Do You Come From The Land Down Under??

The first thing many people think of when somebody mentions Australia is the Outback, and that is exactly where i went in early June. I signed up for a three day, two night camping tour through a local company in Alice Springs, and yes it was actual camping with me sleeping under the stars. I had never really camped before, but I felt that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

When we first got to Alice Springs we did not have much to do so we went to the local Reptile Centre where we got to hold lizards, snakes, and watch as an extremely large lizard crawled on the floor around our feet.

The first day they picked us up from our hostel at 6AM and started the 5 hour journey to Kings Canyon, which would be our first hiking location. The one thing that still amazes me about Australia is how close places look on the map and how far apart they actually are. We arrived around lunch time and started the 4 1/2 hour hike up and down the canyon. The hardest part of this three day tour was the canyon, especially how you get to the top. They call it Heart Attack Hill and it consists of 500 steps straight up a steep cliff. Once you got to the top the views were amazing and everywhere you looked huge sandstone structures could be seen. When we finished the hike we went to the first camp site where we would sleep for the night. The only toilet available was a bush toilet, which is basically a large hole dug and we made a fire to try and keep us warm. We were given sleeping bags and a swag, a heavy canvas with a thin mattress to keep you slightly off the ground. Sleeping outside was not that bad and even though it was really cold, we had to get up so early that I didn't really mind it.

The second day we made our way to Uluru, the largest rock in the world, and the symbol of the Outback. It was a lot of driving again to actually get to the location and once we got to the National Park we made our way to Kata Tjuta, the huge sandstone formations that are in Uluru's shadow. This hike weaved in and out around the sandstone mountains to two lookouts that had breathtaking views. The day ended with a Sunset view of Uluru. If you can only do a couple things in Australia, one should be viewing the sunrise and sunset from this rock. We were able to eat dinner as we watched, and took in all the views. That night we were able to stay in a larger camp ground and got showers and real toilets, an amazing sight after two days!

The third and last day of the tour was an early morning wake up to view the sunrise of Uluru and a base walk around the rock. Uluru is sacred to the Aboriginal people and there is an opportunity to climb to the top but they ask you not to and respect their beliefs. The base is 10.6km and we quickly walked around in order to start the long journey back. Before we got to Alice Springs we stopped at a camel farm where we could see camels, baby camels, and kangaroos. One of the kangaroos even had a joey with her which was amazing to see!!

Overall, the Outback was an amazing experience.