Camping under the stars in the Outback, hiking Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta, and seeing Ayers Rock
January 5, 2010:
I am back in a city - in Cairns, Queensland, way up on the northeast coast. It is very hot and humid here, the complete opposite of the dry and hot air I just came from.
I've spent the last three and a half days in the outback - the red center, the desert, Aborigine land...the middle of nowhere in Australia! Last Saturday, I flew from Sydney to a very small town in the middle of country called Alice Springs, where it was a welcoming 110 degrees! The place is dead, no one in the streets, nothing open. And the little that it has, shut down at 2 pm.
The following morning, I joined a small tour / adventure group that included backpackers from New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Poland, Canada, Holland, Switzerland, Ireland, and one American - a girl that went to Ohio State and now lives in Texas. Twenty one of us jumped on a mini bus and departed en route to a famous massive rock called Ayers Rock (or Uluru) - this is often considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
We left at 6 am on Sunday and drove five hours to a place called Kings Canyon. It is incredible how many hours you can drive without seeing anything on either side of the road...for miles. We did a four hour hike through the massive canyon - it was difficult, but awesome. We had to carry at least three liters of water or we were not allowed to walk - it was over 100 degrees with a blazing sun and the hike was about four miles long with many hills and uneven trails. At one point, we reached an area called the Garden of Eden, which was a small spot way up in the red rocks that collects rain water and turns into a small pool surrounded by canyon walls - we all jumped in for a quick swim. It was neat to hike this and to learn a little of how the Aborigines lived and hunted in these areas so many years ago.
Shortly after getting back in the van we pulled off the main road to collect wood (very easy to knock down trees cause they are brittle due to the little rain they receive). At around 7:30 pm, we stopped the drive and found a spot to camp out, under the stars - no tents, just a matt on the red desert floor.
The sunset (and sunrise the next morning) was awesome. And since there is really nothing around for hundreds of miles, the sky is so clear that you can see what looks to be thousands of stars. We made a fire and dinner, ate, and crashed. The guy from Ireland captured that photo above and emailed it to the group.
We did see a couple of kangaroos from the road but they were too far away to get any good photos. It's funny that they have kangaroo crossing signs like we have deer crossing signs in Ohio. We also saw wild camels, wild horses, and even wild cows, as well as little desert lizards and dragons and a few different exotic birds.
The next morning, we drove another three hours to Yulara, and did another four hour hike through a massive rock formations called Kata Tjuta - also once inhabited by the Aborigines. We then went to Ayers Rock, first visiting the Aborigine Culture Center, and then taking another couple hour walk around one part of the rock to learn more about it.
To put it in perspective, the rock looks like a mountain, but it really is a massive red rock. At one section, it is over 1100 feet tall, and it's 5.5 miles around. We went to a spot to watch it during the sunset, and then got up real early this morning from our camp area to watch the sunrise - then we did the walk around the Rock, which took up another couple of hours. Me and the girl from OSU got a German couple to help us spell out O-H-I-O. It was pretty fascinating to see the different colors from sunset to sunrise.
It is interesting because the rock holds much significance to the Aborigine people, who still live around here and hold tribal ceremonies. There's a lot of politics and conflict involved between the Australian government and these tribes that have lived here for so many thousands of years. Many spots around the area are so sacred that you can't take photos. I'll explain it better when I see you all.
After the long walk, I went to the tiny airport and flew to Cairns while the rest of the group drove back to Alice Springs. Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) I'm going out on a snorkeling dive to the Great Barrier Reef - another listed Natural Wonder. Looking forward to it!
