In Alice Springs we stayed at the very
aptly named ‘G’Day Mate’ caravan park and it was here that we were picked up at
6am by Dingo and his Rock Tour bus!!
We had booked on to do a three day/two night
tour to Uluru (Ayres Rock) and we loved it. Dingo, our 28 yr old Australian guide with
long dreadlocks, a ripped shirt and holes in his shorts was mental! He was full
of energy (all the time) and absolutely hilarious. He carried a super-soaker water
pistol and took great pleasure in shooting anyone we came across on our hikes,
be it a member of our group or a small Japanese tourist posing for a photo. We
had a disco light and pumping music in the van that came on after dark and
Dingo would periodically pull the bus over and dance down the aisle and on the
seats making everyone else dance along. One time he drove the bus round a mini
roundabout about 10 times pumping his free arm up and down in the air in time
to the music – very funny till we all started feeling sick!
Dingo dancing across the bus seats!
As well as being great fun, Dingo
was also very informative about the places we visited and the history and
culture behind the aboriginal people and sites. The first day we visited Uluru which was phenomenal. It was really interesting to read all about the
history behind the rock in the information centre and then walk around the base
of it and see the different spiritual sites. There is obviously the very
ethical debate as to whether people should or shouldn’t climb the rock and out
of respect none of our group did but people still do climb the rock despite the
ethical and safety issues involved. Apparently 37 people have died on the rock
and the government has said they will close it when the death toll reaches 40.
Dingo said that the total number of deaths as a direct result of climbing the
rock is actually 150 but that it doesn’t count if someone is carried down the
rock and doesn’t die until they reach the ambulance at the bottom because they
haven’t actually died on the Rock.
Sunrise at Uluru
We stayed to watch the sunset at UluruAyres
Rock which unfortunately didn’t happen. Not in a picturesque way anyway. We
were lucky enough to visit the rock on the first day in 152 days that it had
rained!!
The next morning after rising very early to
watch the sunrise, we visited ‘The Olgas’ and went for a walk around the
National Park. There was once again an incredible view point that we trekked to
before rejoining Dingo the joker in the car park where Mike helped decorate a
rival tour bus in toilet roll!
The Olgas
The olgas
Kings Canyon
We also visited Kata Tjuta or Kings Canyon which was equally impressive to be honest and this time the sun was shining. We did a trek around the canyon, stopping at a lagoon in the middle for a quick dip! Dingo also ran up ahead at one point to lift his toy lion up into the sky on the edge of a huge rock and sing the lion king song much to everyone’s delight. On the way to our campsite that evening we stopped off to find some
local bush tucker in the form of Witchety grubs! We had to dig and forage
around in the roots of a particular bush found on the highway. The grubs live
in the roots of this bush and you know they’re there because they cause the
root to swell. Only three of our group
managed to find any…Mike of course was one of those three J Very eager to try the aboriginal delicacy he frantically dug and
ripped open roots. His efforts were rewarded though and before long he was
popping one of these white squirming bugs into his mouth. They taste a bit like
runny scrambled egg and were surprisingly satisfying apparently!!
Kangaroo tail being cooked -
Fatty but tasty
Each evening on the tour we ate a dinner
that was prepared over a campfire. One night we tried Kangaroo tail – another
aboriginal favourite! We slept in swag bags around the fire and actually slept
surprisingly well considering we were sleeping under the stars – the swags were
much warmer than we were expecting.
All in all we had a great tour! The night
that the tour ended and we were back in Alice Springs we all went out for
dinner and drinks. Having not had enough kangaroo on the tour Mike ordered the
kangaroo steak burger…I boringly opted for the beef. We had parked up across
the road from the pub and as we were drinking thought we could just sleep the
night there and move on in the morning. After a fun night out we went to bed
slightly later than we had anticipated and after rather more beers than we had
anticipated. As a result we felt horrendous when we were awoken to a banging on
the camper door at 6am by the Ranger telling us that we were not allowed to
freedom camp and needed to move on. We avoided a fine by explaining that we had
been drinking and so hadn’t wanted to drive. Thinking that if pulled over by
the police and breathalised we would both definitely still be way over the
limit we pulled into a nearby car park and walked around until the first café
opened. Several hours later and after a
hearty breakfast and a huge cup of coffee we headed back on the road towards
Darwin again.
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