Well, I'm back in Darwin after a 6 day tour in the Outback of the Northern Territories - absolutely loads of photos but I've just tried to upload a few !
My last night in Darwin before I left was a good one, me and some girls from the hostel pooled our food together for a cook-up in the kitchen (including Kangaroo steak which was delicious) and we had a really nice night.
Just before the cook-up I was befriended by an Aboriginal girl called Katy who's father had brought her and her brother Junior here in an effort to get them fostered. It appears (quite obviously) that he was struggling with the 2 kids on his own (Katy was 4, her brother younger), I think he said he had a restraining order out on their mother. Anyway, the day before I had witnessed Katy get in the pool with the young son of the hostel's owner and as her dad wasn't around I thought it best to keep an eye as she obviously couldn't swim but she did have a rubber ring - then she decided to slip out of the rubber ring and under she went. Bloody hell, I shouted at the boy to grab her and luckily he did before I had to jump in there to get her. I pulled her out and after she told me several times that she "nearly drownded" I think she decided to adopt me. So, the following evening she asked if I would take her in the pool, I told her I would take her in the Spa Bath if her dad said it was ok, which he did, so I spent the next hour being jumped on and splashed by Katy who, it seems, had managed to get over her fear of being "nearly drownded".
Next morning I took a flight to Alice Springs and booked into a hostel, ready for my tour to Uluru.
Day 1 - we left Alice Springs and headed out to a Camel farm where we also saw a Dingo and Emus, hard core Aussie now ! Our guide, Jess, explained to us that the Red Centre of Australia isn't a desert, it is actually a "Semi-Arid Plain" ..... well, not for long, good god the heaven's opened and there was some serious flooding of the roads towards Uluru (Ayers Rock as it used to be known). About 50k's from Uluru I spotted a big rock thing in the distance, pretty big and impressive but didn't quite seem to fit my image of Uluru - Jess said that the locals call it "Fool-Uru", it's actually Mount Conner but apparently some tourists drive there, see it, photo it and then go back believing they've seen Uluru - you'd be gutted when you found out wouldn't you ??!!
That night we stayed in a permanent campsite at Ayers Rock Resort but not before a quick drive up to Uluru itself and a look at the Cultural Centre there. I have to say, Uluru is pretty impressive. I didn't expect so many individual features close up. Lots of the little caves and holes all have significant meanings in the local culture - actually Uluru is only sacred to the 2 tribes from the area. All other Aboriginal tribes don't have any affiliation to it. I wouldn't have climbed up it as I know it is a sign of disrespect but the climb was closed anyway. Jess explained a few of the Creation stories that are part of the culture and associated with various aspects of Uluru then we went to a lookout to watch the sunset with a glass of bubbly. The colours are spectacular.
Day 2 - Oh god, we got up to watch the sunrise at Uluru, woken up at about 4am - lovely, it wasn't the best sunrise anyway, a bit too cloudy. Then we did a base walk - about 8k's around the base of Uluru, I powered ahead on my own. Bloody hard work in heat of about 30 degrees, went through about 2.5 litres of water but I'm glad I did it. When the Australian government started to give Aboriginal land back they actually only gave back Uluru on a 99 year lease - ridiculous, mind you, I have more to comment on the government's very strange decisions regarding Aboriginees here - later though !
Then it was on to Kata Tjuta, a mountain formation very close by and we hiked up a trail to see some stunning views again ..... once we had wiped the continuous stream of sweat from our eyes ! Saw some random wild camels on the road away from there.
We were then supposed to head to Kings Canyon but unfortunately it was closed due to flooding (in the semi-arid plains remember) so we camped again at Ayers Rock Resort but this time we all slept outside in swags (sort of sleeping bag thingy.
Day 3 - Heading back to Alice Springs today .... Jess screeched to a stop on the road and went running back to pick up a Thorny Devil that she brought to show us, he was so cute (and thorny) when you hold him !
Back near Alice Springs we headed to Simpson's Gap, a waterhole nearby but to be honest the flies were unbearable, the sort who just want to fly up your nose, in your ear, in your eye - constantly ! We saw the memorial to the guy who founded the Flying Doctors Service, funny story, the guy was a bit of a legend so when he died the "white folk" of the town wanted to make a memorial so they went up to Devil's Marbles (more about that later)to take one of the rocks from there as a memorial .... trouble is, Devil's Marbles are sacred to the Aboriginal people so there was a bit of an outcry when they found out one of their stones had been taken. Years went by and eventually it was agreed that the stone would be returned .... unfortunately by this time it had been graffittied (spelling ??) and whatnot so, said white folk decided to sand blast the graffiti off, not realising the stone isn't the same colour all the way through. So now, at Devil's Marbles stands a lovely white rock amongst all the red coloured rocks and we know why !!
Back in Alice Springs the group (all a good bunch and we got on really well, went out for dinner (Fish and Chips - woohoo !) and said our goodbyes. 2 of the girls are from Singapore so I plan to meet up with them in Singapore City on Sunday.
Day 4 - I joined a new group for the trip back to Darwin, a group that had been together since Adelaide so I was a bit out of it for a bit but "no worries". First thing we did was cross the Tropic of Capricorn and then headed north on the Stuart Highway .... next stop Barrow Creek, very interesting place ..... and I will add more to this story tomorrow as my internet time is running out !
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