The Dead Centre .. Continued

So yes, where were we?

Right - Alice Springs. In the rain. It lasted three days. Now Alice Springs despite being well known is pretty small. Its big by outback standards but its really not much more than a big village. As a result, after a damp wander around our first morning there we had pretty much seen it all. So we headed to the shops and filled up on supplies. After that lazy day, we did pretty much the same thing the next day - although we did save ourselves a special treat - going up Anzac Hill, which is baiscally a big(ish) hill in the town.

We stayed at Annies Place which was crackin hostel (thanks to Erica for the recommendation!) and also was the best bar in town too which did good cheap eats. We booked a tour thru them with the owners company - Mulga tours - and so on our third day jumped on a minibus with 18 other souls and we headed to Uluru. Luckily the big storm which had meant continuous rain had just about abated and after about 4 hours drive we finally saw some sun.

Because of the rain we did our tour in reverse. Usually you head to Kings Canyon on the first day but it was flooded so we had to leave it til last. Uluru was great, the sun just about came out and because it had been raining there were waterfalls cascading down it! Even our guide Heath had never seen this and he was very excited! Unfortunately as the sun started to go down and we readied ourselves for "the famous colour changing rock" bit, the clouds came back and it became a big brown rock again. Then it was completely dark. So we went to camp nearby at the resort and another big storm was coming across the sky so we bunked down in our swags under a sink in the covered kitchen area rather than under the stars. It kept us dry, but then it actually didn't rain all night so everyone else was dry too. Oh well.

After getting up and 4am to see the sunrise over Uluru we headed over to Kata Tjula (The Olgas) and went for a hike. It was a bit more hard work than the guidebook suggested and wasn't helped by the heat (and it was only 8am!) . It was as good as Uluru - very similar only instead of one big rock theres lots all together and you can walk through and around some of them. We'd been up for ages by now and its was nearly 11am so we all got back into the minibus for the long drive to Kings Canyon. That night was spent in another campground (at Kings Creek) and everyone in the group bonded in the swimming pool and then around the fire. Just before turning in for the night, about a million scropions were found all around us as well as a big old snake. That was enough to convince about half the group (and Marie!) to sleep on the bus instead of out under the stars but I decided to bite the bullet (I'd had 4 cans of beer by this point!) and slept out on the grass. It was amazing, as long as I didn't think about what might be crawling over me.

Another early start and we were at Kings Canyon for another dawn, it was no longer flooded and a really amazing place, it looked like pancakes. Everywhere. We did a near-on four hour hike around it with a swim for me in a big watering hole. It was a lovely morning only spoilt by the 6 hour drive back to Alcie Springs. Still, it had been a mad but corking couple of days and meant we were done in the outback. Next day we flew fro mAlice Srpings to Cairns, where I am now typing. Our next tour has started......