Thursday, December 29, 2005

A Bug's Life

It's 4am again. We're sipping instant coffee, munching on stale toast on a table that has been covered with flying ant wings. Looking around, our entire dining area is covered with flying ant wings. After a pretty traumatic night on Tuesday with the Thundershowers, we were hoping for a calm and peaceful evening last night.

After a gorgeous sunset over Uluru, which illuninated a wonderful shade of red, we returned to our campsite to find that the preceding rain had brought out every crawling, flying, buzzing and hopping insect imaginable. Trying to prepare food was an absolute battle, causing grown men to run screaming after bugs have infiltrated every crevice imaginable. I'm pretty sure a millipede just crawled out of my butt. You know it is a bad situation when you're guide runs and fetches his camera.

The girls have been surpisingly adaptable towards this situation. Given that going to the bathrooms here involves wading through a holocaust of wings, legs and antennae from those who have flown too close to the light. The mantis and the millipedes are the toughest to digest when you're trying to digest.

Ah, the food. Bordering between Government issue and inedible, we're all thinking of becoming vegetarians quite soon. There were hamburgers yesterday that bore no resemblence to any animal species ever to walk this earth. The patties were supplemented with either some sort of corn or vegetable (we hope), further adding to our suspicions as to why the coloring of the patties alternated between an orange and pinkish-yellow hue. Ironically, the sausages last night were of the same colors. Wayward Bus has some serious deficiencies in the culinary department to deal with.

Other than the food and generally the whole camping experience, the trip has been great. We've been on some fantastic hikes around both the Olgas and Uluru, with much more in store. We're driving to a sunrise viewing spot this morning before starting off on today's excursions.

posted by ncawthon at 6:36 AM