Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Day 1
Bronnie ( short for Bronwyn - the aussies add « ie » or y » to everyone's name. My friend Brian in Sydney calls me « Stewie » ) our guide for the next 6 days picked us up from our hotel in Alice Springs bright & early and good news straight away. Only 13 passengers for the trip instead of 21. And thank goodness for that as the Toyota minibus was built for 21 small japanese people to do short urban trips not for 1M85 europeans to do 2000km. There was trailer on the back for the luggage & food but if we'd had a full bus it would have been hell to find anywhere for peoples hand luggage and excruciatingly uncomfortable. Although I must say the air conditioning was brilliant and even on the sunny side of the bus it was never too hot in there.
So………….we got to meet our travelling companions. A very interesting and eclectic group ! We'd expected to be much older than all the others - and indeed we were except for 72 year old widow Gilly, the only other person from the UK. We then had a brazilian couple, Jeff the muscle bound fitness trainer complete with tatoos & shaved head along with his « stop the traffic » stunning girlfriend Claudia. Then scottish Annie and chinese Samantha both from New Zealand. Two young Swiss lads from Zurich, three young Germans Imke, Tobi and ex German Ladies Div 1 footballer Tania and last but not least Leo the accountant from Korea.
After a brief bit of shopping we were on the road heading for our first destination Kings Canyon - only 450km away. It was possible to do it in 320km but that involved 70km of dirt roads - not a good idea in a minibus with trailer. So…….several hours and 450km later we pulled in to Kings Creek campsite and unloaded the trailer then made the short trip up the road to visit Kings Canyon in the late afternoon sunlight. We took 3 hours to hike around the rim of the canyon and didn't finish until darkness had fallen but that was ok as it was cooler. Fantastic place - See photos- and we were all on our own. The flies were terrible until sunset - but just take it as read that everywhere we go from now on the flies are terrible but they don't bite and they go to sleep at night - and no mosquitos or sandflies so we were happy about that.
Now to our first night in our luxury accomodation. A australian « swag ». A « swag » is basically a rolled up canvas bag with a thin mattress inside and you roll it out and put your sleeping bag inside it. Then using a torch you check for ant hills and avoiding the ants you chose your spot on the floor for the night. I was expecting the worst but it was really comfortable. After a nice meal prepared by Bronnie we retired to our « swags » and in the super clear desert sky the stars were absolutely incredible. The campsite wasn't lit so you could lie there starwatching all night. Bronnie did however warn us that if we went to the toilet during the night, even though the moonlight was very strong, we should use a torch to make sure we didn't tread on a snake or scorpion. She also told us not to unroll the swags until just before we went to bed to avoid some unwelcome visitor getting in there !
Day 2
Kings Creek to Uluru. It's not that far in in a straight line but to stay on the tarmac involved about a 4 hour drive. Getting an early start wasn't a problem as the flies wake up at sunrise and come to say good morning to you in your swag so by lunchtime we had got our first glimpse of the « rock » formerly known as Ayers Rock, but now known as Uluru the aboriginal name. The worlds biggest monolith i.e. single piece of rock which towers up above the dead flat desert. We settled into our campsite about 10km from the « rock » and then in the afternoon got up close to it. It's one of the most amazing things we had both ever seen and even Stewart was sufficiently motivated to do the 10,7km walk in searing heat and the worst flies of the whole trip ( that's it - no more references to flies ! ! ) to stride enthusiastically round.
Then it was on to the viewing area to watch sunset as Uluru glows redder & redder as the sun sets on it. It was just as well that Bronnie knew a quiet place to go as there were hordes of of people - including bus loads of rich fat americans being served champagne and canapés. Anyway we got « the photo » of us both standing proudly in front - see blog photos and we didn't get trampled by the crowd.
Then it was get some kangaroo on the barbecue - see photo. Vod and Jeff were designated to do the barbecuing.
Unfortunately the campsite at Uluru is enormous and overlit so the star gazing in the swag was a bit spoilt by stupid streetlighting everywhere which stayed on all night.
Day 3
Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Until we arrived in Australia we had never heard of Kata Tjuta and we certainly didn't know that it's only about 20km away from Uluru across the desert and both are clearly visible one from the other. It is a bigger rock formation than Uluru, same bright red colour and to some extent more impressive but far less famous perhaps because it's not a single rock and as it's a chain of rocks is not so distinctive/photogenic. It is a sacred place reserved for the aboriginal men & is where they have their men's rituals including doing some fairly unpleasant and painful things to their young men to initiate them into manhood. It is however open to tourists and we did a fantastic circular 3hr hike through the Valley of the Winds. The scenery looked like a set from an Indiana Jones film - it was impossible to do it justice with a camera. Unbelievable. Before the hike we'd been got out of our swags at 4-30 am well before sunrise by Bronnie to go and witness dawn breaking over Uluru and Kata Tjuta. We took our breakfast with us - pancakes that Bronnie had done on the barbecue as we had crawled out of our swags. It was absolutely freezing but an incredible sight as we were mid point so could see the sun come up behind Uluru and light up Kata Tjuta.
A quick word on the weather. We were incredible lucky for the whole trip really. The week before our arrival in Alice Springs the temperature had been around 48°C but just before we got there it dropped to a very pleasant « cool » 33°C(that is what the locals call 33°C - « cool ») and stayed around that for the whole of our time in the desert. Mind you it dropped to about 15-18°C at night and the wind at sunrise was bitterly cold.
We got back to the campsite and after the early start everyone was exhausted so we had a free afternoon ( we went to the swimming pool) followed by meeting some local people at a « dance » - see photos.
We then got in our second Uluru sunset from a different vantage point before barbecue + swag.
- comments