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We took a flight from Perth to Alice Springs and we were pleasantly surprised to receive free food and drinks on the plane. They don't do that anymore in the UK. The following day we did absolutely nothing!
After a late night we managed to make our 6am start, we were picked up by our tour operator for our 3 day tour of Uluru, Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta. The tour started with the usual pick ups from hostels, and needless to say our bus was full of Japs. We had a 7 hour drive before we arrived at Kings Canyon for lunch. Once we were all stuffed, we walked a 6.5km track up and around the rim of Kings Canyon. Absolutely breath taking.
The evening was spent sitting beside a camp fire keeping warm, We then got our swags (Aussie canvas bedrolls) prepared (before the fire went out) and snuggled ourselves in. Our first night under the stars since the camel safari in Rajasthan, the sky was beautiful with an almost full moon.
Helen was a little paranoid about snakes, dingoes, and whatever else pouncing on us. Even the Japs laid out chairs around their swags thinking it'd protect them. (no attacks reported, thankfully).
On the second day we were up again at 6am. Surprisingly both of us were toasty throughout the night and we then departed for Uluru. After having lunch at camp we then completed the 10.6km base walk taking in the whole of Uluru. We chose not to climb it as its sacred to the Anangu people, but obviously the japs climbed it and even posed naked for a photo at the top! (along with a Scotsman)
We then visited the Uluru Cultural Centre and observed the sunset, this is when Uluru became awe-inspiring with its colours changing between purples, pinks, reds and oranges. (if Helen is honest, when she first saw Uluru - all that sprang her mind was 'is this it? Its just a red rock!). The second night was again spent around the camp fire before sleeping in our swags,
(By now the Japs were starting to annoy us as one of them farts like a trooper and another one kept taking random photos of nothing including a sign that says 'Coach car park' - how exciting(!))
On the last day of the tour we headed to a viewing point between Uluru and Kata Tjuta to watch the sun rise. We much preferred the sunset against Uluru, having said that it was still very pretty to watch!
We then tackled the Kata Tjuta or otherwise known as The Olgas (many heads), by doing a 5.4km walk through the gigantic domes, the view was outstanding when we reached the viewpoint. Lunch was had and then we made the long journey back to Alice Springs with everyone falling asleep at some point.
Both of us slept well in a proper bed, before catching our airport shuttle to Alice Springs airport to fly to our next destination, Adelaide - the City of Churches!
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