I arrived in Alice Springs, or at least part of me did. I felt as if half of me had entered a different dimension and wouldn’t be leaving soon. I also had no idea how I would get to Uluru as I really had no money left at this point, I think my bank account held less than $90, so I was feeling a little tense and wired when I arrived. However after a while I settled into Alice Springs hostel, which was a pretty nice place and decided seeing as everything had worked for me so far I would simply chill out and let things happen. So I came to the conclusion that waiting wouldn’t provide food as well and that I would still have to shop for it, shame that, however whilst I was at the supermarket I did meet a couple of German girls who said they were taking a car out to Uluru right away, that was quick I thought as I asked if I might tag along in their spare seat, they said they would have a think and get back to me, I offered them dinner that night and then found out they were fine with me going, hurrah for cooking!
So I cooked up some roast potatoes, steak and veggies, which tasted pretty damn good! Yes I do appreciate my own food, very Un-English I know. Eventually the decision was reached to leave the next day, hallelujah I could at least have one night in a bed, before the next adventure. The only thing that went wrong that night is someone stealing my beautiful blue knife, I mean come on, who steals a knife?! So far I had lost my wallet, scarf, hat and now a knife, all very important whilst backpacking and all were probably stolen, ‘I have no money people, be nice.’ So I had a lovely night of sleep and arose to an early, mad start, off into the desert this time.
For some reason the girls didn’t like air con so they left it off, it wasn’t as much of a problem at first as it wasn’t that hot in the morning, but it got hot fast and still they didn’t turn it on. I did ask eventually but they said they didn’t want to use it and seeing as I was the extra in the group I couldn’t very well demand it, it wouldn’t be British. So there I was in an oven with four German girls who preferred their own language, I soon passed out.
Uluru is pretty damn big, although I have to admit at first I thought it looked small, then when you get close you realise how massive it is. Just one huge big red stone, in the middle of a desert. We went in and chilled out at the shop for a while, leaving the oven behind us, ‘Oh sweet salvation’ and got some ice cream before taking a walk around the rock to experience its majestic beauty. The beauty part got a little lost half way through a mouthful of flies but it was definitely there for a while. Unfortunately I couldn’t climb it as they don’t open the climb when the temp goes higher than 36, it was 46… the girls agreed to come back the next day if the climb was open but then wed go to Kata Tjuta early to do the walk there before it got too insane.
As should now be obvious, it was of course, just at the insane point, before they close the walk off and refuse to let anyone through, and of course the climb at Uluru was closed, due to it being 46 again. So the walk around Kata Tjuta was intense and extremely wearying, this combined with the fact that flies were hounding me like a 2-day corpse and I had not slept the night before (it turns out that the desert is bloody cold at night in a tent) made it all in all a trying day, then we drove to Kings Canyon, with no Air Con.
The Kings Canyon walk I am rather proud of, the girls didn’t want to do it, but were happy to wait for me to walk around. So I pretty much ran it. 2 hours later I was back at the car park. I did do this first thing in the morning however hence how I am still alive. The Canyon was the best bit for me; beautiful and dramatic with enough time to appreciate it even at my fast pace, it made the biggest impact. I even took some film whilst there, then overtook people and took more film, somehow when I‘m in a beautiful place I have the energy of a madman, and it’s very useful. The view at the end of the Canyon is fantastic, even though it’s just of the car park that’s too far in the distance to really stand out, I was pretty high too, so high I could hardly make out the 4 girls standing on the platform down the bottom, who I soon figured out were my German friends. When you come around the other side of the Canyon there is a gorgeous view of the cliff that has recently been exposed leaving a sheer wall of multicoloured rock. Unfortunately there is also 5 times the amount of people, in my case anyhow, although I didn’t mind much when I realised I knew some of them.
Luckily we didn’t stay out again, I had by then enough, of superheated food that went off in 5 minutes, a sun that made you want to cry with its intensity, which of course you cant, as you have evaporated and the freezing nights that pass by without any sleeping involved, not even in a good way. Instead we drove back and today was so hot I even managed to convince the girls to turn on the Air Con, truly I had ascended!
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