kez & hay travels 06

Our journey to the outback didn't start off quite as planned. The train that we were supposed to take was cancelled due to a derailment and so we had to take the bus..... It wasn't until 21 hours and around 1000 miles later that we arrived in Alice Springs, a town in the middle of nowhere with 40 degrees heat!

Two days later we headed off on an outback safari and an adventure of a life time.  With two Germans, three French and an Aussie guide as companions, the first stop was the awe-inspiring Uluru once known as Ayres Rock.  With nothing else around for miles except sandy scrublands, Uluru, the worlds biggest monolith, stretches 3.6 km long and rises 348 miles high.  Words cannnot describe the sight you are met with from the distance and as you edge closer you can feel and understand why this area holds such deep cultural values for the Aboriginal people.  We walked around the base, every section of the rock has a different colour, texture and story behind it.  Although one of Australia's main attractions, we only crossed two other people on the way around which just added to the atmosphere.  We watched the sunset from a lookout and saw the rock change from brown to orange to red and finally to charcoal with a glass of bubbly in our hands.  Next stop was our bush camp for the evening where we cooked on an open fire and slept under thousands of stars in just sleeping bags - to tired and inspired from the day to worry about creepy crawlies, even after seeing a red back in the toilets!!!

We were awoken at 4am to the sounds of howling Dingoes in the distance, so although still dark we packed up camp and headed to see the sunrise.  We did two, four hour treks over the following days both finishing at about 10am before the blistering sun had time to come out.  The first was to Kata Tjuta, meaning many heads, trekking through a collection of huge rounded rocks.  Then the last day to Watarrka (Kings Canyon) with it's 100 metre high sheer cliffs and maze of giant eroded domes which look like bee-hives.  

After three days in the bush and only an outback dunny for comfort, the hostel felt like the Hilton on our return. The last days in Alice were spent souvenir hunting and visiting the baby Kangaroo rescue centre - sooo cute I'm bringing one home!!