And now we come to the red bit of my story.
So during the Kununurra trip, I said to Rick that I was willing to totally organize this trip to the red centre and having the stress removed off him, he was very happy to comply. I admit, the gap between the two trips was a lot shorter than I had earlier expected and it didn’t help that after we got home from Kununurra, Ale and I played the Rugby World Cup playstation gave from about 9pm until 7:30am but In the end, food and equipment for my version of the trip was packed however people found during the trip that some ‘luxury items’ had not been packed so we had to do some further shopping to keep everyone happy.
We left fairly early morning and enjoyed the less traveled end of the Tanami. Our first stop was at Tilmouth Well which fed us pretty well and also had some very nice and cheap artwork! I was tempted but could not bring myself to betraying Wirrimanu like that.
 |
| The Boarder |
We then continued on to Alice Springs to quickly grab some things from the store before making tracks further south to about half way between Alice and Uluru at a roadside camp site. Despite the ants, it was very nice and was enough for the half hour before we were in swags and going to sleep. The next morning we had a pretty late start but still got to Uluru at about midday. Seeing it in the distance for the first time was absolutely amazing! I guess it is just like it looks in pictures but there is something magical about seeing it in person. It probably wasn’t the best that while being so taken by the rock, I was also driving but we all survived.
We first went to the visitor’s centre and I tried to work out with the time we had left in the day what would be the best approach. It didn’t help that the clock that said ‘Sunset is at…’ was wrong in that the position of the hands literally weren’t even a real time. Rick was impressed with my confidence in changing it for them and the others thought it wasn’t right but I was a lovely old lady calling over her husband after getting him to look at the new and improved sunset time. I feel as though I made a difference in their lives. So seeing how much time we had left, I set a countdown timer on my watch and decided we’d go on the 4 hour base walk of the rock.
p.s. I really do apologize for the photos but take no responsibility for any neck injuries sustained from photo viewing.
It was an awesome walk! About half an hour in, it actually started to rain a little bit so I started singing that John Williamson classic but pretty soon after, it stopped but at least I can say I saw it raining on Uluru! The walking track up on top of the rock was closed due to high winds but I seriously do not get why it is still open. I originally thought the Anangu people didn’t climb it themselves but they were ok with visitors climbing it but on the brochures, they have a quote from a tribe leader saying that they strongly ask no one to climb it and it is extremely disrespectful to do so. I don’t get it! I think I might go climb on the roof of a church or temple and see if I get a response J but I was glad to see the signs pointing out women’s and men’s sacred sites under tjukurpa (traditional law) and asking that no pictures were taken there.
 |
| I am aware of the irony of me standing here after my last statement. However, I believe this is the equivilant of walking on the speps out the front of a church. |
I was very glad that a few weeks ago I had purchased a 3L hydration backpack because it meant that I didn’t have to carry a water bottle the whole way around. About three quarters the way around there was a small waterhole which was a nice rest area deep into an inlet in the rock. Reading some of the signs, it was very interesting to note the similarities between the local language and Kukatja with things like ‘palya’ meaning good in both places and although different spelling, the word ‘marlu’ for kangaroo. I guess realistically, Wirrimanu isn’t that far from Uluru.
 |
| The hair is just so beautiful!!! |
Oh and I decided to test out how well my feet had developed during my time here and they passed, they survived the shoeless walk around Australia’s best known rock!
For sunset, we went to the viewing area and it was a wonderful spot sitting on the swags on the roof of the troopie. There was a fair bit of cloud cover but you could see that the clouds stopped just before the horizon so luckily we had the sun shining through onto the rock as it was setting. Someone just as the sun began to set put on ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ by Israel Kamakokopops which really set the tone for a nice end to the day.
 |
| "Thankyou very much" |
 |
|
 |
|
Once the sun had set, we went back just out of the national park so we could camp and I saw a side dirt road which I followed and it turned out to be a very nice clearing! It did hold many ‘Wolfe Creek’ish qualities seeming almost too perfect but come morning, most of us were alive so I’m going to call that a success! Because I thought while here, we should see both sunset and sunrise, I set the alarm for 5am and then proceeded to walk around the campsite playing the djembe drum besides everyone’s heads for a nice tribal wake up. When we got to the sunrise viewing platform, there was a giant tree right in the way! This didn’t seem to trouble the others so I watched the sunrise from a lower spot which I still believe was the best spot which was confirmed by the large amount of tourists coming to try and steal it from me. I did however meet a lovely foreign couple. Our relationship consisted of me stepping out of the way of their photos and them either saying ‘you’re right’ or ‘thankyou’ and then a happy ‘goodbye’ at the end.
After sunrise, we made our way to the Olgas which are actually a lot more impressive than you think. Its something like 200m higher than Uluru at some points! Not bad aye! That was another 4 hour walk but this one a lot more up, down and over. Ale and I entertained the entire group (but mostly ourselves) by belting out such classics as ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, ‘Runaway’ and ‘The Pokemon Theme’. I gave one lovely couple a bit of a present by walking to the top of a hill and belting out ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’. When I became aware of their presence, I considered stopping but not only was I never going to see them again in my life but also, for them, it was probably better than our ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ story, just further enhancing the romance of the view. Ant was being a bit of a saint running water to Rick, then running back and walking with us, only to a few minutes later, run back for another Rick stop. (Get it? Sounds like pit stop? Classic!)
We then moved a bit down the road for a shorter walk in between two giant boulders but before that, finally we were not in range of a service station or shop so everyone had to take Henry’s food options and make vegemite or honey sandwiches and fruit! Needless to say as soon as we got back the first stop was to a service station…
We then started the drive to Kings Canyon where we stayed in the caravan park. It was a very developed park with big grass fields, a pool, a shop, a pub and all sorts of other dandy facilities. We had a big game of touch footy (yes, that means touch rugby and yes, that is footy) which was really good fun but got pretty intense and on a totally unrelated note, late in the game I suddenly turned around and went straight into a low clothes line. It hurt. We continued a little longer but soon wrapped it up. Steph and Rick were pretty concerned but I thought I was ok until I started feeling sick and walking became a bit of a task so we went to the shop because Rick wanted to call someone medical and also to put something cold on my head. I got an orange juice and held that on my head but more on that later. The rest of the night was pretty chilled out, a bit weird when Rick and I were working out the next day’s travels and I was struggling to focus on a map and then realised it was upside down. I was also a bit concerned when Rick told me that we kept having the same conversations or I’d ask the same questions again so it was pretty clear it was time for bed. Apparently Rick stayed up for most of the night because we had a fair few dingo visitors throughout the night and he feared for our safety. Poor dingoes looked so hungry! Surely one bite wouldn’t have hurt.
Anyway, the next morning we headed off to Kings Canyon which Rick was weirdly excited about the ‘Pricilla’ reference. Oh before that, the orange juice!!! Well. In the morning, I ask what actually happened to my orange juice! They all claim I drank it that night but I still think they split it 4 ways without telling me. Anywhoo, the plan was the big 4hr walk in the morning, then lunch, then a smaller 2 hour walk before heading back towards Balgo. Unfortunately we got to the first walk at about 11. The beginning was an intense steep stair climb but after that, it was a very nice walk around the rim of the canyon.
 |
| In the words of Miley Cyrus, "It's the climb" |
 |
| And from the top. |
 |
| Ant's close up |
 |
| My God I'm lasallian! |
At about the half way point, there was a way down into the canyon to a little waterhole called ‘The Garden of Eden’. We were having a nice cool rest down there just chatting amongst ourselves when this Dutch couple came along to join us. The girl dropped her glasses and it was weird, we all just watched them slowly slide down into the water. I’m sure one of us would have moved earlier but they sort of slid a little bit, then stopped for half a second, and then did the same about 5 times before I jumped down to try and rescue them as they were now in the water. You could see them in the water but I thought it would be fine to lightly put my foot in the water. As soon as it touched the bottom, I completely fell into the water and immediately realised my camera I have used all year was in my pocket so as fast as I could, got it out and threw it to the guys. The lady then asked if I had her glasses and thinking back now, I found them with my foot so kind of lucky I didn’t break them! For those concerned about my camera/phone, it was put in rice for about a week and is now working fine except the screen now has a bunch of lines through it and I had a minor freak out that I could no longer take pictures with it. I later worked out that it works; just the date of the camera was set back to January 2005 so now my photos aren’t exactly in chronological order.
 |
| The last shot my dry camera took... |
 |
| aaannnddd its gone. |
After that, the mood of the trip suddenly switched from all fun and laughs to a more ‘let’s just get back to the car’ mentality. This wasn’t just out of concern for the phone but more of a sudden hit of fatigue and hunger. It didn’t make it any easier when Rick badly twisted his ankle with a few km to go but eventually, we got back and believe it or not, people weren’t too keen on the second 2 hour walk so we ditched that and instead headed back towards Alice.
 |
| Camera Tst |
After about an hour in Alice Springs K-Mart and Rick and Ant wandering through the aisles looking for nothing in particular but buying everything for the school which might in some way be justified, we went to Hungry Jacks for dinner and then looked for a place to spend the night. We ended up stopping just past Tilmouth Well on the side of the road so that we could go back there for 6am opening for breakfast.
While driving, there were massive controlled fires which didn’t really look that organised considering there just guys all over the place with mini flame throwers starting fires on both sides of the road and when a nice young fireman (who took quite a liking to Steph) came over to the car, his only instructions were, “Yea just go slowly, keep driving, don’t stop and stay away from the fire.” So that was really assuring advice…
The last day was a solid effort shared between young Alejandro and myself getting back in just two driving shifts getting home with plenty of the day still to go.
All in all, I’d say that the trip was a great success!!! A lot more store bought food and a lot less camp cooked food than I would have liked but I guess I can’t complain, the cans now in our cupboard have been feeding me well J
