Hello,
I have now been to Alice spings, where i did The Rock Tour :) it was an amazing Experience to say the least!! So happy that i did it. There were some highlights and some not so nice times lol. Meaning hiking a Canyon in 41 degree weather but then a highlight was swimming in the Lagoon in the middle of the hike. Only source of water. So anyways to start from the beginning i arrived in Alice Springs (Aboringnal town) like the only ppl that live there!! Cant go out at night alone and i most teh time wouldnt daytime as well. They are ppl that have lived in Alice springs for many years and now they seem to just sit in the parks and harrass ppl to buy stuff from them. And alot of them are drunks. Not putting the community down as there Culture was really interesting to learn about but now some of them are just living off the government!! So anyways met Lily and Jen at the YHA and we were all doing the tour together the next day. Got up at 530am and was picked up at 555am to be exact.
To get to know everyone we had to go to the front of the Van and answer 5 Q's Sam (our guide asked us) Here was my answers:
Name: Mieke From:Canada
Favorite place in Oz so far: Rottnest Island
Super powers i would like to have: To be able to fly so i dont have to be on this van
Camping Skills: Making Smores
So we had a good mix of people: 4 canadians, 6 swiss, 4 germans, 5 french and 2 from japan and our guide from New Zealand!!
We then got window pens and wrote things all over the van windows inc. our name so ppl dont forget them,. Then 4 hours later we were at Kings canyon to do a 3 hour hike at 12pm (the hardest hike there and hottest time of the day) was sweating just getting out of the van. I knew this was going to be bad. We were walking along the path and it was ok, Flat and then path ended and we waited for ppl to catch up and i was looking around like where are we going now. And then the guide Sam was like ok this next 15 mins will be the worst of the time up there. i was getting worried at this point. Only seeing huge mountains around me. Then he lead the way to the side of the mountian where there were stairs in the side carved in. It was literally straight up for 15mins millions of stairs later i was breathing so heavy i couldnt think. He was laughing at all of us but also making sure no one was goign to pass out. I drank 6 litres of water during the rest of the hike. during the hike we walked thru the sandstone dome of the lost city. Swam in Garden of Eden, Yelled thru the walls of the Canyon in the Ampitheatre (so neat), and laid on the top looking over the cliffs edge in the Valley!! After that we went back in the van and Sam randomly pulled over and was like ok we have to get our fire wood for tonight. I wasnt expecting this and we were all out there breaking wood with our hands and feet to collect wood haha. That was hilarious. The guys were by far worse than the girls, id have to say. My hands and legs were bleeding after that.
Drove to Curtain Springs to our bush camp, not realizing it really was just a bush where we made a campground lol. Thought atleast we'd have outhouses/lights but it was dark when we arrived and we set up camp. Made our own fire. Dinner on the fire. Slept in Swags (outdoor sleeping bags) and had a great selection of bushes to pee behind. The stars were amazing. Saw the milky way and 4 shooting stars. Was on dinner duty and i started by cutting onions that made me cry so bad sam was making fun of me. Then he was there for a while and was like these onion are really bad. My face was soaked with tears. Then was put on Marshmellow duty (as i said iwas good at making smores minus no chocolate/gram crackers). We then were able to relax with our 5- 30 packs of Tooheys Beer. Felt nice to drink something cold.
Got woken up at not sure what time as i heard it was going to be early so took my watch off so i didnt know lol. But the sun was just about to come up lol. SO early.
Drove to Kata Tjuta meaning "many heads", thought that was becuase it was lots of humps of rock but it was called that because of the cracks/holes in the rocks up close you could see faces in the rocks. We saw homer simpson, skulls, darth vador etc. it was a 5.4km walk, took us 3 hours. Again drank lots of warm water MMM. Then went to the Ayers Rock Campsite. Which had stoves, showers, bathrooms and a POOL :) Went for a swim (played piggy in the middle witha rugby ball lol, felt like a little kid) and then had lunch. Drove to Uluru and saw Ayres Rock, so beautiful. He asked us what we thought the shape of it was like?!? Most ppl saying a square or rectangle. Sam then brought us to the Cultural Center first to learn more things about the Rock. There were signs saying hike the rock and signs asking ppl to not hike the rock. Me jen and eric were like so were allowed or not allowed (so confused). Also saw a book of letters of ppl that wrote saying sorry for taking rocks from the area and that they felt like they were curst with problems after they stole rocks. And that they wanted them to be returned. A couple storied seemed really crazy and some were really sad. Not sure i believe all of it but was really shocked how many ppl wrote in after the years.
Got closer to see that it was not shaped like a square at all but it was large humps of rock in one area but the lookout point (where most pics are taken) looked like a perfect square. We did the mala walk and talked about the history of the area/people/rock. He then told us about why they say hike the rock and some signs saying please dont hike. Its the government that had taken over most rights to Uluru and they say its a tourist place and ppl come to hike it. But the Aboringal ppl still have a say and there asking ppl to not hike the rock and its a cutural thing that they used to do when a boy becames a man. And they dont hike it either now. Over 30 ppl have fallen and died trying to attempt the climb. No one from our tour had chosen to climb it. It summer so its only open sometimes and really early in the morning b/c of the heat. Drove to the look out and watched the sunset and had dinner out there. The tour beside us had wine/chesse/crackers and tables with table clothes set up. We were all dirty from hikes during the day eating out of the back of our van lol. It was so funny. Sam said he saw every type of picture being taken at the rock and try to be oringnal with your pics. The swiss guys went behind the lookout where noone was and on a hill were you could see the rock/everyone looking at the rock, they got naked and ran around taking pics with everyone in the view point looking at the rock but not being able to see them hhaha. Sam then told us later that 2 irish guys got naked poured beer on themselves and rolled in the red dirt and had sticks in there hands like cave men on the same hill as the swiss guys haha.. We were laughing really hard.
Got up at 430am the next morning to see the sunrise and have breakfast at the rock. So neat to see the different looks of the rock during different times of the day. Did the Base walk 10.6km walk around the whole rock. Then went to the camel farm and rode racing camels. Mine was Curly and he didnt wanna listen to the guide. We then raced them down the farm haha.. So funny. We got our group picture at the Alice springs sign on our way back. And then got to shower and met up for dinner and drinks at the Rock Bar. Felt nice to shower and feel clean still after the shower.
Flew to Cairns the following day, to a hostel with a pool/hot tub/hammacs :) felt nice to relax. Did a Cape Tribulation/Port Douglas tour, went to the Daintree village and did a wildlife river cruise - saw lots of birds no Crocodiles, the water was too high they said. Did a Marrdja Botanical bush walk thru the rainforest and saw tropical birds, large spiders and neat trees/tropical flowers. Took a 5 min ferry to Cape Tri and went to PK resort and Cape tri beach which was so beautiful the rainforest meets the Beach. Went to the daintree homemade ice cream shop where we tried there local fruit ice cream jack fruit and banana. And 2 other kinds. One literally tasted like poo.. I couldnt believe it. And then saw a Tea Farm, it made me think of Cami. Saw a Cassovary bird walking across the road, a large bird. Then Alexandra lookout where the river mets the ocean.
Got home in Cairns and went to the night market and got a local 40 min Massage for $15. Thought it would be nice and relaxing. The guy kept saying hard massage and i was like no medium and he was ok here you go hard massage lol... It was a young chinese boy that was really boney that did my massage. Digging his elbows into me and sticks in my feet. Not relaxing at all. to started my massage by putting my feet in a bucket of warm water with plastic bags in the bucket. So weird. People kept taking pictures of me when walking by.
Dove on the great barrier reef the next day, Saw a white tipped reef shark and a blue lagoon ray while diving. And a turtle when i was having lunch and lots of giant tropical fish/ the bright coral while snorkelling :) Had a great time and didnt wanna get out of the water. It was 1 instructor to 4 ppl. The one german guy inthe group had a freak out so it was only 3 of us the whole time.
Took a greyhound to Townsville and went to Magnetic islans to Bungalow bay Koala village. Thought i was paying to hold a Koala but ended up also holding a Crocodile, bird (which kissed me), 3 types of lizards, a baby koala and a Snake :( never thought id say that. The guide made all of us hold a GIANT snake and then fed it a large rat infront of us. SO weird.
Also saw a Wombat, Joey, and turtles at the park.
Now in Airlie Beach going on a sailing trip to Whitsunday inlands for 2 days 2 nights. Cant wait to set sail...
<3 Mieke
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