Friday, December 30, 2005

Cheating Death


7am - we got a chance to sleep in this morning, although I slept little. Night three of our outback adventure was relatively tranquil compared to the previous two, no rainstorms or scourges of flying ants to accompany our return to camp for dinner.

We woke up yesterday to a magnificent but crowded sunrise at Uluru. All of the tour buses descended to a single designated 'sunrise viewing area', causing mass confusion and frustration when group after group of people would enter into your carefully composed photograph of this anchient monolith. The National Park seems very serene and remote when hiking, but you get a sense of how touristy Ayers Rock actually is on these occasions such as sunrise and sunset viewing.

After the sunrise, we did a two and a half hour walk around the base of Uluru / Ayers Rock. Although still legal to climb to the top, you are told that if you do, you're basically going to hell (or some alternate version of eternal damnation), as it is a sacred site to the Aboriginal people. No members of our group did so, a testament to the awareness and manner of our tour guide.

From the 'red centre', we took a three hour drive north to King's Canyon for a 6k hike in the late arvo. The temperature read 37 C / 100 F, same as it has been all week. Strangely, it wasn't uncomfortably hot, due to the consistent cloud cover and cool breeze. King's Canyon was fantastic, reminiscent of Arizona, with steep sandstone walls and oasis pools found deep within the canyon. We returned to our new campground sweaty but invigorated from such a rewarding hike.

This campground was much better than the one at Ayers Rock / Uluru. Quieter, less bugs and better facilities and a softer place to unfurl our sleeping bag swags. Cici had a bit of a scare towards the end of the night, when ducking into her tent to fetch a toiletry kit, I spotted a tennis ball sized spider inching its way towards her door and cornering her inside. After a bit of a panic, our guide came over and removed the harmless (physically, at least) Huntsman spider from the tent, causing a visibly flustered Cici great relief.

Another stange detail from last night was the presence of 20 South Korean school children on the campsite next to us. A well disciplined bunch, to say the least, Cici recalls hearing the commands, 'Mi-Joon! Socks! Shoes! Water! Soon-Kwon! Socks! Shoes! Water!' barked by their vociferous chaperone at 3:30am this morning.

Today is Mount Ebenezer and the Rainbow Valley for low-impact hiking and shopportunities. We then return to Alice Springs for a night at the luxury resort hotel, rewarding us for the past three nights of 'roughing it'. Will return to Sydney tomorrow for a night of celebration and fireworks, ushering out 2005 on the harbor in style.

posted by ncawthon at 6:43 PM