Hey there!
Well on the 26th May I flew out to Alice Springs to do a tour of the Red Centre.
We landed in the afternoon so had a bit of time that day to have a look around and prepare for the trip. (I went with a friend I met on the Oz Experience bus)
I was suprised by the city actually, I expected it to be a lot more scarse than it was. You would never guess you were in the middle of the red centre!!
Anyway our tour started the next day at midday so it was an easy day & we got a bit of a lie in....which I was making the most of as I knew that I would be getting up studpidly early on the trip!
And it was a very easy day, we just drove out to Kings Creek Station where we set up camp for the night. Camping in swags is very interesting! I had nightmares the first night that snakes were slithering over me and that wild dogs were dragging me away!! haha
Then it was up at 5.30am for the first hike around Kings Canyon. The hill you climb is called Heart Attack Hill - and I can understand why they call it this! I think it was for the best that it was still dark because you couldn't see how steep it was until you were half way up it!!
Once we had conquered the hill, we walked around the rim of the canyon which had absolutely stunning views.
Later in the afternoon/evening we drove to Yulara which is the resort for people visiting Uluru (Ayers Rock)and then went to a view point to watch the sun set.
The next day it was up early again (05.30!!) to watch the sun rise over Uluru. Then we drove to The Olgas and hiked the Valley of the Winds, which was actually a really good walk. We heard the aboriginal stories and the views again were amazing.
After lunch it was back to Uluru to do the base walk - which is 10km. (The Valley of the Winds is 8km so that 18km in one day! I'm amazed I survived!!)
The base walk took us about 2 hours plus a few blisters. I cant believe how big that rock is! Some people wanted to climb the rock but it was too windy...I can't stay it was something that I wanted to do purely because I wouldn't be able to get back down! I'm not good with heights and the climbing path is almost vertical! (People have been blown off you know!!)
The guide told us that Uluru and Ayers Rock are not its original names. Tourists are lead to believe that Uluru is its aboriginal name but that is just a marketing strategy. Lots of people refuse to call it Ayers Rock now because they think it is disrespectful. Only the aboriginals know the correct name for it but they have old us that is basically just means 'big rock' or 'the rock'.
We were also told that it is not so much disrespectful to climb Uluru, as you are also lead to believe when you get here. It's more to do with the fact that 37 people have died climbing it. So imagine you have something really important to you that people keep coming to visit..but 37 people die visiting this 'thing' that is precious to you...you wouldn't want them to visit it either!
So anyway after that we spent another night at the Yulara resort and set out the next day at 6am (apparently this is a lie in?!) to head for Coober Pedy - a town where everybody lives underground!
It was a full days drive and there is literally nothing in between aoart from a few petrol stations. It was a very interesting drive! We had to resort to playing hangman on the windows of the bus with a whiteboard marker!
Coober Pedy supplies 85% of the worlds opals and it looks like a funny little town! As you drive in you can see these huge mounds that look like giant ant holes, and they indicate where the mines are.
We had a tour of the mines and the underground houses and it was incredible! They live underground because during the summer it can reach extremely hot temperatures- the hottest recorded temp is 57 degrees celsius! And in the winter it can get very cold. So living underground means that the temperature is at a constant all year round, without the need for air con or central heating.
We only had one night there so we made it a good one. We went out for pizza and then to a hotel bar just down the road. I think the locals thought it was their lucky night!! haha
The next day we drove down to the Flinders Ranges and had a good night there...we had a few drinks and ended up a bit worse for wear the next day....when we had to hike Devils Peak!! I wouldn't have minded so much but it was the hardest of them all!! It was worth it in the end though because you are so high up you can see for miles. I think it took us just s long to get down as it did up as everyone was feeling so hungover! And me being me coudnt get down off the big rock on the top because of the height! haha oops!
After that we drove on into Adelaide..........
xxx
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