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Published: June 14th 2007
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Hello!!
We made it to ADELAIDE!! and we have free internet here so its all good! We just finished our 6 day tour from Alice Springs which is almost 2000km (over 19hours driving)! We went with a company called Groovy Grape and it was amazing. The group of 21 of us all got on really well and it was a real international mix so we got to learn loads about different countries aswell....we had English, Scottish, Americans, Ecudor, Isrealies, Koreans, French, Germans...and our lovely guide Micah was obviously Australian!
I dont really know where to start...we got picked up in Alice Springs and on the first day drove to a 'campsite' about an hour from Kings Canyon (i use the term campsite very loosely as it was just a block of toilets). The 5hour drive was more about getting to know eachother...we all had to get up on the microphone at the front and say a few words about ourselves. We discovered our tour guide was a camel whisperer and raced camels for a living aswell as doing the Groovy tours... he also told us he was born and raised near Alice Springs and had never seen the
sea until last year when he was 26!!
So we got there in the dark, made a fire to keep us warm and started on dinner. making food for 22 people was always fun ans Micah made sure we ate like kings with Thai curries, Spag Bol, Fantastic BBQs and loads more!.....talking about BBQs it was brought to my attention that us British have been seriously lied to about Australians! FACT...they do NOT put Shrimps on the Barbie!! AND they do Not drink Fosters!!AND...Australian Boomerangs Do NOT come back to you!they are designed to break the animals legs during hunting so you really wouldn't want it coming back!..a german engineer designed them to come back!!! (sorry just had to get that off my chest!)
So we never had beds for the first 3 nights we had one of the most amazing experiences of our lives...we were all given a Swag each...which is just a big waterproof sleeping bag that you slip your sleeping bag inside and that is you done...just all of us in a circle around the fire trying to keep warm but having the most incredible view of the stars and even the Milky Way!! now thats
a propa Ozzie Experience!
So 5am the next morning (Micah has never heard of the word lye-in) we were up, rolled our swags up and away, quick brekkie then to Kings Canyon...which was created about 400million years ago when cracks in the rock were made huge by expanding water...while a gorge is made by water running through rocks until it erodes away..so really The Grand Canyon should be The Grand Gorge (but the Americans would never change the name!)
So we walked up the steepest bit of the Kings Canyon first it was called Heart Attack Hill, then watched the sunrise at the top. we then had a 4 hour rock around the Canyon saw some incredible vies and breathed in the fresh air!
After Kings Canyon we packed the van had lunch and drove another 3 hours to Ayers Rock (Aboriginal name Uluru)..on the way we stopped to collect more fire wood and Micah tried to catch some wild camels we saw...left over from when the Afgans brought them over hundreds od years ago! We saw incredible Eagles aswell...with wing span of 2metres! and when it got dark we often had to dodge massive kangaroos jumping infront
of the van...the best way it to break gently and flash ur headlights on and off the try and scare them out the way. once we even had to dodge a dingo!
We arrived and walked up to a lookout to get our first proper look at Ayers Rock, and watched sunset..again we set up camp under the stars and Ant took charge of the Amazing BBQ for 22 people!
Up the next morning at 5:30am then to the sunrise spot to watch the fantastic colours of Ayers Rock change as the sunlight hits it! We went to the Culture centre there which was really interesting ans Micah told us and showed us all about the men and womens traditional tools used. and on the way in we spotted a MASSIVE Golden Orbe spider..lovely!
We headed to the base of Ayers rock and was totally blown away by the sheer massiveness of it! lol i felt like a total idiot because on all the photos you see it looks smooth and the sides and i really didn't expect to be that big!! The Aboriginals who own Uluru ask people not to climb it because it is sacred but it
was an option..but it was closed for high winds the day we went so there were no hard decisions to make! we all walked to 9km around the base of it whcih took over 2 hours and was beyond spectacular! and what a fabulous experience. it is well looked after and there are areas where you cannot take picures because they are sacred areas of the rock.
so after that we went to another piece of nature's magic called The Olgas... im not sure why this is so unheard of because it is just as spectacular...if not more than Ayers Rock! it is made up of 36 massive domes and was created the same time as Ayers Rock when pressure from other continents pushed Australia so hard that Ayers rock and The Olgas were forced up out of the Earth!!...or something along those lines!lol. We did a 2 hour walk around some of the domes then went to watch the sunset over Ayers Rock. Again the colours were amazing...and changed every 30 seconds so as u can imagine we now have a million pictures of Ayers Rock!!haha.
That night in camp to keep warm the boys organised the Swag
Olympics where a whole game of swag chucking was set up...Team GB came first with Team America coming second and Team Germany following...while i just stood n kept warm next to the fire. we didn't realise how cold it really would be. when u think of the desert u think its hot...but hoh no! not in winter! Micah said in summer temperatures can reach 55degrees!!! but in winter it was not over 15degrees and was around 0 at night so we were constantly in a million layers of clothes!
The next stage of the journey took us over 9 hours to the famous underground city...Cober Pedy and another state...South Australia....
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Louise
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WOW!
that sounds awesome... trust you to come up with the swag olympics... it sounds like you did GB proud though! he didn't see the sea until last year? thats nuts... emma i bet you miss the fish. thanks for the heads up about the temperature... i shall make sure i have layers. the pics are amazing... although i am slightly disappointed about the lack of "emma and ant" naked in the garden of eden, with only some leaves to maintain your dignity. it seems that was a kodak moment! lol! glad you ok, i'll call you next week. back in innisfail then... xxx probably for the best, cairns has been messy xxx much love, miss you