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Oh. My. Goodness..... if I ever have to come back to Alice Springs again it will be too soon.
Had a hilarious few days in the desert - flew from Melbourne to Alice and as soon as I got off the plane I could feel the difference in the heat - it was BOILING!! It was very strange flying into the middle of Australia - there really is NOTHING there and you begin to feel totally isolated, and a little bit worried that there is absolutely nothing around except red sand and the bush (and deadly snakes and poisonous spiders etc etc etc!!).
Stayed at an 'interesting' place called Toddys - felt like being back in Fiji (ie it was run down and dirty)! Met a spanish girl called Aroa and told her about the three day trip I was doing with Adventure Tours, so as she had a bit more time to kill she booked the four day trip with the same company. When the buses came in the morning, we were on the same one though - brilliant! And John, who had been on the same winery tour as me in Melbourne was also on the four day trip and in the same bus - sweet! We had a great time... excpet for the guide treating us like naughty school children and getting all moody when we played his diggeridoo (no, I dont think that's how you spell it either!).
There were 24 people on the bus - two from England (myself and John), Aroa from Spain, Anna from Brazil, Laura from Canada, two girls from Taiwan, a couple from China, four Germans (three ladies/sisters/friends visiting one of the others daughter), five Italians (the same set up plus a father figure), a Swiss or three, a girl from Finland and one from Norway and a girl from Japan. If that doesnt add up to 24 then I must have missed someone... but to cut a very long story short, communication was a bit of a struggle for our guide (called Spud) so I think thats why he kept getting stressed...
We started our trip with a 5km hike round the Olgas in the boiling afternoon sun, then got to Uluru for sunset and after dinner at the campsite at Yalara, slept outside in a swag (a canvas bag that you sleep in under the stars - tried not to think about the creepy crawlies etc but I survived!!). Got up at 4am to watch the sunrise at the rock - it's supposed to be amazing, but it was cloudy so the rock didnt really change colour and just like the previous evening, there were a thousand other tourists and their cars and buses watching too, so it wasnt quite the spiritual experience they make it out to be... then we went for an 8km walk around Uluru - you can climb it if you want to; but they dont like you to: but they wont tell you why. It's sacred. They wont tell you why it's sacred though. It just is. Hmmmm....
It's blooming hot though, so glad we were up early to do the walk. We moved to a different campsite and our guide, Spud, cooked a meal over the campsite for us and we had the chance to sleep in the swags again, but myself and Laura slept in the tent with the door open but John, Aroa and Anna slept outside the door in swags - my thinking being that the dingos would definitley eat them first as they were outside!!! But there were no dingos, luckily!! Then had to to get up at 5am the next day to walk around Kings Canyon. Which was actually my favourite walk - even though it took three and a half hours in the heat of the morning! And, there is a nice little water hole that you can swim in, but Spud was all moody and wouldnt let us swim in it!! He told us we couldnt/shouldnt, and then we had to sit and watch while another tour group, from the same company, all jumped in!!!!!!!!!!!! Rubbish!!! The whole experrience, which I can actually look back on now as hilarious and fun, was actually like a comedy version of being in a cross between boot camp and Big Brother - we just couldnt evict anyone!!
Back to civillization though on Monday as I fly to Cairns. Phew.
xxxxxx
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