The Heart of Australia

I left the other three girls behind at Surfer's Paradise and headed off alone to Brisbane where I flew to Adelaide. I spent three days there where I met some fantastic people and had great fun with them, including a couple of nights out, a pedal boat trip down the river, a day at the Clipsal 500 car racing and a feast of Kangaroo steak which was delicious (although I did feel a little guilty eating it). Adelaide itself was not the best place I've stayed and there wasn't much to do but the people I met made it a great stay, they even came to the train station to wave me off when I left. I almost forgot I was travelling alone till I left and then it hit me again. I guess that is what it will be like now, I'll meet people for a few days then have to move on.

My train journey was on the legendary Gahn, which took 18 hours through the outback along one of the worlds longest train tracks. The train itself is 36 carriages long!! It was a fantastic journey and went surprisingly fast considering my fairly sleepless night. I arrived in Alice Springs the following day and headed to my hostel. I was picked up at 6.35am the following day by Peter, our Aussie tour guide. There was a group of about 20 of us on the tour, from all over the world. They turned out to be a great bunch of people, especially the Japansese girls who were hilarious and laughed at everything! Our first day was spent visiting a gorge called Simpson's Gap and Rainbow Valley. Rainbow valley is so called due to the multi-coloured rock there. It was a beautiful place and there were stunning views after climbing a very steep sand dune, which was pretty difficult as the sand just kept sliding you back down, but it was worth the effort! By this time it was also becoming very hot which brought with it the flies! I had been warned about them but had no idea just how bad they would be. I think I had half the fly population of Australia flying round my head and in my eyes and mouth! Fortunately, we made a stop a a tavern to make lunch where they sold fly nets to go over your head for the grand price of $7.50. At this point I would have paid $100, they were driving me mad! So I bought one which made life a lot easier and also made me look super trendy too!

At the end of the day we set up camp in Kings Creek. Camp consisted of outdoor sleeping bags called swags which you put your normal sleeping bag inside. That night we lit a campfire and ate tea around it whilst getting to know each other a bit better. My first night sleeping under the stars was brilliant, the sky was so clear and there were thousands of stars. I've never seen anything like it and couldn't stop looking at them. Eventually, I fell asleep and slept surprisingly well which was good as we had a 5am start in the morning.

The next day, we went to a place called Kings Canyon which was an absolutely spectacular place! We did a 3 hour walk around the canyon which was pretty hard going at times, especially the walk up 'Heart Attack Hill'. The views were like nothing I've ever seen before, they were so vast! My Spanish friend on the tour, Maria, hit the nail on the head when she said she felt like she could see the whole world.



We stopped for a break half way round in the Garden of Eden where we could have a swim and eat cake! When we had finished the walk we headed back to camp where myself, Maria and another girl, Ezza, went on a helicopter flight over the canyon. It is something I have never done before and it was amazing! We asked for the doors to be taken off so we could get good photos so it was quite scary too, as my seat was right on the edge next to the open door!

After the helicopter flight the grouped piled back onto the bus to head to our next camp at Yulara where we set up our swags again for the next 2 nights. We then spent the afternoon at Uluru (Ayres Rock) which was the bit we'd all been looking forward to most. Nothing could have prepared me for how spectacular the rock was, it was huge at 348 metres above the surrounding land and 9.4km around the base. The colour of the rock changes depending on the time of day and the weather. My favourite was at sunset where it was so red! We took a short walk at the base of the rock and started to get a feel for the place. There really is something special about it that you can't put into words.

That night there were even more stars over Yulara, it was breathtaking. The following day was another 5am start which didn't go too well for me as I managed to break my finger! This was done, of course, whilst wrestling with a ferocious wild Kangaroo. I think it was my left hook that did it! Fortunately, there was an excellent Physio to hand who thinks I will live and it shouldn't drop off for at least 3 months which means it should last for the rest of my trip. I managed to pull myself together, take a dozen or so pain killers and head off for another 3 hour walk at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). We stopped on the way to watch the sun rise over Uluru which was the sun rise I have been waiting for, it was so beautiful as the whole sky lit up red. The scenery at Kata Tjuta was also stunning, especially as the rock was so red but surrounded by lush green land! After lunch we visited a cultural centre where we learnt more about the Aboriginals that live at Uluru and why the rock is such a sacred place. We then had the choice whether to climb the rock or walk the entire base of it. It is considered very disrespectful to climb the rock and after learning more about this, myself and the majority of the group decided to do the base walk which took about two and a half hours! It was quite hard going in the 34 degree heat but was fantastic! Around the base there are lots of things to see including sacred areas where the aboriginals carry out ceremonies and rituals, aboriginal paintings on the rock and water holes.

It had been an exhausting but fabulous day and we all crashed out for our last night under the stars. The next day was our last 5am start where we packed up camp and headed up a nearby sand dune and lit a fire to watch our final sunrise before our 5 hour drive back to Alice Springs. During our trip we saw so much wildlife including wild horses and camels, kangaroos, a thorny devil and Australias largest lizard! It was brilliant, especially the camels!

I'm now back at Alice Springs waiting for my flight to Cairns this afternoon. My trip to the Heart of Australia was by far the best thing I have done so far, it was an unforgettable experience which I'm so glad a chose to do!