Desert Rain!

The Ghan- famous, but not so comfy train!
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From the forest to the Desert- next stop Ayres Rock and the Red Centre...

At this juncture we'd like to point out that in the past week we have covered the distance 5 times the size of England just to see the middle and get to the East. But has it been worth it??

The trip started for us in Katherine on the famous Ghan. It's a bit like the Orient Express, or similar. Basically a luxury train that travels a long way. You can sleep in your own private cabin, watch the sunset over the outback landscape and dine in style. Sadly, due to budget, we slept in our seats (or on the floor in the aisle), didn't bother to use the shower and dined on a jacket spud in the plastic dining car. Not an inspiring 15 hour trip espcially when having finally got to sleep in the roack hard seats a mad German woman decides 5am is a good time to get up and comes and opens our blind so she can see in her bag! We consoled ourselves with the fact that it's cheaper than UK train travel and we could at least chill out rather than sweat it out in our van.

Valley of the winds
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When we booked a trip to the desert we imagined dust, sand and maybe wind. However what we got was mud and rain, rain, rain. Ironically we saw more rain the entire time we were in the dessert, then we have done all year! Our guide reasssured us however that this was the first time he had ever has to cross flooded roads to get in and out- so weren't we lucky (1.8 metres of rain on the road!!!) We got a little panicked when the 4wd truck hung about- just in case we didn't make it through the giant puddle!

Sunrise at the big red rock
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Anyway, having braved swimming down the highway in a fully loaded truck we headed for the big rock. First stop was Valley of the Winds...which was unsurprisingly-windy! It was a lovely break to have wind and rain for us though having roasted in the Kimberly until last week, so we practically skipped through the gorge pleased not to be sweating for a change. Despite the rain, it was a lovely walk and the views were worth the last vertical scramble. The landscape in the centre isn't that different from where we were living in terms of the big red rocks but we noticed that it was also much greener (must be due to the rain).

Gusted all the way to the top
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The rest of the day was spent driving to base camp ready for sunset and sunrise at Ayres Rock. The rain stayed with us throughout the day which was both a blessing and curse. It meant we got upgraded to perma-tents for the night rather than sleeping in the open but it also meant that the sunset sucked and was a a bit of a wash-out. There were loads of coaches all at the viewing bay waiting for the rays to fall on the rock and change it's colour making for excellent photo ops. All the golden oldies had hopped off thier coach for thier glass of champers and soggy cheese & biscuits. We both saw the large rain cloud however and sensed the spit in the air. So, as the irish boys bolted off the bus and headed for the beer esky we held back! It was a good move for the Poms as within minutes there was heavy rain, macs flying in all directions and chapagne being necked at lightening speed so as not to waste any before the dash back to the bus. Sadly, it wasn't much of a sunset and we headed back to camp more than a little bit chilly- Ben thought that being in the desert, meant no jumper required-turns out this was to his peril as his bits slowly froze off overnight!

Ben's got a big head
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We headed back to camp for chicken stir-fry cooked on the BBQ (don't ask) and a night tucked up in our tents. Until this point we thought they were a reward, it wasn't until we stepped inside and realised we would be sleeping on slabs of wood attached to the wall that we begun to wonder. Let's just say it wasn't the most comfy night. We had also had a visit over dinner from the trip company head honcho who came dashing in with waiver forms for us all to sign in case they couldn't get us out of camp in the morning-more rain! And for the company a signature that said no refund! So we slept on our little planks wondering if this was the end of our trip already.

Not 5 star- swags!
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Luckily 4.30am came around quickly (oh yes we paid to be woken this early). The rain had stopped (hurray! Not stuck sleeping on floor boards for another night) and we made it back out to Ayres Rock for a beautiful, but chilly, sunrise. True to form the rock went through several shades of red and we were able to snap away grabbing way too many shots.

Once the sun had done it thing we set off for a base walk. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to walk all the way round the base of the rock and there's plenty to see on the way. From a distance Ayres Rock just looks like a big, boring boulder however as you walk around there are lots of indentations in the rocks, small pools and waterfalls and aboriginal rock art to stop and look at. There are also posts along the way explaning which sites are male & female places and some stories about how the aboriginals believe certain sites around the rock were formed.

Kings Canyon
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After filling our bellies up with cake, our guide gave us a short tour at the end of our walk and explained more to us about aboriginal customs.  Apparently young boys would be sent to part of the rock to lean patience. They would sometimes have to stay here for 3 months without moving, in silence! Not a test we'd like to take.

More driving for the rest of the day- which for us meant a couple of hours sleeping,drooling and doing the bus head-loll. Camp that night was bush-camp. A large camp fire to sit around and swags for beds (Tori did notice some empty tents however and was about to make a dash for one before being disuaded). For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of sleeping in a SWAG (our guide tells us this stands for Super Wonderful Awesome Goodnight's sleep-liar!) it's bascially a large waterproof bag that you throw on the floor and sleep inside. It has a small matress inside that stops the worst lumps and bumps from the ground, and a flap that comes over your head to stop the bugs, rodents and snakes- please note this is NOT sealed! So we hopped in out waterproof bags (Tori sneaking a hot waterbottle down the bottom of hers-the only camp princess) and slept under the stars (which were beautuful as there's no light polution in the desert).

Ben's got the whole world (well Mount Connor at least)in his hands
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Last stop was Kings Canyon. Possibly the most stunning set of rocks on this trip and well worth the sick-making climb at 7am. No Joke, you have to climb vertically for the first 800 metres and Tori thought her peanut butter sandwiches were probably not the best choice for breakfast at this point.

When you reach the top of the Canyon it's about a 2 hour walk around the top and the views are breath taking. Our guide was really informative again  and spent loads of time giving us history of the place and lots of aboriginal uses of the plants up there. We even found free Halucinogens. There's also this lush little oasis in the middle of the barren cayon where's there's a swimming hole and even a waterfall in flow- thanks to the earlier floods. Plenty of good photies and a great way to spend the morning.

Don't jump!
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Finally all back on the bus for the trip back to Alice Springs. Having checked that we hadn't lost any of the japanese in the quest for a great photo we started our 4 hours return trip.

Alice is really a transit town and there's not much for us backpackers to do but sit by the pool or the bar. So, after showering and washing away the dust/mud it was off to the pub for a final meal with out tour mates. We'd love ot say it was a wild night but after 3 days hard walking and sleeping we snuck back to our real beds in a real room pretty quick!

The crew
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Only half a day to wait before hopping back on the train so after making friends with the locals (see piccie) and doing the laundry we made like vegetables just slobbing and eating all day until the long road trip begins again....