The Rock Tour

Day 1

We’ve arrived back from the 3 day Rock Tour, sightseeing and experiencing the centre of the outback in its true form. We were a bit blurry eyed on the first day from the early pick up time of 5:30am, for the long drive from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon.

There were 21 people on the tour and also our trusty tour guide ‘Cooper’, who we soon learned was a bit of a character.

Ahead of us was a three hour hike up Kings Canyon, through the sandstone domes of the Lost City, taking in the Amphitheatre and the North and South Walls. Thankfully the view from the top was spectacular after a very steep climb in the high temperature. It was astonishing the amount of water we were drinking and the little amount of peeing we were doing… that’s how much we were sweating! We officially jumped ‘over a canyon’ and saw a rabbit in the rocks.

Our seats on the tour bus were right behind our guide Cooper, who was 6’3 and bald with a big cheesy grin! Cooper decided to give Becky a lovely manicure with some pens as he drove the bus, so then Becky contemplated what she could use the pens for… Faced with the back of his bald head, the temptation to draw on it was too much for Becky. Cooper made her a deal that if she was to do it, he would get her back twice as bad at some point on the tour… so Becky did it anyway!

After some fun on the bus and collecting lots of fire wood, we arrived at our bush camp at Curtin Springs for some grub around the camp fire and a night’s sleep in our swags under the stars.

DAY 2

Another early start on day 2, waking up at 6am, to travel to Kata Tjuta and where we planned to hike through The Valley of the Winds. When we arrived Becky realised she couldn’t find her camera which was a bit upsetting. We looked everywhere with no luck and had to keep our fingers crossed that it was in her swag from the night before.

The walk around and up Kata Tjuta was even tougher than Kings Canyon, due to the burning sun beating down upon us. It hit 40 degrees and the views were literally ‘breath taking’ by the time we arrived at the top!

Next stop was the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and the only thing on everyone’s mind was a cold drink after drinking warm water for the whole hike! We downed two cans of Fanta and two bottles of sprite in around five minutes. Lydia really wanted to buy a piece of Aboriginal art work in the centre, but unfortunately the prices were quite high. Instead she found a cute wooden lizard carved by local communities and Becky purchased a miniature lizard on a keyring and named him ‘Eddie’.

Late afternoon consisted of a short ‘Mala Walk’ around the base of Ayers Rock and then it was a quick drive to watch the sunset over the rock which we were really excited about.

We eagerly awaited the sunset over Ayers Rock, with ciders and noodles in our hands, whilst the posh tours sipped on champers. It was the eve of Halloween and we were all joking about the ‘scary’ things that could happen, suggesting how funny it would be if Ayers Rock just disappeared right before our eyes. Disappointingly, after the sky being so clear all day, clouds started forming and covered the sun fairly quickly, but we managed to grab a couple of nice photos! 

On the positive side our slight dehydration from our gruelling day in the sun made getting merry on cider a fairly quick process! Cooper finally got his own back on Becky, drawing all over her face and Lydia managed to purchase some Aboriginal art work from a local artist selling their work on the road side.  It turned out the ‘spirits of rock’ were not on our side that evening though, when out of nowhere a sand storm appeared in the distance and very quickly made its way over to us and literally made Ayers Rock disappear… turns out strange things do happen on Halloween! This is us trying to take a photo in a sandstorm…

The bus ride out of the sandstorm was fun with us and our new Irish buddies Lisa and John singing along extra loud to Queen’s don’t stop me now, including a flashing disco light provided by Cooper.

Becky continued on the cider at Ayers Rock camp ground, which resulted in her being last to bed with a spout of never ending hiccups. She was then convinced that either John in the swag next to her had taken her flip-flop or that a dingo had come and eaten it, and was walking around her swag in circles before she finally found it in her own swag! Seems she is good at loosing things in swags, as somebody found her camera in it too! Hooray!!

Day 3

An even earlier start on day three at 4:30am to go and watch the sunrise over Ayers Rock. Hopefully this time we would have more luck! The sunrise was perfect and we got lots of awesome photos whilst eating breakfast with everyone.

The final walk of tour was ahead of us and we opted for the 6km Uluru base walk. We walked it with John and Hannah, discovering some Aboriginal cave paintings along the way and a gorge.

On the ride back to Alice Springs we stopped off at a Camel Farm for an optional camel ride and Becky made friends with a friendly bird called Charlie who loved a tickle behind the ears. A final group photo opportunity was taken at the Alice Springs sign, where Becky left camera case on the bus windscreen… I think we’ll have to glue it to her!

Arriving back at our hostels, we had a well-deserved (and needed!) shower! We then went for a final dinner and drinks with the tour to say our final goodbyes!

Starting our drive up to Darwin tomorrow, detouring at Katherine to head into Kakadu National Park. Can’t wait!!

Peace and Love,
Lyds & Bex
xxxxx