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Hi everyone,
We have just made it back to Sydney from our trip around Australia's Red Centre. It was a real adventure, so different to the bright lights of the city and an alien landscape for Mum and Dad, fresh off a plane from London!
We set off on Wednesday morning to Ayers Rock in the dead centre of Australia. The haze of the Blue Mountains that surround Sydney looked awesome from the air, as did Uluru as we approached from the Simpson desert. The landscape was bright red and bleak from the air, although there was more vegetation than we expected. The airport was amusing, in the middle of a desert, literally, and we were warned about dingos, wild dogs and camels. Uluru was a breathtaking sight up close, one we were all familiar with but amazed to see with our own eyes. We entered Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and watched sunset over Uluru one evening and went on a 10.5km base walk the following day. The Rock was spectacular, the bright red against the bright blue sky with caves and Aboriginal paintings. However, the minute we stepped out of the car dozens of hitchhikers came along for the ride - flies. It turned into a very amusing battle to keep them at bay with some inventive headgear more suited to a rendevouz with Osama in Afganistan. I have some hilarious photos as a result. It was boiling hot too but a super walk. We drove further west to the Olgas next - a series of huge rounded rocks along a valley, equally as spectacular as Uluru. Driving along the outback roads was fun, the vast, uninterrupted landscape was immense and we spotted a huge herd of Camels although no dingo.
We flew on to Alice Springs next after a few comical moments in the airport, about the size of a garden shed but with security like T5. The town was relatively large but hemmed in by the MacDonnal mountain ranges, beyond which was nothing for hundreds of miles. The road signs point to Darwin in one direction (1000+km) and Adelaide in the other (1500km!), the nearest town being Tennant Creek, 550km away! We inspected the town centre, full of aboriginal art galleries, and ended up purchasing a print off an aboriginal lady in the street called 'Pauline Smith'. We hired a car and went joy-riding along the open roads, out to Simpsons Gap - a beautiful oasis in the mountains, where we walked along a dry river bed and spotted some wallabies - nice! We set off along a woodland walk next but got freaked out by spiders, locusts and humungous ants so did a runner back and checked out sights around the town. It is such a bizarre place but with a fascinating history, and we got a real insight to Aboriginal life and the old Australia. The Aboriginal population is totally segregated from Western life and live in camps at the edge of town. It is an astonishing situation for a 1st world country. We went to the Sunday market along Todd Mall for a quick look before catching a flight back to Sydney - and here we are - what a difference!
So a super adventure around the Red Centre! Back in Sydney we will head out to the Blue Mountains one day and all the other million things on our 'to-do' list so keep an eye out as I will update soon!
Grace xx
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