Never thought that orange rock could be so beautiful...

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Time to take the train down to Alice Springs... The Ghan train runs from Darwin to Adelaide every Saturday and Wednesday - so Saturday morning I was up early and took a taxi to the train station, which is in the middle of nowhere (literally). Checked in my luggage only to be told that there was a maximum limit of 20kg per bag - and we all know by now that my bag is a ‘bit’ heavier than that - so had to transfer some of the ‘heavy goods’ into my pink rucksack that I purchased in Noosa for ‘going on tour’! Had arrived a bit early for the 9am train and had hoped to be able to get a coffee and magazine at least, but no, the train station is essentially a freight train station and the only passenger train that uses it is the Ghan train so there is nothing at the station at all. Nightmare! The Ghan train was over an hour late leaving Darwin too, but eventually we were on our way. I had book a cheap seat in the Red Kangaroo carriage so settled into my seat and chatted to the Australian woman next to me (called Denise, and is an artist - so said that I’d go to the gallery in Sydney where her work is displayed). The train journey was long and boring, and I wished about two hours into the journey that I had just taken a flight down to Alice Springs (oh well, guess you live and learn). There wasn’t really that much to look at outside of the window either, just barren outback landscape and no wildlife to spot!

Clearly I hadn’t paid much attention to the timetable for the train as we arrived in Katherine in the afternoon and was informed that we had a three hour window to do stuff! All I wanted to do was just get to Alice Springs... Anyway, hopped off the train and was walking down the platform to exit the station when there was an old French man (who was a passenger on the Ghan) talking away, in French, to some poor Australian guy who worked on the Ghan and looked like he didn’t understand a word of what the French guy was saying. I must have been looking at the train guy as he asked me if I spoke French and so I asked the French guy (in French) what the matter was. Big mistake! French man decided then that I was his new best friend and was chatting away to me in his native language. I explained to him that we could take a bus into Katherine and needed to buy a ticket, so he followed me and when I bought my bus ticket asked the Aussie girl for the same (but spoke French!?!). On the bus to Katherine he told me that he’s been travelling the world, but doesn’t speak a word of English! How the hell he’s survived in Australia for the past month I have no idea. The bus arrived in Katherine and he thanked me for my offer of showing him around Katherine (hum, didn’t remember agreeing to do this at all!) and asked if he could buy me a coffee. I made my excuses about needing to go shopping and did a runner on him. The Ghan experience wasn’t the most enjoyable as it was and the thought of babysitting a French man wasn’t appealing. Katherine is soulless, there is nothing there at all - no coffee shops, no sandwich shops - basically for a Saturday afternoon there was nothing open (apart from Woolworths!). There were also a lot of Aboriginal people sitting around under trees in the car parks and just wondering around, if I’m honest I found them slightly intimidating as they just seem to stare at you the whole time.

Back on the Ghan train and read my newly purchased magazines and then settled down to sleep. Easier said than done when you’re only provided with a towel to cover yourself with as you sleep - no pillow and no blanket to be found anywhere. I also had a loud snorer to contend with in the seat behind me, but remembered that I had some earplugs in my bag so they came in handy. Didn’t really have the best night’s sleep! Woke up on Sunday morning to sunrise through the windows of the train and apparently we were two hours ahead of schedule so sat on the tracks for a bit and then eventually were on our way to Alice Springs. The last bit of the train journey was the most interesting as there were loads of kangaroos in the ‘bush’ by the side of the train. Arrived in Alice and headed to the hostel, it was noticeably colder than Darwin - about 20 degrees compared to the 35 degrees that I had become accustomed to! Headed straight to the laundry room at Annie’s Place hostel to remove the Kakadu ‘orange dust’ from my clothes and then off for a wander around Alice. Yet again there were lots of Aboriginal people everywhere staring at you and one walked past me gesturing at my watch - I just looked away and walked a little bit faster past him. Had a look around the market at Todd Mall but, similar to Katherine, there really wasn’t much to Alice at all. Purchased another Philippa Gregory book, as loved ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ so much, and then stopped off at Woolworths for some food supplies. Was totally exhausted by early evening as felt like I still hadn’t caught up on sleep from the early starts at Kakadu and then the Ghan train... But did meet Aoife for a quick drink in the bar of Annie’s, as she was there with her tour group who’d just arrived in Alice after driving down from Darwin, and gave her the money for the Ireland vs All Blacks ticket. Can’t wait for the 7th, 14th and 21st June! Went to bed with my fingers crossed that Tigers would beat Gloucester - and they did... What a result!

Monday morning at 5:30am was my pick-up time for the three day tour to Uluru (aka Ayers Rock, in old speak!). As per usual when in Australia, there was a lot of driving on the first day and our first stop-off was at a Camel Farm where you could ride camels (hum, no thanks) or find the ‘pet’ dingo to stroke which is what I did. In the distance as we were driving along we thought that we saw Uluru, but it wasn’t it was Mount Cannon which is known by the locals as ‘fool-uru’ as it’s a common (tourist) mistake to think that it’s Uluru, but is actually 100km before you get to the ‘real rock’! We arrived at Yalara, our campsite, in time to have a late lunch and then drove the brief journey to Uluru. It is stunning, so beautiful and huge. I did the 10km walk around the base that took two hours (with the obligatory multiple stops en-route for photos, of course!) - some of the people on our tour decided that they wanted to climb the rock, but thankfully more of us did the walk around the base and recognised the fact that the aboriginals ask you to consider and respect their culture. Due to the fact that nearly 40 people have died whilst climbing the rock, this is a cause of great distress to the Aboriginals as well as the fact that they would never consider climbing the rock themselves.

We went to the designated ‘sunset viewing area’ to join the hordes of other people taking the same photos of the sunset. A mouthful of bubbles in a pink plastic mug accompanied the sunset and I was transfixed whilst watching the beautiful view. After the sun had set the temperature noticeably dropped, so I was pleased when we headed back to camp to find out that we were making a campfire (with the wood that we had collected earlier that morning). Had a late(ish) dinner and then went off to my ‘posh’ tent to sleep - but had to wear a full set of clothing and have two duvets as it was freezing cold! Despite the cold, I slept very well and didn’t hear (or see) any ‘bumps’ in the night...

Just as a brief aside, the old man who was sat behind me and snored very loudly on the Ghan was on my tour too! Jasper and his wife (Frances) must be over 70 and at least 40 years older than everyone else on the tour, but they are such fun loving people!

Tuesday was a 5am start and jumped on the bus to watch sunrise at Uluru, which wasn’t as pretty as sunset (and also a lot colder standing outside!). We then headed off to Kata Tjuta (the Olga’s, in 'old speak') which are formed from the same rock type as Uluru and you can see one from the other. Kata Tjuta is a formation of 36 large rocks and at its highest point is 200m higher than Uluru. We went for a 5km walk over lots of rocks and up and down hills - was fairly strenuous and much needed to warm up after the chilly start! Then it was back to Yalara camp for lunch before the very long drive out to the campsite for the night by Kings Canyon, which was a mere 5 hours drive away. We stopped en route to collect firewood and to take photos of wild camels (in Australia?!?). Dinner was cooked that evening on the hot coals of the campfire and we all chatted around the fire before going to sleep. Me to my ‘deluxe’ tent and everyone else to their ‘swags’ (a waterproof bag that you put your sleeping bag in and sleep outside - hum, not for me!). There was a full moon and a lot of dingoes howling...

Surprise, surprise up early again on Wednesday at 5:30am for a quick shower and breakfast then off to Kings Canyon. We were there for 7am (!) and then went on a 3 hour walk uphill and downhill over the rocky face of the canyon. It was quite beautiful - and even more photos of orange rock faces were took! A BBQ lunch then followed before the long drive back to Alice, which was c.450km away. Long drives are clearly a necessity given that nothing is near to anywhere in this country... And especially not in 'Central Australia'. Arrived back to the hostel and met up with Hayley and Lucy (two girls who I met on Fraser Island) as they had just flown in to Alice (from Sydney) and were staying at the same hostel. It was good to catch up with them - and then it was off for a shower to remove the orange dust before heading off for dinner with the people from my tour. Was really tired and so didn’t stay out very long - and only managed to drink two glasses of shandy! I have turned into such a lightweight... (No comment, Sister!).

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