An Outback Adventure!

On Thursday, June 14th, I boarded a late morning flight from the Adelaide Airport that would take me to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. I arrived around noon and stepped out of the plane to bright, sunny and hot weather! I dropped my luggage off at the hostel, and took a walk into the downtown of Alice Springs to check in with the tour company for my outback trip. Alice Springs was a rather small town that wasn't too busy and didn't have much of a spark to it. The outdoor mall was probably the most lively place of all and only because that's where all the restaurants could be found. I bought some lunch at the food court and a couple souvenirs before heading back to my hostel to check into my room and change into shorts.

Todd Mall.

 On my second journey out from the hostel (this time armed with a hat, shorts, sandals, and two water bottles), I walked around the dried up river and across the "bridge" - which was no higher than the bottom of the riverbed - to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. The gardens were more of a bushwalk filled with native vegetation than organized planting but still nice to walk through. There was a large hill that I climbed up with the prize being an spectacular view of the surrounding landscape.

Lots of steps...

View from the top.

My second destination was Anzac Hill, which I had seen from Kaitlyn's pictures of her time in Alice Springs, that had a great view of the town. The walk up was called Lion's Walk and shorter and less steep than the Botanic Gardens but the views were no less impressive. I made a quick stop at a reptile centre but shortly left since I wasn't too keen on having snakes free to roam around and I'm too much of a wuss to get my picture taken with one. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the hostel before going to sleep early to be able to wake up for my tour the next morning.

'The Gap' from Anzac Hill.

Anzac Hill Lookout.

And so began my three day camping tour in the Australian Outback. Our three destinations were Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), and King's Canyon (in Watarrka National Park). The first day I was picked up at 6:00am and we began our drive to Uluru - 200km, stop for fuel, then another 250km to our campsite. We stopped for lunch where we walked up to a small lookout point and got our first view of the well-known Uluru (otherwise known as Ayers Rock). Next, we spent an hour at the Cultural Centre, learning about the rock from the Aboriginal perspective - which was quite interesting as they have many different stories and it was nice to understand its importance. I also loved seeing all the artwork, although that which could be bought ranged from $85 to at least $1200, which was only a little bit out of my price range.

The tour then took us to the base of Uluru where our guide, Geejay, took us for a short 30 minute walk, before we broke off in separate groups with the choice of climbing Uluru or walking 10.8 kilometers around the base of Uluru. I chose the latter as the Aboriginals ask all visitors not to climb the rock and although I was sure the view would be spectacular from the top, seeing it from all sides would be awesome too. The walk took several hours, but luckily it wasn't too hot and I drank enough water as to avoid becoming dehydrated. It was about 4:45 when finished and time to head to the Sunset Viewing Area to see the rock change colours with the setting sun.

Panorama of Uluru.

Classic Uluru Photo.

Sunset in the Outback.

We headed back to Yulara (our campground), which means the howl of the dingo. We had some delicious chicken stir-fry with noodles  for dinner before sitting around the campfire and exchanging travel stories. We eventually started setting up our swag for the night. For all those that are unfamiliar with swag, it looks like a large sleeping bag with plastic on the bottom and canvas on the top. It has a zipper down each side and a "hood" flap that covers your head so your head doesn't get cold during the night (however it doesn't close completely so a little bit of fresh air can still come in). It has a mattress in it that provides some cushioning so you don't have to lie on the hard ground and in addition, you put your sleeping bag inside it. Our guide informed us that they were called swags as a short form of 'Sleep With A Guide'. It turns out the swags were super warm (without a guide) and I had a great sleep. It was such a great experience to sleep under the stars in Australia; not only were the stars completely amazing (I was able to recognize the Southern Cross and Milky Way) but I also heard dingos howling.

We woke up early on the second day to drive to a viewing area near Kata Tjuta to watch the sunrise. The rocks changed colour a little bit, but I thought the silhouette of Uluru with the rising sun in the background was more beautiful.

Silhouette of Uluru.

First look at Kata Tjuta.

We drove to Kata Tjuta for an early morning walk of 7.4 km around and through the beautiful rock formations. Along the way, we even got to see some feral camels. After this, we drove about 500km to our last stop of the tour, King's Canyon, however we did stop along the way at a roadhouse with an emu walking around free, some salt lakes, and Atilla - another large rock formation.

Lookout point along the path at Kata Tjuta.

Salt Lake.

Atilla. A.K.A. The toothbrush & Fool-uru.

Our campsite for the night was a bit more rustic than the last, but had a great big fire pit. That night we got to have some kangaroo, sausages and chicken for dinner, as well as some bread and potatoes that were made with the coals from the fire. I fell asleep under more amazing stars and the howls of dingos nearby.

The last day of the tour was spent walking around Watarrka National Park and the well-known King's Canyon. Our tour guide gave us lots of interesting background stories along the way. The most beautiful part of the walk was going into a canyon where, at the bottom was The Garden of Eden (not at the bottom of King's canyon, but between another canyon). King's Canyon was pretty cool too and provided some awesome photo opportunities.

The Garden of Eden.

Kings Canyon.

Living on the edge!

Before we got back to Alice Springs, we stopped at a camel farm where a couple people on our tour got to ride camels. We also stopped at the entrance sign to the town of Alice Springs for a group photo. That night we all went out for dinner at a local restaurant called Monte's. It was a nice ending to a great tour. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to travel to the Australian Outback - it was definitely one of the highlights of my tour to Australia.

My awesome outback tour group!

Next: Only a few more days spent in Adelaide before travelling to Tasmania with my good friend and travel buddy, Kaitlyn! Although the weather is a bit chilly, we're having a great time so far. As of today, it's seven days and counting before heading home!

So excited!