I think I should probably mention, and now seems as good a time as any, that Uluru is perhaps not pronounced how you imagine... at least isn't pronounced how I thought. I'd been pronouncing it Ul - ooo - roo however it is in fact pronounced OOO - la - roo. So there is more emphasis on the first OOOOO.
Anyway, I had a rather blissful sleep in my swag, only interupted by what I thought at the time was someone pointing a torch in my face but it in fact turned out to be the moon shining down!
Steve had refused to tell us what time he'd be getting us up in the morning so we were rudely awakened in the wee small hours (5 ish) courtesy of Rolf Harris singing full blast, swiftly followed by the Spice Girls... at which point we shouted at Steve to turn the d@mn thing off!
But we had more important things on our minds... sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). So we quickly rolled up our swags, packed everything up, had a quick wash and we were away to the viewing area. Now unlike most tour companies we didn't just return to the same area we'd been in the previous night to see the colours of Uluru changing. Instead we went to a viewing area that was closer to Kata Tjuta but from where we could still see Uluru on the horizon.
You can see the photos... the sunrise was amazing. We were fortunate to have some clouds (uncommon in the desert) so the colours, shades and textures I managed to capture in my photos are amazing... but to be honest, they don't come near the reality!
After a quick breakfast at the viewing area we then set off to Kata Tjuta for our 7km walk through the "Valley of the Winds". At the beginning of the walk we were treated to a couple of rock wallabies hopping right across our path and stopping to have a good look at us. Unfortunately I'd just put my camera away in preparation for a bit of a dicey bit in the path so I have no photos, but I hope to get a photo from one of the other people on the tour eventually.
The walk was pretty easy... the only difficult bit for me was scambling up a fairly steep rock face to arrive at a resting point. The difficulty wasn't the steepness but the height! The footing was fairly unstable in places, there were no hand rails (of course!) and I didn't dare look back once until I was at the top... curse this d@mn vertigo!
But I survived and the view was fantastic.
After we'd returned to the truck it was time for lunch and then the start of a long drive to our 2nd camp site at Kings Creek Cattle station. There is a proper camp site here however due to the good relations between the tour company and the Cattle station we are allowed, literally, out back! We go through the no unauthorised access gate and drive for 15 minutes or so until we really do feel like we're miles from anywhere.
As soon as we arrived Steve told us to scarper to the top of the sand dune with our cameras to watch the sun set. Stunning, totally stunning.
Then we set up camp again and we're back to our traditional roles... girls preparing dinner and the boys building the camp fire. We needed a proper big fire tonight as we would be cooking on it as well as relying on it to keep us warm.
First, on the priority list (for me at least) was to open the wine box that Raj (one of the english guys) and I had bought. Everyone jumped on it and soon enough everyone was relaxed and having a great time (and talking general rubbish!). Dinner was soon done and we all tucked in... nothing tastes so great as when you've been up since 5am, done a 7km walk and had a few drinks :)
It was a fantastic evening where we all really bonded sharing travel and life stories. That evening really was one of the highlights of the entire tour for me and was the first time that I actually have a category of travel tales to compete with the best of them!
After a bit of star gazing and watching the moon rise, it was time to be tucked up in our swags again, lying there after a glass of wine or two gazing at the endless stary sky, listening to nothing except the crackle of the camp fire, I've never been so at peace with the world.
|  | 
|
