Advertisement
Published: July 15th 2013
Edit Blog Post
The 4th and final part of an incredible outback experience.
Day 5 This morning we said goodbye to our tour guide Shelley. The rest of the trip was provided by a second company, so we all piled onto a new bus and met 21 new people. The day involved a lot of driving. We stopped at a cattle station for a toilet stop and the station was the size of Luxembourg. How mad is that?! It needs to be that big as there's not much grass round the area, so each cow needs over an acre to be able to find enough food to graze on.
We made it to the campsite. We cooked burgers for lunch before heading out to Kata-tjuta national park. It's a huge red rock formation close to Uluru. It was truly amazing what nature can produce. We walked the track to a look out point, took a thousand photos that do not do the place justice, then walked back to the bus. We drive out to an Uluru lookout point, aka Ayers Rock. We found a good spot and our guide popped a few bottles of champagne. We watched the sunset
over the rock with our bubbles (drank from a plastic beaker, but it still felt pretty glamorous) and nibbled on crackers and dip. Great end to the day.
Back at camp it was another feast of kangaroo, emu and camel on the BBQ, more toasted marshmallows and a night under the stars in our swags. I lay in my swag just staring at the sky for at least 30 minutes. I can't even begin to describe how stunningly beautiful it was. The stars out there, away from the smog of the city, were incredible. There were hundreds of the brightest stars I've ever seen. I fell asleep blissfully happy.
Day 6 A 5am start and straight out to Uluru. At that time of the morning it was bloody freezing out in the desert. I was wrapped up in 5 layers plus a hat and that just about did the job. We strolled round the base of Uluru in the darkness, waiting for the sunrise. One word: wow. The colours of the sky were gorgeous and I watched in awe as the sun gradually lit up the rock; turning it from black, to brown, to orange to red. It
was at that moment I actually felt a little emotional. I stood there and thought 'I really did it'. As in I've fulfilled the years-long dream of coming out to Australia, alone, and seeing these amazing things you can't find anywhere else in the world. I couldn't get the smile off my face as I continued the 3 hour walk around the base of Uluru. Every side was different; the look, the colours, the landscape, everything. It was spectacular and breath-taking. It was so unexpectadly big and remarkably isolated. There was something quite spiritual and special about it. We learned about its importance to the aboriginal people; both historically and present day. That's what made it very special. We saw aboriginal caves and artwork and began to understand the significance of the land and nature to the aboriginal way of life.
After our walk, we met Victor, an aboriginal tour guide. He showed us secret and sacred places, talked of his ancestors, taught the aboriginal laws, told us of the distinct roles of each gender in the aboriginal community, and told us many stories of the conflicts between aboriginal people, the 'white men' and Australian government. They weren't considered
citizens of Australia until the 60s, despite their culture being present for thousands of years before European explorers discovered the country. They were given dates of birth and new names. I learned a lot. Afterwards, we also visited an aboriginal cultural centre, where I learned even more. Mission of the week, to learn and begin to understand about aboriginal culture, accomplished. Lots I still don't know, but I'm no longer completely ignorant.
After lunch, we continued our journey to Kings Canyon. It was straight to the campsite to shower, light a fire and make dinner. By this point I started getting a little fed up of having to do everything in the dark. Getting changed, packing/unpacking my bags, finding the toilets, etc. I have really taken electricity for granted. Still, it was great being outdoors and having a proper outback experience. So many people say they want the outback experience, but then check into a nearby 4* hotel. That is not the outback experience! The outback is swags and sleeping in 5 layers! I'm glad it was just a few nights... I looked forward to an indoor shower and real bed.
Day 7 The final day and
another early start. Today we headed to Kings Canyon. Think the Grand Canyon in the US, just on a slightly smaller scale. We watched the sunrise then started our 4 hour trek. It started with 'heart attack hill', so named as by the time you reach the top of the four hundred and something's steps, you feel like you're going to have/are having a heart attack. Just what you want
at 7am, but it certainly woke me up and the views were more than worth the climb.
The scenery and rock formations were amazing. Again, I found myself completely in awe of Mother Earth and what naturally exists. We walked the complete canyon and I felt like I could just sit and stare at it for hours. I wish I had a camera that could capture exactly how it looked, how it felt to be there and the atmosphere within.
After the canyon, the tour ended with a 5 hour drive to Alice Springs, our final destination and where I'd be spending the night. We stopped at a service station where I got to say hello to a baby camel (so adorable!) and meet a calf called Molly who
thought she was a dog. Her mum died giving birth to her, so the family who ran the farm put her with their dog who had just had puppies. The dog raised Molly as one of her own. How cute?! This meant Molly thought she was a dog - she ran towards us, jumped up, licked our faces and sniffed the other dogs like she was one of them. She loved a bit of fuss.
I went into the service station, paid $5 (!) for a bottle of diet coke (everything is pricey when you're in the middle of nowhere) and we drove to Alice Springs. That night we all went for a group dinner. We ate Mexican food, drank margaritas and said our goodbyes. What a week. Uluru is my highlight of Australia so far. Just incredible. I've met some true friends on the trip and seen things I've dreamed of seeing. I've had a completely different experience to anything I've done so far and I'm so happy I finally built up the guts to come out here and do it. Now, the adventure continues. Next stop, Brisbane in Queensland. A whole new state to explore.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0244s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb