Uluru (Ayers Rock)

We flew from Melbourne to Alice Springs in the Outback and stayed in a hostel called Annie's Place. Despite some recent reports saying there were bed bugs, we didn't have a problem besides Jeanette not being able to sleep all night as she was scared she would be bitten...apparently you can see them and we checked the entire day. Alice Springs was interesting...a town in the middle of nowhere that had KFC, Subway, K-Mart, etc. We probably don't need to return there, but it was interesting to see. There were some homeless Aborigines, which was sad to see...the most homeless people we had seen in Australia.

We left bright and early the next morning on a three day, two night tour to Uluru. We went on the Mulgas tour, which was lots of fun. The first day was mostly driving the six hours it took to get there, but we did stop for a hike in King's Canyon. We also were able to watch the sunset over Uluru. During the drive, we stopped along the side of the road and picked up some poisonous melons. We then proceeded (in teams of 4 or 5) to throw the melons out the bus window while driving at posts or signs. Jeanette hit a small white post worth two points and Ed didn't hit anything. One of the two Irish girls on our team hit a sign worth one point. We then set up our mugs in the back of the bus and bowled the remaining melons while the bus was driving. It was lots of fun. After watching the sunset, we spotted a couple in the road who was flagging us down. All the people on the bus (19 including our tour guide, Halley) got off and helped push their camper van back to the road as it was stuck in the dirt pretty far off the road. With all the people we had, it was relatively easy to push out. The couple wasn't the brightest to drive their non-four wheel drive camper that far off the road in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived at our campsite, Halley realized three of our swags had been stolen while we watched the sunset. That was a real bummer since there were only a few other cars where we watched the sunset. Luckily for all of us on the tour, she had packed a few extra swags and we all got one. Unfortunately for Halley, there wasn't enough for her. Once we arrived at the campsite, we tore down dead trees and started a huge bonfire. Halley cooked dinner, which consisted of pasta with vegetarian bolognese (more like chili) for Jeanette and added camel to the sauce for the non vegetarians...Ed. He thought it tasted just like beef. We slept under the stars, which were brilliant in the sky. It was quite cold...like 25 degrees outside. We were fairly warm with the fire, sleeping bag, and swag, but the wind could get cold on your face.

We woke up early the next morning and hiked two different hikes totaling 16 kilometers for the day. We first hiked the Olgas, which were mountains near the rock that were created in a similar way. We then had lunch at the cultural center and began our walk around the base of Uluru...the world's largest monolith. No one climbed it because it was too windy, but Ed and I weren't going to climb it anyway due to respect of the Aboriginal people who request that you don't climb their sacred site. We also watched the sunset, which turned the rock a bright red. We had dinner consisting green curry chicken. Jeanette had rice and cheese. While we were there, buses of people were brought in. They had paid $800 to watch the sunset and have dinner. We paid $250 for three days including meals, campsites, admission, etc. After the sunset, we returned to our campsite, tore down some more dead trees, and started our fire. We toasted marshmallows, which were flavored. Most people went to bed around 8, but we stayed up until about 11 talking to people.

The next morning was a little warmer, possibly 40 degrees, and we watched the sunrise over Uluru again. It was extremely windy, so we stayed inside the bus for most of it. One thing we noticed was the desert had lots of trees and some grass. Although it doesn't rain there frequently, the trees have roots reaching far underground where there is a huge supply of water.

Halley dropped Ed and I off at a really nice hostel/resort (YHA, but with a fancy name) while everyone else continued on to Alice Springs for their flight. We were able to shower, eat, relax, and do laundry in the time that it took them to drive back. We caught a free shuttle to the airport and flew to Cairns.