The Red Centre

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Wow it's hot here!! The air is so dry and it's beating down....40 deg.C or more..
The train journey on The Ghan from Adelaide was pretty slow actually, but apparently that's because it's a very long train and a single track railway, so the danger is derailment in an isolated place...nasty. We had a Red sleeper cabin, which is basically like a wardrobe with pull down bunk beds! Nick slept ok but I had trouble with the constant movement. Still it was a great way to meet other travellers and the staff we pretty friendly. (I wouldn't recommend the food on this service, you had to buy your own food in the cafe style diner car)
So Alice Springs is really hot so I had a bit of a swim in the pool and then before dinner we chatted to a fellow traveller who'd just missed his flight onwards! The next day we'd booked a tour with AAT Kings, great company, can't praise them enough, always on time, drivers and tour guides knowledgeable and chatty, coaches well fitted and the drinks and nibbles went down well too. On the way to Yulara (Ayers Rock Resort town, that's all that's there!), we popped into a Camel farm for breakfast and had a tea stop where I tasted the famous Lemington cake (yum)... We arrived at the Olgas (Kata-Tjuta) and did halve of the Valley of the Winds walk as it was too hot to go to the second look out point - it's like an oven there. Still great views there and we had sunset with a glass of bubbly and nuts! Later we had a BBQ with camel burgers (Jean had chicken!)and skewered kangeroo meat. The next day was an even earlier rise... 5.15am pick up... but it was sunrise at Ayers Rock (Uluru)... great opportunity for pictures. Flies in the centre of Aus are a problem and we'd wisely bought a net and hats to keep them away... this year is apparently the worst they've seen them for a while... even the guides had them. We had a walk around the base with the guide giving us an insight into Aboriginal culture, stories, cave paintings, and sacred sites. Later that day we went back to watch sunset over Ayers Rock. Both times you can't imagine the amount of people there... crazy..
Our base for this part of our trip was the Outback Pioneer... very much a backpacker feel, but we had one of the refurbished hotel rooms which were great.
The last day on the way back to Alice we went to Kings Canyon for a river bed walk.. the rim walk was far too hot for us... Amazing gorge with Aboriginal significance also.
Back on the train (The Ghan) to Darwin, this time we upgraded to Gold service... definitely worth it!!! The cabins were bigger, with ensuite shower/toilet and the food was included, a three course dinner, breakfast and two course lunch, just great...

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Photos

The Ghan
Dunning in his hat inspecting the train

The Olgas
with its four main domes (36 domes in all)

First look out point in the Valley of the Winds
Knight is in under the hat and net...

Sunrise at Ayers Rock
The total madness of a piece of rock

Sunset at Ayers Rock
Dunning has much better pictures on the other camera

The steep walk to the rim
500 steps in all!

Kings Canyon
Further down the end of the canyon