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Now, I don't like camping. Camping in slight drizzle I can almost cope with. Camping in torrential rain in the middle of the desert in a supposed drought, does not make for a happy Smith.
It could only happen to us. Our three day camping trip to see Uluru (Ayers Rock) and surrounding area was somewhat marred by the tail end of a monsoon. Still, in the style of the trip thus far, we had a thoroughly good time!
Before we hit Ayers Rock, we had a ride on a camel - Leah managed to stay on this time after her humiliating horse experience in New Zealand.
We arrived at our camp site and my did it meet Smith's seal of approval. Wooden huts, raised beds with a matress/yoga mat, an indoor eating area, and best of all, flushing toilets, proper showers and electricity for the straighteners. We did have to 'pitch in' with the cooking - afterall, it was a budget tour but all in all, I was a happy camper!
Firstly we went to see a rock formation - the Olgas. At this point the sun was shining. We did have to wear flynets over our face to prevent refugee style landings on the facial area. However, these wear quickly dispanded when the heavens opened.
The aforementioned torrential rain meant that we were unable to see the sun set, or indeed rise over that big bloody rock. Still, in true British style, we laughed a lot and took pictures of us in our primary school style kagools. Ayers Rock, incidently, is impressive, and we were apparently 'priviledged' to see waterfalls running down it!
We got stranded at our camp for a second night due to the flooding at our next stop. This turned out to be a blessing as we caught a sunset over the Olgas (see pics). We popped the 'champagne' and enjoyed a BBQ, before a rather chilly night in our shacks.
Final day we made it over to Kings Canyon and had a mosey around then left for the journey home. Happy days. Until our guide put petrol instead of diesel in the bus so we were stranded at a petrol station in the middle of the outback. Eventually it was all sorted and we returned to Alice Springs, which was incidently scorching, having seen the outback at night, another rarity according to our guide!
The trip was not what we expected - no romantic sunsets, no sleeping under the stars, but best of all (for Leah) no Smith strops!! Nevertheless, we had a fantastic time and laughed a lot.
So we move to Cairns, the home of the Great Barrier Reef...
Keep your news coming, love Katherine xxx
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