Day 5 - Outback Tour

Ayers' Rock to Kings Canyon

I slept in the swag last night! What an amazing experience to wake up to a million stars above you. I saw two shooting stars. I woke up at 4:15am to go for a run - after going to bed around 10:30pm (I have gotten no sleep!). It was nice to run- felt really good. It was very dark out though and I had to have my flashlight with me because not all of the area had street lights - at one point I wasn't sure if it was a good decision, but oh well. I saw 2 more shooting stars on my run.

Once I got back, I had to quickly wash up and eat because we had to leave by 5:30am to see the sunrise at Uluru. Again, there were heaps of people there to view it. Uluru is amazing, but the touristyness of it takes away from the meaning. They sky was incredible but I am not really sure what all the fuss is about with watching the sunrise. Maybe on a different day, it would be better.

After the sunrise, we did the base walk - it is 8.4km long, so I got a lot more exercise and it felt good. There is also the option to climb the rock, but the indeginous people in the area ask that you do not climb it because it is disrespectful to their spiritual grounds. The climb was closed anyway because it was too windy - they find any excuse to close it. I didn't mind though because I wouldn't have climbed it. The base walk was nice enough and you got to see it all up close. The only bad part were all the flies - they just don't leave you alone. There are also still many sacred sites on the rock (you aren't allowed to take pictures of them) and the tribes still hold ceremonies on and around the rock.

Next, we went to the Cultural Center and were able to get more information about the people from the area and their world and lifestyle. they history about the rocks is so interesting and long standing. It is weird how similar things were with Indians in American. It would have been nice to take a tour from an Aboriginal to hear stories and to have traditions and customs explained to my by someone who actually follows them still...maybe next time!

By the time we were done with all the activities, we were all quite tired and very hot. We headed back to the campsite and are now heading to Kings Canyon. I'm exhausted! This lack of sleep is really catching up to me...

On the way to Kings Canyon, we made three stops. The first was a lookout of Mt. Conner - it is similar to a mesa in Utah/Arizona and is the middle of no where with nothing else like it around. Strange how these formations stand alone and come out of no where. The second stop was just on the side of th road to gather wood for our fire tonight - to cook dinner. It was kind of hard to find good thick pieces of wood - after all, it is the outback and most of it is dead! The third stop was sudden because we saw a herd of wild camels! They are not native to Australia, but it is said there are around a 1/2 million wild camels in Australia - how do they figure these numbers out? I picutre a large wire being put down in the outback to count how many animals cross it...you know like contain cars on streets...I think this heat has taken over my sensibility!

This evening/night was a lot of fun. We got to Kings Canyon Resort and stopped at the main area 1.5 hours - we will sleep in a campground 15 minutes further on with nothing around but other campers. In that time, Janine, Nikki and I went to the bar and got a 6-pack of Strongbow Cider to share while we sat around until 6. It was fun because we sat in the grass, drank, told stories, people watched and then more of the group came around, so it was quite a social gathering. The cold cider felt so good in this heat. I'm really starting to enjoy this trip and am glad I have done it. I do think though that if I had done the 3 day tour instead, I would have had as much fun and more sleep, but oh well...no worries!

We got to camp and it was more of deserted than the night before. We had a fire pit, so once we settled in, Scooter started cooking dinner on the pit. It took a really long time, but was fun because we all sat around and drank, talked, made fun of each other for things done/said on the trip and then showered! Then we climbed some rocks to watch the sunset. The sky was clear and it was a beautiful sunset. I can't remember the last time I saw so many sunsets/sunrises this many days in a row. Makes you appreciate the things in nature we usually take for granted. If you just take the time to enjoy it, it makes a world of difference. We finally ate around 8:15, but it was sooooo good (chicken & veggies on the barbie) that is was worth the wait.

After dinner, we hung around the fire and roasted marshmallows (no one knew what a S'more was, so Andy and I had to explain...I didn't realize it was an American thing!!!!!) and told stories. We finally found out how Scooter got his nickname (real name is Adam). He bought this really tiny kid scooter and did some tweaking to make it into this super powered scooter. One night, a friend called because he had a flat tire and needed tools to change it. Scooter was already pissed, so he didn't want to drink and drive. Instead he decided to drink and scooter. Unfortunately, he passed cops along the way and they pulled him over for riding and driving. He lost his license and spent the night in jail...how crazy!

Hard to believe this is our last night - the tour ended up going very quickly!