September 2, 2016
G'Day all! We went for a 2 night/3day camping trip to the Outback in Central Australia. Camping is not really my thing, but I have been anxious to sleep out under the stars. So we went with a tour company that specialized in small groups of 24 or less called Emu Run Tours. As usual, I based my decision on Trip Advisor ratings. There were many tour guides that were raved about. Unfortunately, ours was not one of them. Michael was a newbie and still has a lot to learn about organization, communication skills and overall congeniality. But our tour group of 16 was a diverse and pleasant group and I couldn't complain about our scenery, so that made up for Michael. Central Australia was a perfect place to celebrate my birthday.
We boarded our bus and our first stop was Uluru (Ayers Rock). This is the huge red rock that is the iconic symbol of Australia. Torsten and I walked around the base, a total of about 5 miles. It was a flat painless walk with gorgeous views.
Afterward we drove to the sunset viewing area and had some snacks and bubbles while enjoying the sunset. Kind of funny because I expected the sun to set behind Uluru and then happened to turn around and there was the sun behind us. Hope the video link works.
We headed back to our campsite. They had 4 person tents with 2 bunks that could be shared. Not wanting to bunk with people I don't know, I opted to pay a little extra for our "luxurious" 2 person tent, which is the first picture. Also shown is the kitchen galley and barbeque.
Ironically we found that out of our group of 16, many of us shared September birthdays. Sitting around the campfire that night it was really cool to hear Happy Birthday sung in French, Scandanavian, Tiawanese, and German. We opted to sleep in the tent that night versus the swag under the stars.
September 3, 2016
Nothing like getting up at 4:45 a.m. to eat and get on the bus to go to the Uluru sunrise viewing area. We were to find out that there would be a lot of bus time on our trip. But sunrise was well worth it.
From there, we drove about 2 1/2 hours to The Olgas. This hike was way more strenuous than Uluru. Although it was a little less distance (4.6 miles), there was much up and down over loose rocks. There was one portion that called for a climb up a huge rock and I said I couldn't do it. Then, the little 70 year old Chinese man did it so I had no choice but to carry on.
Then it was back on the bus and a 5 hour drive to Kings Canyon. Along the way, we stopped for a break at a small road stop where I met Charlie the Cockatoo. As you can see, he was good at photobombing as well as Torsten.
We arrived at Kings Canyon just in time for sunset and saw some colorful flowers on the pathway.
Tonight we opted for a swag and slept directly under the stars. Wow! With no artificial light to interfere, the stars were unbelievable! It was a little chilly sleeping out there, about 47 degrees, but the wine helped.
September 4, 2016
Another early morning, another beautiful sunrise.
We embarked on our walk at Kings Canyon, 4 miles, but it sure seemed like more than that! The first leg of the hike was called Heart Attack Hill which had a handy defibrillator at the top.
It was time for our trip to draw to a close, so on the bus we got, to start our 5 hour ride to Alice Springs. On the way we stopped at a camel farm. Did I mention that during one of our drives we saw a few wild camels? And a couple of dingoes. Anyway, at the camel farm they had some emu and also an animal rescue where there was this adorable dingo recovering from an eye injury.
Sept 5, 2016
Time to fly back to Melbourne. Good Bye Red Center of Australia. Hello Melbourne!
Until next time.....G'Day Mates!
