Alice Springs and The Rock Tour

After 6 months hard working in Sydney it was time to start a new adventure and enjoy ourselves again. On Aug 21st we flew from Sydney to Alice Springs. Having been in Winter in Sydney we were not quite prepared for the massive change in temperature... Alice sprigs was like a dessert, arriving in around 32 degrees heat!
We checked into our Hostel and took a day to unwind and get back into travelling mode before we went on the Rock Tour.
Our double room was a gutted caravan... Terry looking like a Pikey!!

3 day / 2 night Rock Tour (http://www.therocktour.com.au/)
Our guide was 24 yr old Adam who was on his 12th Tour.... Nevertheless he seemed to know his stuff and was a great Guide, looking after us and giving us all the info we needed. Many people hire cars and campers to drive to Uluru - but after the long drive from Alice Springs we were so glad we had booked a tour.

tour bus..

Tours are usually all about who is on your tour as much as where you go and what you see.... fortunately for us there were 3 Irish guys (Clare, Dara and Alan) on ours!
Day 1

Uluru - the giant, red rock, AKA Ayres Rock. we did a 6km walk around the rock. The rock holds huge sacred values and beliefs for the aboriginal communities living close by and there are many stories about how the rock was formed.

Although it is allowed it is frowned upon to climb the rock and 36 people have died as far as they know. When a person dies the aboriginal people hold a service and harm themselves to release the spirits of the dead. So in other words climbing the rock is like slapping the local people in the face - needless to say we didn't climb it!!!

That evening we had dinner whilst watching sunset over Uluru.

Was amazing to see how the sun effected the colour of the rock as it went down.

On the way to set up camp we had to collect our own firewood and catch our our dinner (joke) but we did have to collect wood for the fire!!!

The camp site was literally a plot of ground with a fire..... that evening we drank beer, toasted marsh-mellows and huddled to try and stay warm in our swags. Sleeping under the starts was an experience, but a very cold one!!!

Day 2
Up at 5.30 in time to be back at Uluru for breakfast at sunrise. Just as beautiful as sunset.....

Next destination Kata Tjuta... Valley of the Winds... (luckily for us it wasn't very windy)...

And a geology lesson about how the kata tjuda was formed - helped by terry and the irish guys!!

On the way to our next stop kings creek campground we stopped at some salt flats, sand dunes and a mountain (cannot remember its name)!!
sand dunes..

salt flats

mountain that looks like ayres rock...

That evening we made our way to Kings Kanyon Camp site. Terry and the Irish Guys were in charge of the fire - as tonight Adam used the fire to cook our feast of chilli, rice and roasted vegetables. He also managed to bake some bread using flour and beer on the fire!

Claire keeping an eye on dinner...

That night we sat around the fire, sharing Irish, Aussie and English stories and of course drinking more beer! That night Terry kept the fire burning practically all night - so much so that i was toasted in my swag, and felt like i had smoked 100 cigarettes that morning - bringing on a chesty cough! Still i was grateful about not being cold i guess!

Day 3
Next morning up again at 5.30am, breakfast and then to Kings Canyon.
Heart Attack Hill to the top and then an easy 3 hour walk from there......

After lunch we headed to the camel farm.. for a spot of camel racing.... it was not the most comfortable ride... and Chelsea on the other came should definitely NOT have been wearing a skirt!

The journey was a long one back to Alice Springs but we finally made at and celebrated a great Tour in the Rock Bar that evening for dinner and drinks with Adam and a fellow Tour guide.

Day after the Tour Terry wanted to go to the Telegraph Museum (Yawn yawn). But as the loyal girlfriend i happily walked the 8km in the blistering heat to along the dried up river and back.
Alice springs was originally established as the main telegraph station to provide communications from Darwin to Perth.... I let Terry Play whilst i acted as photographer and melted in the sun!

The walk was all worth it as on the way back we spotted our first Kangaroo in the wild!

As if we hadn't done enough walking - we then climbed the Anzac Hill in the midday heat!!

That evening we met up our new Irish Friends to sample Australia cuisine.....
Crocodile spring rolls, kangaroo, burramundi (fish) and camel sausages. The crocodile Spring rolls were actually amazing....

After a fantastic and very warm 5 days in Alice Springs we headed back to the airport. Alice springs its self is a bit of a small and not so interesting town, but the tour was great. The only thing that has never been mentioned was the flies - the most annoying and persistent flies we had ever met. If your going - one of those silly tourist hats with the corks or netting is a must!!! They look stupid but i wish we would had had them!
Next stop to Melbourne to stay with Terry's friend Sharief and his family.