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Wednesday 27th April 2011
Today we travelled to the Devils Marbles!
We learnt the story of why the Aboriginals names them this. it was because they saw cows grazing on the grass around the huge boulders of rock..the cows started getting sick-which was actually because of the poisonous plants that grew here-however the Aboriginals believed the Devil was poisoning the cows and these were his marbles...hence the name - 'The Devils Marbles'.
We got so many photos here posing with these huge pieces of stone! They are so pretty glimmering in the sun-shine, colours of red/orange and brown..I strongly advise a visit to see them.
We then drove on to a place called Wycliffe Well which was supposedly an alien sighting, so they now have a UFO centre here packed with information on the sighting. We got some great pictures here too and had loads of fun.
We drove to Barrow Creek for lunch -passing a car on fire! We saw the couple that luckily had managed to get out of the car and take most of their belongings too before it caught alight. Our driver was great he got out and checked that they were okay and they didnt need any extra help and people were on their way to take them to a safer location. We also passed a bush fire-the first one that I had seen since being in Australia..i was just so amazed at the severity of these natural fires and the sparsity too! it was huge!
We went on to a mango farm and got some home made mango ice-cream which was gorgeous, before passing the Aileron which stands 17metres tall-it is a statue of a man with his daughters and wife behind just close-by. This statue is worth $120,000 and it was built to represent a day when a car was transporting aircraft parts which ended up getting lost-most of these parts are called 'Aileron' which is a part of the wing, so they used these parts to make the statues.
We saw Kangaroos in a field and took time to watch them in their natural environment which was lovely, we then made our way to our hostel which was called Haven. We all met up for dinner tonight as this was the end of this part of our tour and we went to a pub called The Boss Saloon. This is famous for having a live webcam linked up so you can sit and eat dinner whilst your family at home can watch you!! There is also a method for your family to pay for drinks online for you and create a bar tab! This was so much fun!
Thursday 28th April 2011
This was my free day in Alice Springs, I spent the day sun bathing and relaxing for the next part of my trip tomorrow. As I said-I stayed in the hostel called Haven-they warn backpackers to stay in big groups as it can be a bit dangerous out at night but apart from that the hostel was great-it had a nice pool area out the front and great facilities-laundry room nice showers and the rooms were good too with big en-suite bathrooms and a big outdoor but covered kitchen.
Friday 29th April 2011
The day I left Alice Springs! There was a free breakfast included at the hostel too which was a bonus. I met my tour guide jerry which was AWESOME!! she was so so cool. I would definitely recommend Adventure Tours Australia to do this travel package with as they were brilliant and all the staff were the best.
we saw an amazing sun-rise today and went to a camel farm where we saw camels called tromedaries - these are 1 jumped camels. They imported 2,500 camels here to use them as camel trains..but the first ever camel here was called Harry. This farm also kept a dingo which they brought up from the wild so its now really friendly and used to humans. We also learnt all about the story of John Mcdale Stuart and his journey through Australia exploring. Our tour guide was so knowledgable and we learnt alot about Australia and its history as well as Aboriginal culture and beliefs.
We played games whilst on the journey to get to know the rest of our group as this was the 7 day part of my tour so we wanted to get to know everyone well and individually. We drove past a rock famous for its name 'FOOLURU'! Everyone on their way to Uluru passes this rock and they think that it is Uluru but it is a smaller one that now goes by that name fooluru.
We drove to Katajuda National Park which means 'Heads Many' in Aboriginal and we collected lots of fire wood for the evening. We went straight to the sunset of Uluru which was amazing, so so pretty, our tour guide provided us with Champagne and we got loads of group photos before heading back to camp where we had dinner and played drinking games.
Friday 30th April 2011
We woke up early this morning in preparation to go and se Uluru sun-rise. We got there just as the sun was coming up and we stayed for about an hour. it was gorgeous, the photos we got were amazing. The red, pink and orange colours in the clouds shining over Uluru were so nice. We then made our way to the Aboriginal Culture Centre where we learnt about the Mala walk which we were going to go on with an Aboriginal speaker later on explaining parts of their story that they have associated with the rock that is Uluru (Ayers Rock)
We learnt about the sacred areas of the rock that are known as mens or womens sacred points, and that if you dis-respect and take photos in these areas or steal anything from the rock then you get back luck in life until these are deleted, you have written in the 'sorry book' and/or you have returned whatever you have taken.
We did a 10k base walk round Uluru which took us 3 hours, followed by the Mala walk. This was a great way to hear about the Aboriginal beliefs and actually understand them further by an Aboriginal them self which I found a great experience.
I advise if you visit Uluru to take a fly net as they are so bad here and they dont stay away from you at all! -definitely worth the $8!!
After this we made a stop to get any extras for the evening such as snacks or alcohol. We then went back to camp, had a lovely dinner and sat round the fire drinking and playing games.
Sunday 1st May 2011
Today we travelled to Kings Canyon-this was the best day that I had in the outback! Surprisingly most of us preferred it to Uluru. The journey there took 3hours, and once we got there we prepared for the hike up the Canyon! the first part requires you to walk up very very steep high steps! It is unbelievably high and exhausting-and the nick name for this part is actually called 'Heart-Attack Hill' My advice is to take plenty of water and use the toilet before you start, as there is no where to go once you are on your way!! Wear good walking shoes and wear sun lotion definitely-eat breakfast as you WILL need energy!! This was well worth it, the views were spectacular and the colour of the rock itself is gorgeous, it shines bright red and its just amazing to see.
We had lunch at a town called Mala after our walk and then dropped off half of our tour group as they were only with us for 3 of the 7 days. We continued on to the Mala campsite and stopped again one more time for refreshments before arriving.
Monday 2nd May 2011
We drove to the town of Cooper Pede today
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