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Early
Packed and ready to go!Kevin and I were both so excited to finally be going on our Outback adventure! The Outback is just so quintessentially Australian, and no trip to Oz would be complete without a trip into the Red Centre. So, we booked a three-day, two-night trip called “The Rock Tour”.
Day 1: We were picked up outside our hostel bright and early, 6am! Our tour guide was a really nice guy named Greg, and he picked us up in a 22-seater van. After picking up the rest of our group, we began the long drive to King’s Canyon.
Our group kept occupied during the drive to the canyon by: listening to Greg talk about the history of the region, including the culture of the local Aboriginal peoples, and getting to know each other by playing icebreaker games and chatting amongst ourselves. We had quite a diverse tour group made up by people from all around the globe: 5 Canadians, 1 American, 3 Dutch, 2 Danes, 2 Brits and 2 Aussies. On the drive, we passed one dingo (a wild dog) and five beautiful wild horses!
We finally arrived at King’s Canyon around 1pm. After a quick lunch, we took a
Drive
The long road ahead. 6km walk around the Canyon. The views were incredible!! It started with a steep climb to the top (which was good to measure your physical endurance). By having the hardest part at the beginning, it avoided people getting too far into the walk and having to turn around due to the difficulty. The walk took about 3 hours in the blazing sun. Exhausting, but completely worth it!
After the walk, we were back on the road, heading to our site where we would be spending the night. We saw more wildlife, including three beautiful white cockatoos and a baby Eastern Brown Snake on the road. This snake is very venomous. Greg held it up on a stick for us to see. Around 8pm, after stopping by the side of the road to get fire wood, we stopped at Curtain Springs to get some beer (because a night in the Outback would not be complete without some beer!). Curtain Springs is a cattle station, home to only 14 people, and is the size of The Netherlands!!
After arriving at our campsite (which was just an open area off the side of the highway, no toilets or anything), we all
Stretch
The group stretching part way through a long drive. worked together to build a huge bonfire and cook dinner. We all made our own damper rolls over the fire (basically hot bread rolls) and ate veggies and beef on pasta. Delicious! Then, we rolled out our swags (tough, canvas sleeping bag-type things) and slept under the starry night. It may not have been all that late, but you need a good night’s sleep when you’re getting up at sunrise!
Hillary (and Kevin)
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