Hey all

Guess what..I arrived in Sydney today and it's raining! Gutted! Hopefully the weather
will pick up for Christmas day!

I've had a very tiering few days. I left Perth on Saturday Morning after a sleepless night ;-) & flew to Alice Springs. I had to wake up at 5am the next day and be ready for the rock tour!

Over the course of 3 days our tour guide Nick (who is Greek and v.cute!) drove us 1500 km!

Our first stop was Kings Canyon. We walked for over 3 hours in the hottest part of the day but it was well worth it and dipping our feet in teh Garden of Eden pool
was refreshing!! During the walk I made friends with a girl called Avril who is from
Ireland and we just clicked! Within minutes we were talking boys, sex & telling each
other our life stories! From then on we stuck together the entire trip. Our group
didn't bond like the previous tour groups I've been with which was a bit of a shame. There were lots of people from Germany, and Spain and as spoke in their own language most of the time it made it very hard to interact!

In the evening we pulled up at Curtin Springs (in the middle of no where) and set
up bush camp! Thank god I haven't watched horrror films like WolfCreek etc, I don't think I would have slept a wink! After camel con carne, (still not convinced it was
actually camel) we set up our swags (A waterproof canvas sleeping compartment that comes with a foam mattress, and can comfortably be slept in with the addition of a pillow and sleeping bag) and slept under the stars!

In the morning we were up at 5.45 and there was fresh kangaroo/cow/camel tracks just a few metres from where we had slept! How scary is that!?! Our next destination was Kata Tujuta, which was another 3.5 hour hike!! But well worth it, the scenary was just stunning. After lunch we went to Uluru (or Ayers Rock) as you guys will
probably know it. Did you know that over 35 people have died whilst attempting to climb the rock and many have been injured?? There was no way I was climbing it, firstly because I'd be scared s***l*ess (its' 348 metres high) & secondly and most importantly because I respect the Aboriginal culture and they ask that visitors do not climb the rock. We did a short 2km Mala walk & then visited the
cultureal centre where we learned about the significance of Uluru in the Aboriginal culture. There was a book full of letters from tourists who apologised for taking parts of the rock when they visited asking for the rock to be returned to the place where they took it from. Loads of them believed bad stuff had happened to them since removing the rock, several ladies had had miscarriages and some people
had developed cancer or lost their parents to terminal diseases.

After that we enjoyed a few beers and dinner at the sunset viewing point which was packed full of tourists. The sunset wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped due to it being cloudy but the rock did change colour and I'm so glad I did actually go and see it.
Spirits were high on the bus on the way back to the Ayers Rock Campground, we even had a singsong but as we had to be up at 4am for the sunrise the next day we set up camp early. It rained most of the night but despite this I decided I was going to be a lame arse and go in under the sheleter like the guys did! Bunch of wimps!

After seeing the sunrise, we did a base walk of Uluru (which was 9.4km) and had lunch before setting off on the journey back to Alice Springs.

We stopped at a camel farm on the way back and Avril & I had a ride! We were screaming our heads off when it started running but
it was very funny! Got some good photos I'll have to put up too!

In the evening we met up at a bar and enjoyed a shed load of food and cheap jugs of beers! Think I managed 5 pints before feeling wasted!! New Years Resolution - give up beer! I'm sooo getting a beer belly!!

Anyway, take care, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy new year.
I'll be in touch soon. Love you all lots xXx

ps. the diet lasted 10 hours. Kelly and Cam insisted on icecream after a late night visit to Kings park on Monday Night!