Another adventure completed, another box ticked, another photo album to load, another one of Leanne's fear conquered and another selection of cuts on Matt's legs. We managed to achieve all this by visiting the Red Centre, the most important geological and historical area of this awesome continent.
We'd booked on a 3 day, 2 night camping package and left at 6am on day 1 for the long drive to Ayers Rock (aka Uluru or The Rock), The Olgas (aka Kata Tjuta), and Kings Canyon. Our tour guide, Drew, was a young English fella, but knew a lot about all the things we'd be seeing on the trip. Our group was 21 strong and we got on with all of them. It really makes a difference having a good bunch of people around you. On the long drive to Kata Tjuta we saw kangaroos on the road, massive eagles, emus and all sorts of trees and other flora. We introduced ourselves to each other and the drive passed quickly. On arriving at Kata Tjuta, we went on a long walk around these massive structures. The main thing you notice about being here is the amount of flies everywhere. It's brutal. Thankfully some of our friends from Fraser Island gave us their fly nets and these turned out to be worth their weight in gold. We'd also bought hats for the sun and so walked into the bush looking truly part of the scenery.
That evening we went over to The Rock for beers and stir fry whilst enjoying sunset. It's one of those wonderful moments, where you forget everything going on in life and just sit and watch in awe.
We camped out in swags that night. For those of you who don't know what they are we'll both explain.
Matt. They are rollable, spongy, mattresses that you use as a bed in the outback. You get in a sleeping bag, then in your swag, then look up at the stars and fall asleep.
Leanne. They are uncomfortable, dirty bags, that offer no comfort whatsoever and don't keep you warm. They are designed by silly boys who think that tents are for girls and don't offer any protection from dingos, snakes, spiders, scorpions etc.
Next morning we woke at 5am!!! Ridiculous. So, after one good nights sleep and one not so good, we went to see sunrise, which due to the clouds was very average. After a spot of brekkie we set off for a base walk of The Rock. This was instead of climbing it as the local Aboriginals (Anangu) ask you not to climb. And i'd climbed it already and Leanne was a bit too tired!!! We saw a lot of caves and paintings and read a lot of the Anangu stories about how it was created. That evening on the way to our bush campsite we collected firewood and dug for witchety grubs. Sadly we didn't find any, as i was very hungry and could have managed a few. I don't think Leanne was looking too hard as the idea of eating a living caterpillar isn't quite what she'd signed up for!!! Another night under the stars, but this time we were next to a campfire and we both slept like babies.
We woke at 5am (again) for sunrise at Kings Canyon. Due to clouds this was (again) pretty ordinary, but the canyon itself was amazing. We loved it. It was fascinating learning all about it and the views were incredible. We headed back to Alice afterwards but not before stopping off for a quick camel ride at a camel station. As we were leaving one of the baby camels blew me a kiss. See photo. That night we all went out for a group meal. It was incredible seeing everyone in clean clothes, shaven, hair brushed and fragrant. I didn't recognise any of them and they certainly didn't recognise me!!! It was a good night.
So in a few hours we're off to Adelaide, where we've accidentally booked in to a 5 star hotel with all the mod cons for a bit of luxury after our swags. It's not really travelling, but we're not really travellers.
A quick last word. The Red Centre gets a bad press for being too hot, having too many flies, having social problems, and not being very safe, but i want to say that whilst there is an element of truth to all the above, it's a magnificent area of the world and if done the right way, (on an organised trip where the views of the local indigenous tribes are accurately reflected), it's a safe, fascinating and beautiful place. The flies are a pain though!!!!!