Rocking and swag rolling

Tuesday - Thursday

Tour was due to begin at 6am Tuesday morning.  When we woke up to get ready and have brek it was still dark outside and felt unreasonably early.  Again we'd forgotten to change the clocks and had got up too soon, however luckily this time the time change was only 30 mins so we just did some early morning emailing and tried not to think about the fact that we'd got up at 4.30am.

Everyone was rounded up from their different hostels and we were then on the road by about 7am.  There was 20 of us in total from UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ireland and Japan.  Our first stop was Kings Canyon which is 500km south west of Alice Springs so we had quite a bit of a drive to do first.


We arrived there about midday, had a quick roll and then were given a briefing about the hike we were about to do.  The walk was 6.5 km which would have been fine except that it was 43 degrees celcius that day and the route started with a steep up hill climb named "heart attack hill" in memory of those who had died on the way up!!  We were briefed on the signs of heat exhaustion we had to look out for and what to do if we started to feel unwell.  We were all instructed to take 3 litres of water each and consume it all whilst on the walk.

So with this in mind (and fear in our hearts) we started the first hike of the tour.  The hill luckily didn't kill any of us on the way up but I'll admit my heart was pounding when I reached the top and I did feel a bit dizzy.  A couple of people had to stop half way up for a while, one person turned back and our tour guide Sasha was almost sick and we had to wait to let her rest at the top before moving on.  So that goes to show it was pretty hot as she does the walk twice every week.

The route we were taking was around the rim of the canyon and it was a great walk.  Once we were up there and had regained ourselves we made our way around stopping occasionally to hear about the plants and wildlife and geology.  It was an impressive and foreboding place with barely any shade and very tough inhabitants including rock wallabies, the ghost gum tree (that kills off its own branches when there's no water) and a little lizard who climbed my leg when we stopped for a story at one point!

Once all the way round we started our descent which proved to be worse than the heart attack hill at the start.  But before long we were back on the bus with the air con on munching on snacks and pulling ourselves together again. Plus we all got to snooze again as we then had another 3 hours drive to our bush camp at Curtin Springs.

When we were nearly there we pulled over to collect wood for the camp fire which meant everyone wandering into the bush to look for big logs and fallen trees which we dragged onto the roof of the trailer. One of the trees contains an oil which burns very well but if you impale yourself with it it gives you gangrene. I did manage to cut my leg on it but escaped gangrene and consequential amputation.

Our camp for the night was really in the middle of nowhere which was pretty exciting, it genuinely was a bush camp.  It was action stations on arrival, the fire was started within five minutes, all the swags were out and arranged around the fire and food prep got underway.  The plan was to cook on the fire and what this meant was that we removed coals from the fire that already burnt down and made little piles that we rested the pans on, it was really clever.  We had chilli and rice but also made bread for the rest day which was cooked slowly in a closed pan over coals.

Then it was beer time and we all finally got a chance to relax and get to know one another.  I have to admit I had a killer head ache from earlier which I didn't manage to kick so was happy helping with food rather than chatting but Rob was good and sociable and got people talking.  However it wasn't long after dinner was eaten and cleared up before talk of bed began as by this point it was 10pm.  So everyone crawled into their swags under the stars around the fire and tried not to think of our the snakes and spiders we were sharing our camp with.

Sasha got us up promptly at 5am the next morning so that we got on the move as this morning's walk was supposed to be much hotter than yesterdays so we needed to start it early.  We had an impressive brek for camping of fruit salad (tinned), cereal, toast and porridge and tea and coffee.  Then once we'd cleared up and all rolled our swags (this had to be done neatly or they were sent back) and got ourselves dressed we were on the road again.  We cheated slightly and went for a toilet stop on the way at the campsite at Yulara where we would stay later but showers were forbidden.

This mornings walk was at Kata Tjuta (meaning "many heads"). We caught sight of them as we were approaching and they were phenomenal (you're not really allowed to say it but from a distance they were even more impressive than Uluru).  The scale of them was immense (24k around the base) and they looked so interesting all leaned up against each other.  I was really excited about exploring them.

And we were really lucky with the weather, not often am I glad about a cloudy sky and wind but this morning it was such a relief as normally the temp really rises amongst the rocks but this morning it stayed down at about 37 degrees with a bit of breeze.  All in all the walk that morning was a much more enjoyable experience as I loved the place and we didn't spend the whole time checking we weren't about to collapse.  We even got a chance to have proper chats with people en route.  I felt invigorated by the 7.1km loop trail through the Valley of the Winds.

Kata Tjuta is an interesting place.  It is a conglomerate of 36 sandstone domes.  It is also a highly sacred place for the Anangu (the local aboriginal people's term meaning "we people") and unlike Uluru the government have no remaining hold on the land.  It is a male sacred place and where Aboriginal men take their sons to teach them about women as the shape of some of the rock formations bring certain things to mind (but I'm not allowed to talk about this as a women).  Also once inside the rocks  you're not allowed to take photos that could be used commercially as no photo of the sacred interior has ever been published.  That's why the only picture is the one above.

Today was altogether a less hardcore day.  After our fun (albeit pretty tiring and sweaty) walk we headed back to campsite to eat our lunch of salami and salad wraps, leftover chilli and fire baked bread and then we went swimming in the campsite's pool!!  For the first time our body temperature lowered to a comfortable level and we got to wash two days worth of red sand off our arms and legs.  We had a good giggle in the pool too.

We were altogether a more respectable bunch which was good as we now went to visit the aboriginal cultural centre based within the Kata Tjuta and Uluru national park.  This centre has been sent up with the Anangu for people to learn about the history of this sacred places and to understand about the stories and ceremonies that surround them and the skills needed to be able to survive in their harsh terrain.  It was interesting hearing some of the children's stories (as uninitiated adults cannot hear the adult stories) and learning about the bush tucker that the Anangu survived on for so long.

Afterwards we we finally got to visit Uluru for the first time.  We did a short walk along part of the base with Sasha who pointed out some of the bush tucker we'd just learned about and so of the cave paintings.  She sat us down in the shade of the van and taught us some of the symbols and so showed us how you can use this to interpret the paintings' meaning.  We also learnt that the reason it looks so dramatic is it is a monolith, a single piece of rock.  It's reddy orange colour is the result of oxidation (rusting) which is then enhanced by the rising and setting sun.  Also, it is like a tip of an iceberg!  It continues 6k underground.  The Mala walk was very interesting however this would have been an altogether more relaxing and happy experience if it weren't for the plague of flies that seemed to descend that afternoon, Rob swatted at them like a madman.  But it was still a beautiful experience as the sun was back out and made the colour beam from the rock and twinkle through the trees.

Up close you have to keep reminding yourself that this enormous presence is a huge rock, its hard to get you head around.

We were then informed that rather than heading back to camp for dinner we were going to have it while watching Uluru at sunset and that Sasha would cook it for us while we had some beers and took in the atmosphere.  I love sunset beers at the best of times and because I hadn't drunk the night before I even had extra for this evening.  Everyone's spirits were high as we took endless photographs of Uluru (including lots of silly ones - Rob thinks he is resting his beer on Uluru in the above photo), took in the view and toasted another energetic, but really really fun day.  Some of us carried on having beers back at the campsite and stayed up to a "rocking" 10.30pm!

Not only did we get to have dinner at sunset the next morning we got up and headed back to have brek watching the sunrise behind Uluru.  This did mean a 4am start but it was worth it.  It was freezing that morning which was a suprise, however it heated up quickly once the sun was up.  The final walk was the longest at 10km but also the flattest, we were to walk the entire base of Uluru.  Everyone was pretty energetic considering the lack of sleep and we completed the walk in a couple of hours.  It was great getting to see all angles and visit the Mutijulu waterhole and see some more paintings.  We didn't climb it as it is against the wishes of the Anangu but the Government leave this option open for tourism which is a bit bad really.  Also, we saw the walk, and it has one rickety hand rail.  People die ever year falling off the rock.

As we were up so early we were able to start the walk at 7am and so were ready to leave Uluru and start the journey back by 9am.  It felt sad to be going already but since we'd already spent 5 hours there by this time we were satisfied we had thoroughly explored Uluru and the area.  Plus we did have some stops on the journey home to sight Mount Connor (also known as "Fooluru" because people mistake it for Uluru).  This mountain looks similar to Uluru but is a mountain not a rock and is considered to be cursed therefore is not such a favourite with people!  We also saw the nearby salt lakes which reminded me of Utah.  Then one hour from Alice we had a final stop at a camel farm where a few of us (only the girls for reasons of comfort)had a short and bumpy ride.

Before we knew it we were back and everyone was getting dropped back off at their hostels.  In all we had driven over 1500km and walked 23km seen loads and learned even more.   It was a great trip and the company had again been wonderful, we were quite a mixed bag and it was fun chatting to people.  Therefore we all agreed to meet up for dinner with Sasha (conveniently the tour company owns a bar/restaurant where we are invited to meet up and spend our money!)

So after a couple of hours peace we got cleaned up and headed back to town.  There were six of us staying at our hostel so we shared a cab in  as it was unexpectedly pouring with rain!  We all had dinner at the bar and it was the first time in ages that we've been vaguely dressed up and out drinking and so that was fun and we got a bit pissed and stayed out until 12! Plus the other group that had been on tour at the same time had a guitar rigged up in the bar so Rob took a slot on stage and entertained the bar with a song of his own and then a couple of crowd pleasing covers which everyone sang along with.  He even got a $7 free pint out of it so effectively he can now say he has done a paid gig in the Australian outback...  Altogether an unexpectedly raucous evening considering we'd all been up since 4am.