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 75 – Uluru sunrise and Kata Tjuta.

Ria (our driver) woke us up at 4.30am... Kinda feels like I'm back on the kiwi bus with all these early starts but at least today is for a good reason, to see the Uluru sunrise! Got changed, rolled up our swags, had a quick breakfast and we were ready to leave. The drive is about half an hour to he sunrise spot. On arrival there were quite a few other buses already there. We made our way up the path to the look out. In front of us was Uluru and to the left was Kata Tjuta AKA The Olgas. The sun was rising near enough directly behind Uluru which was lucky as obviously sometimes the sun is quite far off the rock, I heard someone say it's the best sunrise they've seen here in a while which is good to hear!

Once the sun was up we went back to the bus and drove to Kata Tjuta, I didn't think I'd ever be doing a 7.4k walk before 10am but here I am! It was already a little hot and they close this site if it gets above 36degrees which is why they make you do it so early, I'd rather do it earlier when it's slightly cooler anyway. The walk was called 'The Valley of the Winds'. We walked up and through the Ulgas and the toughest part was climbing this massive hill, steps were carved in but still, takes it out of you. The view from up there was amazing though, you were right in the middle of it all and I've never seen anything like it. The walk back was nicer as it was mostly downhill, we even found a small lake, apparently the walk is really cool to do in the rain.

We got back to the bus about 9.30 and went back to camp to cook lunch. We were given Camel burgers, it was weird and I'm not really sure what to make of it but hey, at least I tried it. We then packed up and were out of there! The drive to a Kings Canyon was about 4 and a half hours with 1 stop for toilets and another to collect fire wood. 

Emu have their own campsite in Kings Canyon that no one else can use. We get big tents with actual beds in them. I'm talking metal beds and mattresses! Tonight was a meal of meat! We had chicken skewers, sausages and kangaroo. Kangaroo is awesome, it's a dark meat so it's kinda like beef. We had salad to go with it but that's not as exciting to talk about is it?

The evening was spent by the fire and looking at the stars. Oh my god, they were the most incredible thing I have ever seen. Obviously being in the middle of nowhere there is barely any light around so you can see about a million of them! I can't describe it, you'll just have to take my word for how amazing it was.