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Published: September 4th 2005
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The Olgas
Lesser known but more stunning than Uluru (Gem writes...)
We are in Byron Bay at the moment, we have been here for two days. Before that we were in Brisbane for 2 nights which was just a time for r and r and to sort out and book activities for the next few weeks on the East coast.
Anyway, this blog is all about the previous week before we arrived in Brisbane, we spent a week in the Red Centre experiencing the Outback.
On the monday we flew from Adelaide to Alice Springs. We stayed at a hostel called Annie's Place and just spent the first day getting used to the heat and getting ready for our 3 day tour on the tuesday. We had a good look around Alice Springs, an interesting little town with a large aboriginal community, which you don't see anymore in Australia as us Europeans have taken over and wiped out the Aboriginal people. It is a bit of a touristy town though as it is a base for tours to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the outback in general.
On the tuesday morning our group set off at 6.30am. There were 22 of us in total, including our guide
Liam. Straight away i knew we were all going to get on well. There was lots of driving involved over the 3 days, as you can imagine the outback really is a remote place, desert and not much else. We both loved it though, so beautiful and refreshing after all our time spent in cities. I loved the colours of the outback, it is like a terracotta colour with green shrubbery contrasting with the brightest of blue skies.
After a long drive we arrived at Uluru (Ayers Rock). We spent some time in the cultural centre which was set up by the Aboriginal community that own the land of Uluru. It talked about the significance of Uluru to the Aboriginals and the way in which they use the rock for spiritual ceremonies and such like. We then did the base walk right the way around Uluru. It was very hot, but it was quite breezy, so it wasn't unbearable. I wouldn't have liked to be there in the summer though.
After the walk we drove to a good site to watch the sunset over Uluru, we all had a beer and watched the sunset. Our guide Liam cooked
Liam, our tour guide
Surprisingly vegetarian dinner and then we moved on to set up camp not far from Uluru. The night times were so much fun. We collected firewood and laid out our swags around the fire. The sky was amazing, so many stars and the Milky Way was really clear. There was a great atmosphere in the night, we drank beer, played games, sang and played the didgeridoo. Everyone got on really well, there was a mix of English, Irish, French, German and Danish.
On the wednesday morning Liam woke us up at 6am, another early start, with the sound of didgeridoo! We had breakfast and watched the sunrise over Uluru. We then drove to the Olgas which is another rock formation but was formed differently to Uluru so has quite a different appearance. We did a great walk into the centre of the Olgas and our guide Liam talked to us about the differences between Uluru and the Olgas and also about its spiritual significance and uses for the Aboriginees. Our guide Liam was brilliant, he had an Ecology degree so he gave us so much information about the flora and fauna and animals in the outback, it was great. In the
afternoon we had a long drive to Kings Canyon. We set up camp nearby and collected firewood and cooked dinner. Had another fun night. It really was incredible sleeping under the stars.
On thursday, our final day we had an early start and did the walk up and around the rim of Kings Canyon. We set off early to avoid the heat of the day. It was a brilliant walk, the views from the rim of the Canyon were breathtaking. Halfway round we walked down to a place called the Garden of Eden, it is a pool of water surrounded by lush plants. Me, Dave and two others from the group were brave/mad enough to go for a swim. It was freezing, it took your breath away. Mind you, after 3 days without showering or washing it certainly was refreshing!
We had lunch and then set off back to Alice Springs. On the way we made our final stop at a camel farm to take a ride. It was very funny! We arrived back in Alice Springs at 7pm and all jumped in the shower before meeting up for a meal in the hostels restaurant. Everyone was buzzing.
A few of us including Liam our guide went out after the meal for a bar crawl around Alice. We had such a good night. Dave had a very proud moment as a couple of the lads played pool with some Aussies. Dave did some amazing shots and won the game, all the boys were hugging him and the Aussies bought them all drinks! There was a romance between two people from the tour which was exciting! Us girls danced the night away and we didnt get back until 4 in the morning. It was a great end to a brilliant few days! The tour was certainly one of the highlights of our trip so far.
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