We Thought The Desert Was Supposed To Be Hot

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Day 55 (Sunday 14/06/09, NJJ)
Up at 6am after the most painfully cold night we've ever experienced. Everyone suffered and no one really had a good sleep. The cold also made us have to get up and empty our bladders during the night which was hell. When it came to leaving camp not surprisingly the bus wouldn't start, even when we tried to jump-start it so our plans had to change and we watched sunrise from a hill on the campsite. The situation got worse though as we progressively got colder to the point where we could no longer feel our extremities. We had breakfast nearby and Jay and I used cups of hot drinks to bring our fingers back to life. We had to borrow a bus from another tour group from the same company so that we could get to Uluru again for the 9.6km morning base walk which took two hours. The whole group were then stranded there for 2.5 hours waiting to be collected, and it was cold so we ended laying on the ground for warmth. The tour company sent another bus from Alice Springs (4-5hours away) to collect us. Had food at camp, were driven back to Alice Springs, with dinner stop on the way back. Got back to backpackers around 8.30pm. Showered etc then walked into Alice Springs with some of the group members for us all to have a drink in Bojangles pub. Left around 12.30am, bed at 1am in our second caravan which was actually warm.

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