Day 77 – Alice Springs to Darwin.

I needed to check out by 10am but lucky for me the airport shuttle was picking me up at 9.55am. I checked in alright and because it’s only a domestic flight I was even allowed to take my own big water bottle through customs with me which was a bonus! Today I was flying with Qantas and the flight was barely full so I had a whole row to myself, which was awesome! We even got given an inflight mean for a 2 hour flight which I didn’t know I was getting, I’m glad seeing as it cost me an arm and a leg to fly with them, not that I had any other choice seeing as they are the only airline who fly north. I watched The Book Thief on the plane and found the movie dragged and didn’t tell the story anywhere near as good as the book. I didn’t even get to finish the whole film before we landed, 15minutes early I’d like to add!

The shuttle to the city was easy peasy and the guy dropped me right outside. It wasn’t the sunny here but bloody hell was it hot! I’m staying at Melaleuca on Mitchell which is in an awesome location and walking distance to pretty much anything you want to do, bonus points for coles being a 2 second walk across the road. I went for a walk around and down to the waterfront to see the lagoon and wave pool which I’ll go to at some point, it doesn’t look like there is a lot here to do but it’ll be nice to rest after an intense 3 days along with the early starts! I probably walked about 30k in the past 5 days as well as paddle boarding on Monday.

Day 76 – Kings Canyon to Alice Springs.

Another 4.30am wake up to be out of camp by 5.30. We made our way to Kings Canyon to watch the sunrise. We made our way up a mountain of stairs (literally, I thought I might die) to the top and then across to the perfect spot. We were the first of many groups to arrive, which was good because we managed to take the best spots! Kings Canyon is completely made from sandstone so you've got to be careful near the edge as it can just break away.

The sunrise was beautiful, more impressive than yesterday but that's just because we were closer, what I mean is closer to the rocks so the views and colours looked better. Absolutely amazing! 

We then proceeded around the canyon on a 6.6k rim walk or more hike I guess. It was a bit tough on the ol' knees. Along the way we saw the North and South walls as well as the Garden of Eden. The canyon is made up of two types of sandstone with a thin layer of impermeable shale in between. There was one part where the rocks look like layers and this is because they’re ancient sand dunes and as the sand moves from place to place because of the wind it creates layers. As well as this there used to be a lake up here and you can still see the ripple marks left on the sand. The walk took us about 2 hours to do and when we made it back to the bus just before 9am we headed straight back to camp.

For lunch (even though it was only 10am) we had fajitas cooked on a BBQ… it’s amazing the things you can do, it’s just a giant wok really. They were damn tasty and exactly what I needed.

Just before 11am we left to make the long drive back to Alice Springs. We stopped a couple of times for toilets and snacks but we made it back to Alice earlier than expected at just gone half 4. 

This entire trip has been quite amusing to watch 15 people use 2 plug sockets with an extension lead and a million adapters just so they can charge everything. People these days can't live without the Internet and their electronics. I know that's what I'm writing this on, but I find it more of a luxury than a necessity. It's just more useful to book hostels and check in online for flights instead of finding an Internet cafe.

That evening 4 out of 16 of us headed over to Annie’s hostel for dinner and drinks, along with our lovely tour guide Ria! About 8 buses came back so it was quite busy by the time we turned up.

Day 74 – Alice Springs to Uluru AKA Ayers Rock!

5am alarm is not my friend but it did mean my trip to Uluru, or it's more common name Ayers Rock, was about to begin! The tour I've ended up going with is called Emu Run tours and they picked me up outside my hostel (Alice Lodge backpackers) at about 5.45am! I chose this tour because everything was included in one price, even my airport transfers and my hostel at either end, meaning I didn't need to sort or pay for anything else whilst I'm here.

We drove for about an hour until we reached Stuarts Well, you could ride camels if you wanted but there were other animals to look at too. Did you know the first camel was imported here from the Canary Islands in 1840 by a man named Horrick. After another hour of driving we stopped at Mt Ebenzer Roadhouse which is owned by the Aboriginal community and has an art gallery filled with one off paintings and wood carvings, for most people it was just another stop for good! After about another hour we pulled over and in the distance you can see Mt Connor, which was pretty cool! Everything is very flat and it's just a lot of nothing then these big mountains appear from no where, it's crazy! I then walked up a small hill and on the other side were salt flats, it was weird to see because literally everything else is a red/orange colour and obviously they aren't.

Finally at our last longish drive on the bus for the day! We went to camp to eat lunch before heading out to the big rock. Before we went there we stopped in the Cultural Centre. I watched a short documentary about the aboriginals and people visiting the rock. Did you know that 44 people (mostly Germans) have died climbing the rock! Then a further few hundred people have died after because of heat stroke and organ failure... Crazy! You can still climb it (which I didn't think you could) but it is disrespectful to the Aboriginal people. The climb was closed for us because of the heat, 38degrees if you're wondering, which is 2 degrees off the entire walk around the base being closed too! 

We were then dropped off and told our walk was going to be about 5.5k around probably a third of the base. The rules 'Always carry water, always drink water and you'll be sure to survive here.' Got it, 1,5litres to be consumed in the next hour or two. I always try and drink loads anyway because I am prone to a bit of heatstroke. Yesterday in Alice I purchased a sexy fly net so along with that and my free Canyon Swing hat, I was rocking the part of backpacker outback adventurer! That fly net was my savior, apparently the flies are just trying to get moisture from you because it's so humid and hot out here they're just thirsty like the rest of us. 

The walk was flat so quite easy to do, battling the heat wasn't fun but there was a good wind, plenty of rest stops and shade to make it through. There were certain points you weren't allowed to take photos because they're sacred spots. It was pretty cool even if it is just a big rock.

We were back at the bus about 4 and made our way back to camp. For dinner we had chicken stir fry cooked on a BBQ... It was all pre-cooked so it was actually just heating it up, less weird. We then made our way back to Uluru for sunset. The further the sun set, the darker the rock got from this bright orange in the day to a really dark brown at night, it was impressive to see it change like that.

Back at camp we were given some nibbles and bubbly, which didn't taste nice and told to make up our beds. We slept in swags, which is basically a bag with a mattress in, as well as a sleeping bag and pillow. That was it. Just us and the stars tonight! 

Day 73 – Sydney to Alice Springs

The first of many early starts this week, Valerie dropped me off at the airport just gone 6am which was super helpful of her as getting a bus or train at that time of the morning would have been near impossible. I was the only person at the check in counter making it quick and easy, my luggage has gone up to 16.6kg… I’m not quite sure where it’s come from as I’ve only added a dress since my last flight but oh well; at least it’s not over.

The flight left on time and arrived on time, I could get used to this! The package I booked includes my airport transfer so I went and got my ticket from the desk and jumped straight on the bus. These have been so easy in Australia; I hope it’s as easy in Asia! I was dropped right outside my hostel but unfortunately I had to wait just over an hour to check in, good news was they had free wifi so that occupied my time and I even managed to write a little bit more of this blog.

It was cooler in Alice Springs than I first expected, don’t get me wrong it was bloody hot but not as humid as I was expecting. I walked into the little town which was only about a 5minute walk from my hostel on the hunt for a fly net, a supermarket and a large lunch so I didn’t have to go out or buy anything for dinner.

Success! Fly net was about $6 and I spent about $12 in Coles on water and other things. I then found a little pub to have some lunch in which was alright too. I made my way back to the hostel, sorted out my bags as I was leaving my big bag here but it had to be in the locker before 7pm meaning I needed to be organised! I took two little rucksacks with me on tour so one for all my clothes and stuff whilst the other one would be the stuff I wanted to take on walks with me. The evening was spent chilling, reading and sleeping.