Day 87: Leaving Alice Springs for Uluru

Tuesday 1st March

Big water hole

Driving from Alice Springs

Uluru!!!

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I'm writing in the bus right now. Here's the view

And that's most of today!

Though first we had a quick trip down to the big water hole near to Alice Springs. A series of rocky hills divides the country near Alice Springs. One of the reasons the town is there is due to the small divide in this range that sits nearby. Here a dry river bed, rail track and highway all allow movement from one side to the other. Other than this the only other accessible pass is hundreds of kilometre's away.

However about an hour up the road a small divide is evident in the hills. A small creek passes through this point. Where it hits the rocks it has warn a small pond which is filled with brown, tannin laden, water. Here we went for a cool morning swim. A beautiful little place for a little exercise and bonding before our 7 hour drive down to Uluru.

The rest of the day involved watching red desert and a few bushy shrubs roll past the windows. We'd see a few more hills, rocks, and trees. There was a service station next to an Emu farm- that didn't serve Emu! Very disappointed. I got a lot of writing done, did some reading, many of us slept. This is Australia. It's the size of Europe, bigger than the USA, we have thousands of miles to cover. The day after tomorrow we're set to do even more!

Finally, though, we made it to Uluru, the original name for Ayre's Rock. We were there just in time for sunset. I've put many more photos of Uluru on my brand new Instagram account name is Dr_ama_dinosaur there's plenty of photos on there and I'm trying to add to them as much as possible.

 

That night we slept in swags again, under the desert stars.

Day 86: Fly into Alice Springs

Monday 29th February

Happy Leap Day!

Good Bye

Flying to Alice Spirings

Hot. Dry. Spiders.

New people! Hello! Gluten Tag!

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We didn't really have to wake up too early, but it was really necessary. Today we were splitting. 6 of us would be going to Alice Springs. 1 was staying in Cairns. And 13 were off north, to Cape Tribulation. Hence we were up, by the roadside, me swallowing my vegemite on toast and coffee as the girls attempted not to cry. Hugs and heart felt sorrow. I've done this too many times already though. Throughout New Zealand I switched between groups and hostels all of the time. I wanted to do a tour like this to have a "home" for a change. Not to have to constantly meet new people and lose the old. In time I've become a big believing in the idea that the important ones come back though, by accident or design. This happened in NZ, as well as with the people I left after school and university. Phones, Facebook, Skype, and we can plan to physically meet up in the future. That's the beauty of the modern world. Still, it's sad to have our old home broken like this. I'll miss having them about. The time we had was great.

Time to fly into Alice Springs!

Not far out of Cairns the landscape went from sugar cane and forests to red scrub land. Occasionally rocks, mountains, and perfectly straight roads appeared. There was the odd mine. Then I fell asleep. And we were landing.

It was odd. Like opening an AGA. Very hot, yet very dry. Hence I didn't really feel it properly until I went into the air conditioned terminal. Bag collection, new "CEO" tour guide, mini bus to hotel, blog write ups, nap, food shopping, more sleep. 

At 7pm we all met up in reception. 6 new people joined us. A German guy, 3 German women, a Canadian girl, and a Scottish lass. It must be very odd for them when the 6 of us already know each other so well. We went out to the pub for dinner and a few drinks to chat. I got a steak bigger than my hand for $10-that's about £5! Wasn't ever going to be the best I've ever had, but it was still good. We chatted away to the new people and got to know them. Were about to spend a huge amount. Of time together, better to be friends!