Uluru Trip

This final segment of the trip was out from Alice springs to Uluru (The Rock formerly known as Ayers) and back to Alice, and this was probably the most enjoyable. The only survivors from the last part were myself and the 2 Dutch guys, one of whom (Eelco) I managed to hassle to start teaching me Dutch... so I now know some choice phrases! We had 18 on an 24 seater bus so a bit more room. The new recruits were 2 Danish girls, 2 German Girls, South Korean guy and girl, French couple, 2 French girls and French guy, American guy and Swiss/German couple in their seventies who've been sailing around the world for the last ten years! Our guide was Azza, who had a very different style from the previous two guides, but they were all very good (good times, great times, as Azza would say).

So we headed out of Alice towards Uluru, the first stop was near Mt Connor, sometimes called Fooluru as people think it might be Uluru from far away. We stopped nearby for photos where there was also a large salt lake. We continued on to our camp near Uluru, but first went to see the Olgas, a collection of rounded mountains just sticking up which is pretty impresive. We went to Uluru for sunset where we got some sparkling as we watched the sun go down and Uluru change colour. Uluru is just one piece of rock, and is believed to extend 5km below the surface, which makes it even more impressive. Then it was beers and campfire time, and Azza proved himself to be an excellent cook. Many of us slept in Swags for these two nights (I'd actually already slept in one on the last night of the previous tour). This is just a sort of bedroll that you put your sleeping bag in and sleep outside under the (very impressive) stars. Have to watch out for dingoes coming to give you a kiss though!

It was up early and back to Uluru to see the sunrise, and then a walk around most of the base. The option was given to climb the rock, but the traditional owners ask that you don't! I wasn't going to, but it was shut due to high winds anyway. Because of the traditional significance you are not allowed to photograph many of the interesting features on the rock. After our unguided walk most of the way around, we had a guided walk for the last section when we learnt many of the interesting aboriginal stories behind and uses for the various sites. We also visited the official visitor centre. After lunch we headed off to King's Canyon for the night, but on the way we stopped to look for Witchety grubs! I found one (one of only 3) and had a piece of it cooked up that night! We stopped for firewood as well, and it was there that we met a stick called Hermione, but that's another story.

The last day we started with a walk round Kings Canyon, which was quite a serious proposition. It was pretty spectacular: the Olgas and Kings Canyon both deserve to be better known. It was a long drive back to Alice after that. That night we went for dinner to Toddy's (with stick in tow) before heading out to Bojangles later in the evening, where too much beer was had! There they have webcams where you could have watched me, and you could have bought me a drink over the internet, but I thought I'd rather not have you watching me make a tit of myself on the dance floor!

Photos:

These are the Olgas, they're bigger than they look in this photo.

Look!

I found some dinner!

This is by Kings Canyon. Apparently it features in Priscilla, queen of the desert.