straddle it. Haha! There are no decent men so you leave a lesbian. 

We had a tour night out that night and had a great time. Ended up with the nurses and the other English girl Eloise in the casino, serious lack of night life in Alice. It was cool as I spent the next day with these girls at their house and they were so friendly! Went to the pool and cooked us breakfast. Also my eye is better!! Went to the opticians who came in just to see me and my ulcer is pretty much gone! Just need to take the anti inflammatories for the next three weeks. Yay! :) Now to Asia!!