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The tour started quite early and we had a long way to drive to get to Uluru. When we got there we went in to the cultural centre which explained about the dream time stories of the aboriginal people. Im not one to discredit others beliefs but when geologists and scientists can prove that Uluru was formed by an underground river carrying boulders down i cant understand why the aboriginal people still believe that Uluru was made by 2 children making mud castles! Some of the stories seem too far fetched but others were interesting to hear. I deffinatley believe in science but i do thiink that the stories are nice to hear. You can still see some of the aboriginal paintgings in the caves of Uluru which are fascinating. We did the base walk of Uluru whiuch takes about 2.5 hours and it was very hot that day. Large sections of the walk forbid you to take photos of the rock as they are sacred to the aboriginal people and beleive that when you take a photo, you are taking a park of the rock away from where it belongs.The walk was good but i think a few members of the group would have like dto climb the rock but the path was closed due to high winds. I dont think its right to climb it anyway, there is a reason they ask you not to do it. We viewed the rock from a very popular viewing spot at sunset which was heaving with other tours and people having food and drinks, it was really nice to see. The sunrise was good too as you can see the colours in the rock changing all the time.Wes elept in swags in this trip but there were no mice, i was ok!
After Uluru we went to Kata Tjuta (the olgas) which are large boulders a bit like Uluru. The walk was 2.5 house again but was walking through the gaps between the boulders. It was a really nice walk with good views of the rest of the olgas. We stayed at King Creek Station which offered things like camel rides which everyone was really excited about but unfortunatly it was the camels 'day off'. It was strange though that at the bar/restaurant on the campsite they served camel burgers... i put 2 and 2 together and = fresh meat for the restaurant! I woke during the night to see a massive lightening storm in the far distance, it was pretty impressive! We also had a campfire that night, not that we needed it, it was about 20 degrees during the night.
The next day we walked through Kings Canyon throught the old river bed at the bottom of the canyon. We were meant to then drive to a campsite but the guide decided we should drive straight to Coober Pedy. We visited an old opal mine and heard the story of opal. They really are beautifull stones. In coober Pedy we stayed in a bunkhouse which had about 100 beds per bunkhouse. The bunkhouse was dug out of a hill and most houses in the town are made like this. Its to keep them cool in the hot weather. They reminded me of houses from the flinstones. The underground church in the town was really nice, you could go in and have a look around, it even had opals in the walls.
There were 12 girls on the tours which was great and with a female tour guide it was 13 girls! Everyone was really ncie on the trip and i was a little sad to leave but i was looking forward to getting on with the next part of my trip.
On the final day we went to the Flinders Ranges and did another walk in Mount Remarkable National Park in a section called Aligator Gorge. This walk was ncie, walking along the river bed of a dried up river, there doesnt seem to be many rivers that aren't dried up! We got back to Adelaide about 5pm and instead of booking a hostel i decided to use couch surfing. The place i stayed was in a suburb called Burnside which is a really nice ares about 15 mins out of the city. They people hosting were great and cooked me dinner and were really accomodating. The first night was great and on the 2nd night 3 french couchsurfers arrived as well so it was pretty busy. They cooked for us all and gave me wine and beer!!! It was really nice because i was planing on not buying any food or drink and saving money. It was a good way to save some money on hostels and i think i would do ity again if i need to.
Heading out towards Melbourne tomorrow on the Great Ocean Road!!!
I found some links that people might find funny, just songs and stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT331BRkkP0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlEZyPwryQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeG-hNXXy6I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmRexWQhs3M
Megan x
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