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Published: August 29th 2010
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We liked the congested and touristy Cairns (I mean, who doesn't enjoy ice cream parlours and beach front cafes!!) but we were after something a bit more remoat so we drove further north to Cape Tribulation, another East coast place named by Captain Cook (his ship
The Endeavour got stuck on the reef here for over 1 month hence the negative title!). Past Cape Trib, the sealed road comes to an end and only 4x4 tracks exist. We crossed the crocodile infested Daintree river on the car ferry and drove through the beautiful rainforest to tiny Cape Trip, just a shop and a couple of hostels really. The beach here was another stunning huge sweeping bay of sand broken up by river mouths, which we were told to stay clear of because of the nasty salty crocs who have been known to eat humans! Spent a couple of days here walking on the paradise beach, soaking up the sun and trying to spot crocs at a safe distance. Really deserted place. Not much in the shop either so shopping for food was 'interesting'! Think Ready Steady Cook on a bad day. Note to anyone coming here - stock up in Cairns!
Back to Cairns to catch our flight to Uluru (formerly called Ayers Rock by the white fellas!). 2 hour flight over the dry flat red dessert and dry riverbeds. Picked up from the airport by The Rock Tour bus and passengers (21 in total) who we would spend the next 3 days with. This was one of the cheaper tours to this area so it was all young backpackers like us, sweet!
Drove straight to Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park and went for a walk around the base of the famous Uluru rock. Very excited to see the big red rock up close and amazed that it doesn't look anything like the pictures. It's a more interesting shape up close, all bulbous, curved and jagged and covered with gashes and holes. The walk around the base was 9km and took about 2 hours. This place was a Geography teachers wet dream, loads of examples of erosion and onion-peel rock weathering. We learnt that the Government gave the National Park back to the local Indigenous Anangu tribe in the 1980s, but with 2 conditions. 1) that the tribe lease the National Park back to the Government for 99
years and 2) that the climb to the top of the rock remained open for tourists. The Anangu tribes people actually believe the rock is very sacred and that people (especailly non-tribes people) should not set foot on the rock out of respect. Despite this, the climb remains open, which is weird because it's also very dangerous, 30 odd people have died trying it. Only one person from our tour did the climb (there's always one!), which did look quite trecherous. Hopefully, one day the climb will be closed.
Watched the sunset over Uluru (lovely changing shades of red) and helped our guide (French Lesley) cook al fresco. That night we made a camp fire and slept in swag bags under the stars. Swag bags are like canvas sleeping bags with a foam matress in. It was so cold (below freezing) we needed to sleep in the all-weather sleeping bags provoided and all our clothes. Coat. Fleece. Hat. Gloves. Leggings. Trousers. 3 pairs of socks. Retrospectively fun! Breakfast and sunrise at the Uluru again (never eaten cornflakes in such artic conditions before!) before an interesting guided tour of the rock. Learnt about the Anangu tribe (pre and post the
arrival of white people) and that some parts of the rock are so sacred to the Indigenous tribes that we were not allowed to take photographs of it out of respect.
Next we drove to and walked around Kata Tjuta (formerly called The Olgas) - the Valley of the Winds walk, which is a lumpy bumpy outcrop of red rock close by Uluru. It was lovely and sunny in the day so the walk and the views of the alien Mars landscape were excellent. Another freezing cold night cooking, eating, star gazing, playing digeridoo and sleeping outside in the campground near to Kings Canyon - a 2 hour drive from Uluru. Had great fun collecting the fire wood for our camp fire. We were let loose into the deserted bush to rip small dead trees out of the ground (it was all very caveman!). Cooked Aussie Bush bread, Damper, over the fire - made only with SR flour and beer!
Ice on our swag bags. Why did we do this tour in Winter?? Early morning hike around beautiful Kings Canyon, a huge split in the red rock landscape after an earthquake 350 million years ago, before driving all
the way to Alice Springs. Stopped off at a camel farm and Dee and I had a quick ride on a camel. Hilariously bumpy and fast, smelly things (prefer horses!). Back in Alice, the group all went for dinner to make the end of a great tour. Uluru is a fabulous place. So glad we saw it and chose such a respectful tour company. Next, flight from tiny Uluru Airport to Sydney................
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