21 December 2008 - The 3 day rock tour

3rd 4th 5th December

5am we got up and had a quick breakfast before the bus picked us up at 6. We piled on the bus and so our tour began, it was nice that we had Brian and Leila with us as we all seemed to get along well. The first half of the day was driving to Kings canyon, it took us 6 hrs so we finally arrived at 12. They handed us out a bread roll, apple and oat bar each before we started our 4hr hike. We had been told to keep drinking all morning as the temperature was now 43 degrees and we had a huge hill to climb to start off with. It was so hot and there was barely any shade at all but the landscape was unique and well worth the effort!

After about an hour we came to a part of the canyon called the Garden of Eden, we couldn’t get there quick enough as the promise of a cold pool 2 cool off in was enough to get us running!!! It was bliss, we all stripped of too our swimming gear and took the plunge and as promised it was cold, the relief to our bodies was indescribable!!

We had our lunch which didn’t feel nearly enough to compensate for the amount of energy we were using up, then started to make our way back to the bus. The guide had told us that we were going quicker than they would normally due to the shear heat of the day and the lack of shade. A few times on the way back I really felt the heat and was desperate to get back but we all plodded on and got back feeling as though we had made a great achievement!!!

We had a couple more hrs on the bus to reach our camp for the night, we were staying on a cattle farm, so we got all the swags out and positioned them round the fire. The swags were what we would be sleeping in, they are similar to sleeping bags but they have a thin mattress inside and the outside is like those old green wax jackets.

A number of the group pitched in with making the dinner which was surprisingly tasty, Dan and I headed off to bed after we had tidied away as we had had a very long day. I didn’t sleep very well and was about to get up when the tour leader Joel’s alarm went off.

We all got up and had breakfast before getting back in the bus and headed on towards The Olga’s, today was certainly not as hot as it was the previous day much to everyone’s delight!! It had even started spitting when we arrived at the Olga’s, they are 36 boulders that cover the area used by the aboriginal males as a sacred ceremonial site! We embarked on a 8km walk that weaved inside and around the Olgas that last a good few hours by which time we were almost ready for lunch. Before lunch they took us to the cultural centre, there you could buy handmade aboriginal paintings and didgeridoo’s as well as learning about their culture.

After lunch they took us round Ayres rock and told us some of the stories the aboriginals have, they are much like the parables of the bible, in that they are taught to the children to teach them that stealing and lying are not acceptable. There is a small amount of chain rope so that the rock can be climbed but the aboriginals ask you not to as it is one of their sacred sites it is also often closed due to the wind rain or sun as a number of people have died when trying to climb it. Our guide told us that a European guy had died only a month ago, he fell off the top because he wasn’t holding the hand rail and lost his balance. I have to say I was pleased it was closed for the walking when we got there, we didn’t fancy see any of that on our travels!!!

That evening we parked up at a good vantage point and watched the sunset, unfortunately it was cloudy so the rock didn’t turn red, usually at different stages in the day Ayres rock changes colour from yellow though to bright red, but it was not be tonight!!

We had dinner then drove to our camp for the night, it rained all night and Sarah ended up getting soaked right through, Dan and I slept under the shelter where although I was dry I couldn’t sleep due to the constant high pitch mosquito buzzzzzt in my ear!!!

We got up at 4.30am, ready for sunrise at ULURU (the aboriginal name for Ayres rock), again due to the cloud it wasn’t really any good but hey. We then did the 7km base walk around the bottom, it was overcast again today so it wasn’t too hot. By this point I was ready to go back as my feet were so sore after wearing my boots for 3 days solid and we had walked quite a fair few km!!

When we had completed the base walk we headed back to Alice Springs stopping at a camel farm on the way, Sarah had a ride but Dan and I gave it a miss as we have done one before in Egypt. It was good fun to watch though as the made the camels run towards the end of the ride, so whoever was on its back was bouncing around all over the place.

We got back to the hostel at 5pm, we all had a very refreshing and much needed shower before having dinner with the group from the tour, it was a great evening to end a much enjoyed 3 days.