Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock) 16-19th November 2006

We flew to Alice Springs. About 20 mins into the flight of 1hr 40 mins the ground was quite bare and red. Luckily they were having a cold snap at Alice Springs and it was only about 36c! We stayed at cool backpackers called Alice's Secret, but only for one night as we had to get up at 4.15am for our trip to Kings Canyon, Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). Our bus was full with people from all over the world. The first stop was at Stuart Wells which is pretty much the very centre of Australia. After another 3 hours of driving we arrived at Kings Canyon where we went for a 6km walk around the rim. The canyon was quite spectacular with 300ft vertical drops in places. Where we stopped for lunch there were wild pink cockatoos in the trees. As we got nearer Uluru we saw it silhouetted against the sky and also Kata Tjuta, which from one aspect looks exactly like Homer Simpson, lying on his back!

That night we slept ouside on (and under) the swags - an Australian thing. Its just like a mattress with cover. The stars were amazing.

We had to get up early again (4am!) to catch the sunrise at Uluru and it was an amazing sight. After sunrise we walked around part of it (it is 9.4km all the way around) and it was nice and peaceful. Then we headed off to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) which are actually higher than Uluru. As it was due to be hotter than 36c, the climb up Uluru and walk around Kata Tjuta was closed (it reached 40c). In the afternoon we visited the cultural centre whilst two crazy members of our group decided to run around Uluru in the blazing heat. In the evening we headed off to catch sunset - it was quite a sight, but as with sunrise wasn't quite at it's best.

We slept out again under the stars and at 5.30am waved the rest of our group off. We got a few more hours kip and then headed for the airport for the easy way out.

It was almost a bit scary being right in the middle of Oz, as it is so remote and hot and dry. Our flight to Cairns was 2hrs 10 mins and only in the last 10 minutes did the landscape turn green.