Get your Rocks off

We had a day in Alice Spring before our Uluru tour which was spent doing very little, in the comfort of a nice comfy (above ground) bed! Tuesday we were up at 5am for breakfast and to be picked up at 6 for our 3 day trip which turned out to be very good (and very hot). It was about 5 hours to get there, again on a not very comfy bus, but we stopped a few times and had lunch on the way which helped break up the journey! The camp resort we stayed at was huge, able to cater for over 5000 a night as our guide Mike informed us.


We went to the culture centre which was very good. Lots of information about he rock, its history, and it's significance in aboriginal culture and tradition. An interesting thing there were the 'sorry letters'..alot of people take rocks and sand from the sight as a souvenir which is discouraged and not advised (due to the significance of the area). Lots of people who had taken these souvenirs had later regretted it, or had some bad luck they'd linked to taking the rocks, and so had sent them back with a letter of apology and a request for the rocks to be returned. Sorry mum...no rocks from here for the garden!


We then went to another formation called the Olga's which were similar to Uluru. We did a walk there which was good, despite the 39 degrees heat, and then went back to Uluru for sunset there and a glass of vino! We were back at Uluru the next morning (up at 4am!!) for sunrise (above photo), which wasn't as good as sunset. We then did a base walk around the rock which took 2 hours. Mike told us alot about the sights there and the places that were used for ceremonies which was interesting, then the last hour was just hot and pretty much the same (big rock, blue sky, red sand!). Had some cake back at the van and then went off to our next camp at a place called Kings Canyon. Arrived in the evening, had a swim then had dinner. That night we slept in Swags (a mattress in a canvas covering) and sleeping bags out under the stars which was really nice... (not to sound too gay, but) the fear of bugs, dingoes and anything else sniffing round my face was erased by the peace and the great view of the stars above.