The Highway to Hell...metaphorically...accumenically...spiritually...mentally...physically...!

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Alice Springs airport consists of a short runway, two shacks, and thats it. Pretty cool. Especially after the big commericalism that i hated so much about the bloody east coast. All around there was desert, dusty, red, desert.

I had one day to recover from two early morning bed times and two early morngin wake ups before having to get up at half four for my five am pick up, which was late. Not a good start. There were 13 of us on the bus, but only 9 were doing the six day tour, while the other 4 were doing a two day.

We drove for a fair few hours before our first big stop. Kings Canyon. This is a fascinating canyon with almost alien and lunar rock formations carved from years of wind and rain and heat. In the centre of the valley is the Garden of Eden, one of the greenest places in the centre of Australia because the rock acts as a sponge and soaks up moisture and helps keep the greenery alive. We did the 8k hike at midday, and it was bloody boiling, around 37-38 degrees.

We had a light sandwich lunch a little further down the road before driving for a long time into the darkness. We arrived at Yulara, Ayers Rock resort after sunset. Its a permenent campsite with rigid tents and proper beds though i was all up for sleeping in a swag under the stars which was another option.

It was BBQ for dinner, and having let wind that i am a chef it was up to me, but that wasn't a problem i quite enjoyed it. We had sausage, steak and kangaroo steak with salads.

I slept under the stars in the swag with my sleeping bag. Quite a few of us did that. Though it does get chilly around half three, four in the morning. But thats ok beacuse yet again we had an early start, 5am.

We got up, had breakfast and jumped on the bus. Today we were going to watch sunrise at Uluru, and walk around the base. We started the walk, just as there was a wee bit of light creeping over the flat land and we were in prone position when the sun did rise to catch thh first light hitting the rock bringing it to life with colour. The rock was fairly impressive as were the Aborignal stories that go along with it. At points where there were certain marks in the rock there would be a story to explain how they got there.

After Uluru, we headed to Karta Tjuta, or the Olgas, which are 36 dome shaped rocks that create gorges. These are actually larger in size than Uluru. We walked between the two largest rocks that started off with a wide mouth and gradually became narrower towards the far end. The heat was incredible! liek Kings Canyon, the entire area seemed alien.

Uluru and Karta Tjuta were both former as rock underground, and forced up through pressure of plates moving towards each other, only they weren't forcaed up horizontally, but vertically. Uluru stands at an 88 degree angle to the ground and they believe there is still four kilometres underground where only 360 metres odd is above ground.

After a hamburger lunch we said farewell to the two days people, leaving us with only 9. We had the afternoon free until half three when we headed back to Uluru Cultural Centre for a look around some artwork and learn some more about the Aboriginal Culture and even meet some Aboriginals from the Local Tribe. We then completed the rest of the base walk with Amanda, our driver guide, accompanied by the story about that particular area.

We drove off to a point about 2kms away after the walk and had wine and biscuits as we watched the sun set over the Olgas casting the final rays on Uluru. Pretty special.

Back at camp we had stir fry, again courtesy of moi, cooked on the hot plate. Over dinner we mused the idea of sleeping outside again, and as a joke one lad mentioned why not moving the beds outside instead of using swags. Good idea i thought. So we did it! We had it down to a tee, we could mvoe them in and out of the tents in about a minute each one and we even moved out bedside tables. Attention to detial. Three of us slept outside in the beds. Good fun. The dingoes gave us our wake up call. At 5am.

It was my birthday, and we had 800kms to cover. A day on the bus. I had assumed co-driver status and had even intitiated a number system, starting with me as number one. I also played DJ and got crossword games going. There isn't really much to note about the journey. Driving through miles of flat dusty land. We did cross the Northern Territory and South Australia Border...and it does say something when you get excited about a turning. We only had one to make.

We arrived at Coober Pedy, an opal mining town at 5pm and had a quick town tour. 70% of the town dwells underground to escape the tortuous heat above ground and as a fundamentally mining community, it sorta makes sense!

Our accomodation was an underground bunk house, alot like a hobbit hole without having to duck...

Dinner was Pizza and i even had a birthday cake. We hit the local bar, The Cave, because its underground...get the theme before heading to bed.

George and I got up a little earlier than everyone else and headed off to do a spot of noodling, basically panning for opals. we thought we would get a sieve but you don't. Just your hands. Its fairly boring!So we only gave it twenty minutes before heading back to meet the others for our mine tour. The guide explained the different ways and the progresion of mining, though its alot like coal mining in nearly all respects other than one is coal mining and one is opal mining...

We had another big drive today so we kicked back with some tunes from DJ AJ on 101.1FM...Our destination was Quorn, not the meat substitute, nor the place it was first manufactured...we arrived after sunset and it was cold. A cold wind was blowing strongly. But it was still warm enough to have a BBQ. Again courtesy of me. We had Camel Sausages, Roo Steak and Emu Burgers!

Early start again the following day and a two hour drive to Pelina. We had an 8k walk to the top of Pelina Pound, part of the Flinders Ranges. It was alot like the Black Mountains in wales only more dusty and earthy with the weird trees that only grow in hot countries. It was really awesome. Although again, this was allegedly a mountain. They have no idea! The centre of the pound was flat plateu. Fairly beautiful. Back at the Car Park, after lunch, two inquisitive Kangaroo;s hung around by us for some time, they were very tame for wild Roos and played with us.

We then went on to see some ruins, that were 150 years old...the one thing that is really gutting about Australia is the lack of history. It was only settled 200 years ago or so, and thats when history starts as the Aboriginals had no way of writing history.

That evening Geroge and I did dinner. We cooked up Thai Green Curry, Veggie Bombay Curry, Sticky Rice and Garlic Mushrooms, set out beautifully on the plate. The rice was served in a dome, shaped from a mug. We then made a mock up of creme brulee for dessert and fruit salad. Everyone was well grateful.

For a change the next morning we were up at 5am and waiting outside the bus at 6 but no Amanda??? She was still asleep so we woke her up. We were climbing thirty minutes later The dutchmans Stern. This is more like a mountain (ish).
We were halfway up as the sun rose, but it was a fairly shite sunrise compared to some. The view from the top was incredible. It was defo like Wales. Lots of rolling mountains, covered with grass!!!! And it was FREEZING. Like my kncuckles were white! Even more like Wales, except for the Kangaroos and other assorted wildlife!

After that we stopped for lunch and followed the itinery to a rope bridge, fairly small and insignificant and everyone was baffled as to why we had to stop there????!!! George and I did some wine tasting in Clare Valley, the seecond largest wine producer in Oz. The wine was particularly good and they even made a bavarian style beer. Lovely!

That was it. We cruised into Adelaide, a fairly pretty city compared to some. We all met up later for a few too many and then too many more before saying our sort of final goodbyes. Some of us were on the same buses, or staying in the same hostels, but metaphorically, we said our goodbyes!

Peace Out!

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