Okay, so our next stop after Melbourne was Uluru (or Ayers Rock as we used to call it) and Alice Springs, for a 2 night / 3 day safari/camping trip. Yes, that's right, I camped in the outback... and survived! A proud moment for me ;-)

So we got up early on Friday to fly to Uluru where we landed at around 10.30am, and it was already hothothot - think the temperature reached around 41 degrees the day we got there, I've honestly never known anything like it. I've also never experienced so many flies buzzing around me - we'd bought fly nets within about 20 minutes of arriving! Spent a lot of time batting them away from our faces - a move apparently known as the "Aussie salute"! We got picked up by our adventure tours bus from the Ayers Rock Resort - like a hotel apartment complex which is really all there is at Uluru (other than the rock of course). We were taken to the Uluru cultural centre where we got our first proper views of the rock, and some information about it and it's place in aboriginal culture. The rock is pretty stunning in such flat surroundings.

We then went over to the Kata Tjuta national park and walked down the Valley of the Winds - according to the aboriginals, the sound of the wind is the voice of their ancestors talking to them and giving them advice. And boy was it windy! Our guides were cool and gave us loads of info about aboriginal stories, the way they lived and used different plants etc, along the way. After this we went to a viewing point to watch the sun set over Uluru - with some much appreciated champagne and nibbles!

This did, however, mean it was dark when we arrived at the campsite, which was pretty nerve wracking. We cooked and ate dinner, which included kangaroo steak - actually really tasty! We slept in 'tents' which were kind of like these raised canvas hut things. They only slept 2 but Ellie offered to share with someone we'd chatted to on the bus - which I was relived about, as I was feeling pretty nervous and wanted to be with someone I knew! We also had a snake sighting in camp (Dad/Greg, you would not have liked that!) but I chose not to go and look in case it scared me - and we were actually told the next day that it had bitten one of the guides in the next door camping area and she'd had to go home to hospital. Kind of glad they didnt tell us that at the time! But I was so tired I did actually manage to sleep pretty well, even with 2 spindly spiders in the corner - aside from the one scary dream as I was dozing off to which I woke shouting "#*#*", scaring the life out of poor Amy bless her!

On Saturday morning we got up at 4.30 am - yes that's right, 4.30, it was painful. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be able to see my things in anything other than torch light! This was to go to the sunrise viewing point to watch the sun rise over Uluru - which would have been spectacular, except it was so cloudy the sun never broke through, which was disappointing. In fact today was chilly and wet - we couldn't believe the bad weather had actually followed us to Ayers Rock! It was probably a blessing though, as the sun would have been fierce and at least we didnt burn (look at that for optimism!).

We then drove over to Uluru to do the base walk around it. At the beginning we stopped along the way to hear some aboriginal facts and stories from our guides, we then carried on the rest of the 8k walk around it. It was interesting to see it so closely, though the walk did get a bit samey after a while! There are certain places you can't walk near or photograph because they're sacred sights. After this it was back to camp for lunch (first time we'd actually seen it in the light!) which Amy, Ellie and I cooked on the barby, oh yeah we were proud! Then drove over to King's Canyon where we were spending that night, saw some camels along the way. We also stopped to collect firewood for the evening's camp fire and I had great fun wrestling a tree which I was determined to make into firewood and which the others found hilarious - I was enjoying getting into the camping spirit! Arrived at camp in the light which was a nice change, got a fire going and then used this to cook our dinner - chicken, potatoes and vegetables in sauces - in metal buckets. Tonight was much more relaxed and comfortable than the previous night, and dinner was gorgeous. We were still not safe from the wildlife though - apparently the area has lots of dingoes but we were told not to think of them as aggressive dogs but as "curious puppies" - a small comfort, i suppose!

Hoped for a small lie in this morning but no, we were up early for the third morning running, this time at 5 to go over and do the 6k walk up and over King's Canyon. It was a more challenging but also more interesting walk than the day before's (and to be honest after the Tongariro crossing I feel I could handle any walk, nothing could be as hard as that!). We then drove the 4 hours over to Alice Springs, with a lunch stop along the way. The sun had still not put in an appearence since Friday - in fact it rained on us at lunchtime! Spotted a kangaroo on the afternoon's coach ride which was pleasing. Arrived at Alice Springs in the sunshine - the weather is so unpredictable here - and checked into our hostel. This was the end of our safari trip - felt very proud of myself.. and also very glad of a pillow!

Got up on Monday morning to fly to Sydney for the next part of our Australian adventure... which is where I am now! Will tell you all about it in my next entry...