Day 199 Resting Day 22 August 2012

We arrived at Cairns last night and after some very long hot showers and skype calls home we slept until noon today. We enjoyed some Australian tv and went grocery shopping, but Martijn indulged Ana with a stop at Target.

Day 198 Sunrise at Uluru 21 August 2012

This morning we had a pre dawn wakeup call to check out the sunrise behind Uluru.

 

 

After we did the base walk around part of Uluru –a 6km walk brining us by a natural waterhole and a few formations on the rock that aboriginals use to tell traditional stories about the origin of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Day 197 Kata Tjuta and Uluru 20 August 2012

After a special night sleeping in the swag (combination sleeping bag/mat/tent) we woke up at 6am to carry on to Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park.

We went on the 7.4km Valley of the Winds walk (reportedly one of the top 10 walks of Australia). It gave us some beautiful views of these rock formations that are in the same natural park as Uluru, but are less known. They were formed by an earthquake and an ice-age which shifted the rocks to a 30degree angle. 

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Here we saw our first kangaroo!

We visited the cultural center but no pictures were allowed. The aboriginals request no photos because it is a sacred site and can never be captured truthfully, even in photographs.

After that we did the Mulu walk. A short walk which showed us some of examples of Tjukurpa, an aboriginal word translating into something close to life philosophy/law/religious teachings.

 

The last stop of the day was a picturesque sunset at Uluru.

 

Here we walked a small path (while the rest of the group was having some beers) and were treated with a view of Kata Tjuta’s silhouette, 40 km away.

 

Before spending another night in a swag, we went to an outlook point to see the incredible display of stars and the smear of the Milky Way.

Day 196 Kings Canyon 19 August 2012

We were picked up from our hostel at 6am to start our “The Rock Tour” a three day tour of the Red Center of Australia. We started the drive with introductions on the bus, where we had to lay out our souls through the microphone (name, home, job, why Australia, favorite music, favorite animal, first kiss/last kiss and superpower.)

The only easy answer for these was favorite animal – Maggie the Dog.

We arrived at Kings Canyon to take the challenging 6km walk around the rim. It led us to the Garden of Eden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we set up our bush camp for the night we had to gather wood for dinner. Here Martijn pulled out a tree and carried it to the trailer. Ana’s heart skipped a beat!

 Since that piece of wood was large enough for two, Ana decided she would just take pictures.

Back at camp it was Ana’s turn to be useful and she cut the onions (without crying) for the chili-con-carne group meal that was cooked on the camp fire.

Then we went to sleep under the stars!

Day 195 Travel day to Alice Springs 18 August 2012

We flew from Darwin to Alice Spring today.

On arrival we saw this funny walking bump sign.

 When we checked in at our private hostel room with private bathroom in Alice Springs we did a little happy dance! What a luxury! We ate at the hostel’s bar and went to sleep early as we knew we had some very busy days ahead of us.