You Rock My World

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Prompt awakening at 4.50am for a rush back to Uluru to catch the Sun in reverse to last night - rising.


It was a little chilly but I wouldn't have missed witnessing sunrise on the rock for the world. I'm glad I woke up! The Sun came up just by the side of the rock with an array of oranges, pinks and purples. Wow!

After having woken up a little bit, it was time to leave Uluru for now and go to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) to hike the Valley of the Winds.

Kata Tjuta is a range of ancient rock formations and looks like lots and lots of mini Ulurus all lined up in a row. It was fantastic to walk around and once again was a place that offered brand new scenery and beautiful colours. It was the first time Australia looked to me as I'd always imagined it to look before I arrived - red earth, red rocks, scattered trees and bright blue skies.

We returned to camp in Yalara and visited the Cultural Centre where I learned a little about Aboriginal culture and art.

After the Cultural Centre, it was time for a small base walk around Uluru. Sam took us around and explained the spiritual importance of Uluru to the native people there. He showed us where people would normally climb it but today it was closed because of the wind but also told us that it would have been disrespectful to climb but would still have given us the choice to do it.

Time for another sunset, although not quite as spectacular as the first, it was nice to see it from a different angle with different shades from the night before.

We headed back to camp and settled in for the night. I sat by the fire to warm up and suddenly found myself alight. Well, nearly. Graham had gone to throw a burning log onto the fire, missed and hit me instead.

For those who don't know, a swag is like a one-man roll-up waterproof bed. Your body is covered but your head sticks out into the open air. I got into my swag and fell asleep. Until the rain came and I had to drag it into some shelter.

Now, I have become pretty used to bugs on my travels but tonight there was a sudden influx of them just hanging around. The storm came and the bugs went wild. I'm not sure if they were after shelter or warmth or both but they decided the best place to find it was in my hair whilst I was sleeping. I awoke at least three times to pull out at least six cockroaches and throw them as far I possibly could (which lets face it, really isn't that far so it was probably the same two cockroaches returning.) Hopefully I'll never have to experience cockroach hair ever again.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Cockroach hair... Eek!!