11-12-09

So last night we went to the hotel bar and did a bday drink for Bre's birthday. Then I headed back to the room because we had to get up at 4 this morning. Unfortunately, once the bday celebration got going, people forgot that we had a super early start on tour the next day. Me and Vanessa were in bed by about 10:30, our roommates stumbled in at 2. Needless to say they were still drunk when the alarm went off at 4. But they weren't the only ones, half the bus was hung over this morning. Collin was handing out barf bags just incase. I was feeling like s*** even with my 5 hours or so, so I cant imagine how they must have felt, but they new what was up today. We got to Ares rock at 5:50 with 10 mins to spare before sunrise. The sky was just getting hazy when we reached the lookout. When it broke over the horizon and hit the rock it was very beautiful. Then we did the 2 ½ hour walk around the rock. It's not just a solid rock like it looks, the whole thing has little Swiss cheese like wholes in it from erosion. It was cool, we also heard the insane aboriginal theories as to how the rock came into creation,, something to do with the day snake eating mud and crapping it out or some crap like that. Then we headed back to the hotel and went for an afternoon swim. The temp peaked at 117. Went to watch the sunset over Ares rock. The group had to drink 25 bottles of Champaign in 25 mins, so needless to say the bus ride back was a bit wild. We hung out at the hotel bar and grill and relaxed and played cards and chatted with some of the locals and listend to live music. This is our second to last night in the north, then we fly down to the coast into cairns. Tomorrow we have a nice lazy low stress morning, and head back to Alice springs for our AU Blow out meal with kangaroo tail, croc, emu, and some other local dishes. Then we head back to the hotel to pack our stuff and get ready for our flight the next morning.