The Red Centre

After spending the past week or so in lush green rainforest environments, we were looking forward to the change of scenery that the arrid red centre would offer us. So, imagine our surprise when we camein to land and saw huge puddles of water covering thelandscape. A local sitting beside us explained that they had experienced their first rain in 22 months and that it had been heavy enough to make rivers that hadn't seen ater in years go into full flow and cut off local communities!

Undaunted we made it onto our hostel bus, splashing through huge puddles on the roads and seeing the landscape around us literally bloom and become greener almost in front of our eyes. On arrival at our hostel we were told that we were booked onto the 3 day rock tour the following day- something that slightly concerned me given the weather and the fact that it was a camping trip! We were reasured that "it'd be fine" as we would find shelter somewhere if it rained and were packed off to bed ready for a 5am start the next day!

At 5am we staggered from our beds and joined our tour group- an eclectic mix of 21 people of all ages and nationalities- ranging from 19 to 60 and 12 different countries represented! We began the long journey (500kms to the rock from Alice) and i was mesmerised by the scenery flashing past us- miles and miles of outback, sporadically covered in huge flooded parts.

The large downside of all the rain is that we were told that we may not be able to make it to Kings Canyon as the road had been badly flooded and a tour group had been stuck there for 2 days! This would have been a huge disappointment as it's one of the trip highlights so we were relived to discover from "clueless mark" our guide (more on him later!) that the road had reopened and we could at least get there, if not back out if the rain continued! By this time the sun was shining brightkly and it seemed hard to imagine that it would rain again so we were all in very good spirits and optimistic about that night's camping.

We arrived  in Kings Canyon just ast lunch time and began a spectacular and ridiculously steep hike in the height of the middday sun! I thanked go for all those evil army personal training sessions that I endured in Guildford as some people really struggled,expecially with the rocky and steep climb up to the top of the canyon. Once up there, we were afforded magnificent views for miles around which made it all well worth the sweat and effort! We walked around the canyon taking in the wildlife (lots of little lizrds mainly)and sweeping views before stopping for a swim at the "garden of eden" watering hle, now complete with fully flowing waterfall thanks to the rain.

As we began the hike back to the bus, we saw a dramatic shift in the weather with menacing black clouds practially touching the ground in the distance. As we neared the bus, the rumblings of thunder began and, as we pulled off, the heavens opened and we were treated to a fantastic storm- it really looks amazing when lightening forks down into so much space! Finally the rain stopped to reveal the lovelist rainbow I've ever seen which gradually melted into a beautiful sunset which showcased every colour between red and purple and caused and awestruck silence on our bus.

We reached our camp spot to be told that everyone else had gone on to the rock as it was so wet, but clueless mark was undeterred by this and drove the bus up a tiny little track into the middle of nowhere! needless to say, with all the rain we got horribly stuck and had to push the bus out several times! My initial cynicism rapidly faded however when we somehow miraculously managed to build and light a campfire from the soggy wood at the site and got into our swags. Swags are possibly the best thing that has ever happened to camping- they are like big tarpaulin sleeping bags that have a comfy mattress in them- you getinto your sleeping bag and slip into them for the unlimate comfy nights sleep under the stars. We ate dinner of camel chilli (we didn't know it was camel at the time but it was very tasty!) and lay there stargazing before finally dropping off- pure bliss!

The next day we visited the Olgsa (Katja Tuta) which are a collection of big rocks which make for a challenging hike as you have to do so much scrambling and steep ascents. It was worth it for the views though and the sheer sense of achievement given the sun strength and lack of sleep! From there we got back in the bus and got our first glimpse of the famous rock- it was so exciting to finally see somethng so iconic! We went to the visitors centre so that we could learn more about the rock and it's significance to the aboriginal people. It was here that I confirmed my hunch that our guide was, in fact, clueless (not to mention slightly lecherous and creepy) as whenever we asked him a question he woud say "well, i can't tell you that... you can't expect to understand other peoples cultures"..... Er- isn't that why people go travelling Mark????!!

He couldn't even tell us why the rock was sacred although he firmly expressed his disapproval for anyone daring to want to climb it! (we had  a look- almost did it to spite him- but it was very steep and also i felt it would be disrespectful- i mean you don't climb temples in Asia do you?!)

We went to a sunset viewing point which was lovely before heading back to a campsite for another cosy night in swags. We were awoken at 4:30am (it's still very dark and middle of the night ish for those of you who have never experienced such a rude awakening!)in order to see the rock sunrise and then undertook the 10km base walk in our mexican sombreros in Norwich City colours that we had got for 3 dollars in Cairns!

Sadly after that, and all too soon, it was time to start the long drive back to Alice. I can truly say that the rock trip is a huge highlight of my time in Oz- it was so amazing to see the icon in different lights and to see the outback on bloom.

We spent the next three days recovering at the lovely hostel, doing nothing more strenuous than reading and doing a spot of shopping. We had a couple of really good nights out in the hostel bar, as it's also where all the locals go so it was lively and full ofinteresting people.I loved the cheap glasses of wine they sold but they gave me a very bad head the next day!

All too soon it was time to bid farewell to the red centre and hop on a plane to the cosmopolitan city of Melbourne, home to the famous Ramsay Street Neighbours gang! More on that soon!