The Red Centre

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After a very turbulent flight from Darwin we arived at Alice Springs, very ashen faced and shaken! We spent our first night checking out the local restaurants and drinking establishments, to calm the nerves!

The next day we picked up our 4WD camper van - what a beast she was! More like the front end of a 4WD truck with half a caravan precariously bolted to the back! Reversing out of a parking space at a busy supermarket without taking out a number of vehicles was a challenge in itself. I'm sure we left a trail of destruction in our wake, but we didn't look back because we couldn't - there was practically zero visability! Our first stop was a the Desert Park in Alice to educate us on the plants and wildlife of the desert before we headed out there.

Our first overnight stop was as the Glen Helen Homstead, passing through the West Macdonnell ranges to check out the sublime Standley Chasm and waterhole at Ormiston Gorge. The Glen Helen Homstead was a beautiful place to spend the night, with the looming red cliffs providing a dramatic back drop to the beer garden. Where we sat for the best part of the evening with a few ice cold stubbies. The Aussies really know how to drink and serve their beer - we haven't been served a warm bottle yet!

Next day we headed bleary eyed towards Kings Canyon. This was our time to make use of our 4WD. The Mereenie loop road is 260 km of gravel, rocks and corrugations which we bounced along with enough ferocity to loosen dental fillings! On the way we stopped off at an ancient meteor crater which was cool. After 5 hours of feeling like we'd been in a cement mixer we finally hit asphalt (phew!) and the Kings Canyon National Park.

Many travellers in the rush to reach Uluru apparently skip Kings Canyon - some unaware it exists, but if you were coming this way it's an absolute must. We decided to walk the rim (in the heat of the day!) which took us about 3 hours, but we were rewarded with some awesome views of the 100m high canyon walls and sandstone domes. Again, the photos don't do it justice.

After a good nights sleep we made tracks for the worlds biggest monolith and Australia's favourite postcard image - Uluru (Ayres Rock). We didn't hesitate in paying the cultural centre a visit and then decided that we'd walk the circumference of the rock. 10km, 3 litres of water, a gallon of industrial strength suncream and 2 very tired pairs of legs later we made it! It was tough going in the blistering heat but being able to get up close, see some of the aboriginal sacred sites, take in the sheer size and to get away from the maddening crowds made it truly worthwhile. No matter how many times you've seen pictures of it nothing quite prepares you for the real thing. After the base walk we headed to the sunset viewing area in our camper for a romantic bit of tucker, whilst watching the sunset over "the Rock". Bizarely the skys blackened, the heavens openend and the dinner was rained off! We did however, get some great shots under some very unusual circumstances for this part of Australia.

The next day we got up just before dawn to get a glimse of sunrise over Uluru, this time we were in luck and the skies were clear.

They say there's no rest for the wicked and there's no exception in our case. Straight after sunrise we headed to the Olgas, a strange collection of rounded monoliths, less famous than Uluru, but equally impressive for the 7.5km Valley of the winds walk. We were wound through valleys, dired up creek beds and gorges giving fantastic views of the domes.

From there we had to head the 400km back to Alice to give back the camper and fly to our next stop at the top end of the east coast - Cairns.

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Photos

The Unusual road signs on the Mereenie Loop Road
"Lift um foot" - basically telling you to slow down for the bend!

After the bend!
"puttum back down"