Ayers Rock

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Hello,

Last blog entry for Australia - booo!!!!!!!!

We flew from Sydney to Alice Springs - a 3 hour flight which saw us well and truly away from civilisation! It was a cool view looking out of the plane window before we landed. We arrived at our hostel - Annie's Place and checked in and spent the rest of that day chilling out and doing washing etc and catching up on sleep (have forgotten what that is!).

Day 1 of our Mulgas Ayers Rock trip started at 4.45am - eeeeeeeeeek! 24 of us loaded onto our bus in the pitch black and passed out. Two hours later, once we could actually see, we stopped at a petrol station and finally met each other! We travelled for another 2 hours on 1 straight road and our tour guide, Halley, decided it was time to get to know each other so we each had to go to the front of the bus and tell everyone a bit about ourselves and not just names and ages etc, we had to tell everyone when our first and last kiss was too - very embarrassing! After an hour or so we stopped at Lake Amadeus - a huge salt lake which was quite cool.

We carried on driving into the outback and played games on the bus. We had to get into 6 teams of 4 for what would turn out to be the Mulgas Olympics. We had a Japanese boy called Hiro in our group whose English wasn't great so that was quite tricky at times when we had to explain to him what was going on! We decided to call ourselves the Ayers Rockers - good name I think and very apt for the trip!

We arrived at Ayers Rock (Uluru) early lunchtime. We could see it from quite far away as it is HUGE and although some people say "it's just a rock", it really isn't. We went for a little walk part way around the rock and learnt that it's 348 metres high, 9.2km around and 6km underground so pretty impressive!

Before we had arrived Halley was telling us about the option of climbing the rock. The Aboriginals request that you don't climb Uluru because it is sacred to them and the booklets that you get when you arrive ask you to respect their wishes etc but it's very confusing as there is a hand rail and walking track to get up there and it's advertised that you can climb it so I couldn't work out why they don't just ban people from doing it. I wanted to give it a go as it looked like it would be an amazing feeling when you got right to the top and lots of people do it every day but I didn't want to do it if it was disrespectful to the Aboriginals so I asked Halley what she thought and she said that it wasn't disrespectful to do it, the simple fact was that it was dangerous so they don't like people to do it and in Aboriginal culture they don't believe in laws, they believe in education so they won't ban it. It is so dangerous obviously because it is SO steep and the handrail doesn't go the whole way up, at the very beginning and from about 3/4 of the way up to the very top you're on your own and one slip could see you tumbling to the bottom with no chance of survival. At least 1 person a years dies trying to climb and when that happens it's a very big deal for the Aboriginals. They have to have a 3 week ceremony after every death which involves them slashing their chests and hitting their heads with rocks as they believe this is the only way to get rid of the dead person's spirit as it doesn't belong there. What a trauma! No wonder they don't want people climbing!

After I felt like I had been fully educated I decided I still wanted to give it a go, despite being a bit scared!! Deaks was definite she didn't want to attempt it and Suz changed her mind at the last minute and decided to come up with me and about 5 others in our group. We set off and I breathed a sigh of relief once I got to the beginning of the handrail. I carried on going and turned around to have a look and got quite scared at how steep it actually was. Going up is tiring but nowhere near as dangerous as trying to go back down! We carried on going, having to stop every few minutes for a rest and to admire the view. I was still quite scared as every bit higher we got meant more steepness coming back down! I wasn't going to give up though so we carried on going until the handrail ended and all that was left was white lines the same as road markings to show you which direction to go in. Thankfully as you got near the top it wasn't as steep. We finally reached the top after about 70 minutes and sat down to admire the view - WOW! It was amazing. We ran out of time to walk along the top as we had to be back at the bus to meet the rest of the group so we started our journey back down. At the top it was fine as it wasn't too steep but once we got halfway it started to get really scary. I was grateful when the handrail came back into sight and grabbed hold of it for dear life! It got so steep at times that I found it easier to walk down backwards as if I was abseiling - not a pleasant view for the people walking up!! Once the handrail ended I got really scared and was beginning to wonder what I'd let myself in for. I was stepping so slowly and started to slip a few times but managed to save myself! I FINALLY got to the bottom and screamed with delight that I hadn't died and then got quite excited about what I'd just done - was too scared to think about it while I was doing it!! Deaks was waiting for us at the bottom after having spent 2 hours walking around the rock - that's how big it is!!

After all that excitement we went to collect some wood for our fire later on and then drove to a viewpoint of Uluru so that we could watch the sunset and have dinner. The sunset was really cool and the rock changes colour so many times as it's getting dark - apologies for all the pictures that are probably quite boring for some of you!!

After dark we headed out into the bush for our first night of camping. Would have been a lot easier if we'd got there before dark but that's no fun is it?!! A few people started up the fire while the rest of us started getting out the sleeping bags and swags. We lined them all around the fire and spent the evening chatting, drinking and playing games which was funny. Had to have my first bush toilet experience at this point. The 3 of us went together, with torch to make sure nothing was lurking on the ground ready to pounce!!

Got to grips with my swag and lay staring at the stars for ages before I went to sleep. Didn't like the feeling of being zipped shut in this thing at first but as Deaks was quick to point out, it was better than something crawling in whilst I was asleep! It was so cool just laying out in the open air in the middle of nowhere. It would have been a hassle free night except I woke up in the middle of the night desperate for the toilet so, after realising that I had no idea where the torch was, had to climb out and go wandering in the bushes to look for a suitable place! Afterwards I headed back, nearly tripping several times as I couldn't see a thing. Found my way back to the group and then couldn't remember which one was my swag - all I could make out was 25 coffin shaped swags so I had to feel around a bit before I found the empty one. Note to self - will stop drinking any liquids at least 2 hours before I go to bed in future.

Halley woke us all up at 5am - grrrrrr! Had to pack all the stuff away in the dark and head straight off back to the viewpoint of Uluru to watch the sunrise. We all sat there freezing whilst she made breakfast. The weather in the outback is so extreme - really hot during the day and freezing at night - this is because there are no clouds in the sky which would keep the temperature warmer at night. It only rains 4-5 times a year out here apparently. Imagine that!

After breakfast we went on a 7.5km trek in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park which was quite good then we went to the Aboriginal cultural centre which was quite interesting.

After that we had a 4 hour drive to our camp for the second night. It's so weird driving for that long and the scenery being exactly the same the whole way. It's pretty much one road that goes on forever and it can be hours before you get to turn which became quite exciting for Halley and she felt the need to tell us everytime she was about to use her indicator - roughly about 3 times a day which is impressive when you're driving about 5-6 hours in total!! We stopped halfway to collect some more fire wood and then carried on with our journey and saw a random camel just standing along the side of the road! We turned round and went back to take some pictures but he ran off before we could get any pictures - how rude!

Spent the second night pretty much the same as the first but this was a bit more luxurious - there were toilets and showers nearby. I had intentions of roughing it and being a dirty scumbag but I caved in and ran to the shower. There was a huge spider in there and not even that put me off! I ate camel for dinner (my tastebuds are getting very adventurous these days!!) which was actually really nice. We played games around the fire again and introduced some new ones to the group that got a great response and we earned ourselves the name "Team Legal Secretaries" - they obviously couldn't think of anything better! Spent the rest of the night laying on the ground in my swag just staring at the stars for ages before the tiredness kicked in and I fell asleep.

Day 3 started at 5am again - by now I'd forgotten what it's like to wake up in sunlight! We headed off after breakfast and went to Kings Canyon which was quite impressive. There were 2 trek options - one involving a very steep set of steps which have earned the name "heart attack hill" which was a 6km trek in total and another much easier, shorter one. People with hangovers chose the easy option but most of us went for the hard one. We set off and made our way up the steps which wasn't easy in pitch black with one torch! We finally got to the top and sat and watched the sunrise. The things we do to see a brilliant sunrise! I have never seen sunrises and sunsets like the ones here - they are like rainbows and the pictures don't do them justice.

It took about 3 hours to finish the walk, we went all around the top and then back down the other side and collapsed in the bus! I was so tired by this point that my eyes were stinging. We headed back to camp, had lunch and packed up all of our things and started the 6 hour journey back to Alice Springs. All I wanted to do was sleep but oh no, Halley made us play games and carry on the Mulgas Olympics the whole way. We had to do a quiz on random things that we'd seen and heard in the last 3 days, then we played bowling down the aisle of the bus using cups and poisonous melons from the side of the road(!). We also played charades and pictionary (using the bus windows!) and we did a treasure hunt (which we won!) and then lastly each team had to send 1 member up to the front of the bus and they had to eat a whole weetabix dry and then whistle at the end. Sounded easy but was sooo hard! Deaks went up as I can't whistle and don't like weetabix. It took her 3 minutes to swallow it as it completely dries up your mouth. Very funny. Every team got up, feeling very confident, only to stand there almost choking and losing all the moisture in their mouths. We actually came last in that round!

After all these games and many hours on the road we arrived back in Alice Springs. The Ayers Rockers came 4th in the Mulgas Olympics which wasn't a bad result considering we had the 1 person on the bus that didn't speak good English!!

That brings us to the end of the trip. What an amazing 3 days. Very tiring but well worth it. I'm glad we got to see this part of Australia and not just the main touristy bits along the coast. We met some great people and had such a laugh. Am looking forward to washing my disgusting hair and then having a few drinks in the bar tonight before heading back to Sydney for our final night in Australia :o( Let the tantrums begin!!!

Next stop New Zealand.

xxx

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