The Red Centre - Uluru, Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta And Alice Springs

The Team - At Uluru

The flight from Perth to Ayers Rock takes two and a half hours and thats just getting you across half of the country. Planes fly at over 500mph and therefore, to say that Australia is large is a bit of an understatement. The country is divided into 7 states. The one I had just left (Western Australia) is so big - that you can fit Germany, The UK and Japan inside it's borders without any of the three countries touching - and thats just one of the states!!!

I landed at Ayers Rock Airport and headed for my accommodation. Around the National Park here, way out in the countries Red Centre, they have set up a sort of entire village known as Yulara (Ayers Rock Resort) - which has a few eating stations, a supermarket, post office and a couple of places to stay. I was in Outback Pioneer but I was only here one night, which I spent eating Outback tucker, drinking with the other backpackers and watching the sun set over Uluru (the official Aboriginal and respectful name for Ayers Rock).

The next day I took the five and a half hour bus journey from Yulara to Alice Springs. I was leaving the area so quickly because I had a tour booked, which was starting in Alice and bringing me back to Uluru (Ayers Rock) before my flight out of there.

Along the way to Alice Springs, we stopped at a few sights, including Mt. Conner - which looks like Uluru (many mistake it for the famous landmark) but differs entirely because it has a very flat (table-like) top and also to Ebinezer Roadhouse which displayed authentic-ish Aboriginal artwork, before eventually arriving in Alice Springs.

I had a few days to check out the Alice (as it is generally known). The 125 year old town was once a simple station on the Overland Telegraph Line but has now become a hub for travellers to replenish supplies after their days on the road. It is a compact town made up of a uniform grid, bounded by the Todd River (dry when I was there). I walked around the town - which has a very wetsern USA (cowboy) feel to it.

This was my first experience of seeing Aboriginal people here in Australia too. I had spoken to many Aussie's out here already and none of them had very good things to say about them - generally they are big drinkers and you should watch your belongings when around them. I didn't find that, admittedly they didn't seem to be the most smiling, happy individuals that I had met on my travels but I certainly didn't feel I had to look over my shoulder when they were around.

I headed up to Anzac Hill, where you can get great views over Alice and the surrounding mountain ranges of McDonnell, before continuing north to the old Telegraph Station, which is where the old town of Alice Spring Was based.

The following day I started my tour back to Uluru. There were 21 of us this time and our first destination was Kings Canyon. After some introductions, we headed south, eventually reaching the Canyon. Situated in Watarrka National Park, Kings Canyon is an awesome sight. It's walls are 100m high and incompasses a series of secluded water-holes, interesting geological formations and some great bush-walks. We hiked for three hours round the canyon, our guide - Deano would tell us how it was formed and at each opportunity would point out a different plant and explain how the aboriginal people use it to keep them alive.

We also learnt about the wildlife out here. For a dry, flat, hot and featurless country that Australia is in many parts (especially the outback) it is flourishing with creatures - and most just happen to be very dangerous. They have 9 of the most venomous snakes in the world - including the most venomous - the Taipan, which if bitten, will give you an attack of immense pain quicker than the time it takes you to read a 'stop' sign - before eventually killing you if you don't get the anti-venom in time. By the way, most of the spiders are no less dangerous out here two - theres a good handful that you definately don't want to annoy. Elsewhere in Australia, your not all that safe in the water either. If it's not a shark coming up to bite you on the bum, then you need to look out for the Box Jellyfish - which is said to be the most dangerous creature in the world (one sting from this and the pain is said to be uncomparable to anything else). I would worry about waterery animals when I was near some water. Luckily for me the outback wouldn't be a major problem as far as deadly creatures went. The chances of getting bitten are low and because it was winter (they all go into hybernation) the chances were very low.

The 6km loop of the Kings Canyon Walk, saw us pass through the the 'Lost City' (an area where the rock formations resemble an ancient city landscape), through the Amphitheartre - passing the North and South walls and across the 'Garden of Eden' which has tranquil pools and plants here (cycads) which were around at the time of the dinosaurs. The plants are protected in this area by the Canyon walls which stops the strong winds from blowing them away.

We then headed to Curtain Springs where we set up camp. On this trip we were going to be real 'bushmen', which to me meant sleeping under the stars in just sleeping bags and swags (a swag is like a cover for your sleeping bag), getting firewood for our nightly camp-fire and taking a shovel if you wanted to go to the toilet. It was a lot of fun however. In London - we don't have stars - or at least i'v never seen them there. So when the sun sets in the outback (which is different from anywhere else I have seen it - you appear to get every colour of the rainbow emerging as the sun disappears), then suddenly a million stars pop up like someone has just pushed the light-switch. It was spectacular and we just watched before eventually falling asleep. I say eventually because it was cold. When you think of the outback (a desert) then you think of hot, hot, hot. Now I know it was winter here but temperatures were reaching 25 degrees Celcius in the day and everything was as I expected. However - it was only the sun keeping up the temperature and when the big flaming ball moves on - it suddenly becomes freezing. On our two nights, sleeping in just a sleeping bag - it was 6 and 4 degrees Celcius - thats seriously cold. I got basically no sleep for two nights because of it - but I suppose thats the life of a 'bushmen' - when your out in the bush.

On the second day we moved on to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). It is a bizarre collection of huge rounded, dome shaped rocks that stand about 30km to the west of Uluru. Kata Tjuta (meaning 'many heads') is an interesting geological monolith and the three hour hike through them saw us pass to a viewpoint of Tatintjawiya (The Olga Gorge) where you get some of the best views in the whole of Central Australia. Onwards we continued along to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre where we learned about the Aboriginal people, their way of life and how important the surrounding rocks (that we had been seeing) are to these people. They are part of their religion in a way - their 'Dreamtime" beliefs. We also saw very authentic artwork and was taught a lesson in what all the symbols meant on their displays.

We finally headed to the sunset viewpoint for the ritual sun disappearing over Uluru. The world's most famous block of sandstone starts to change colour, turning from a strong orange, into deep red before turning a purple then charcoal colouration. It is spectacular.

The next day we got to see the whole colourful process in reverse as the sun comes up in the morning. We then went to Uluru itself. We had two options - to climb the rock or to do the base walk around it. Uluru and the surrounding areas belong to the Aboriginal people but they signed a contract saying that 'The Rock' can be climbed for the next 99 years. So officially it is ok to climb - but the Aboriginal people urge you not to do so - as it is extremely disrespectful. There is even a large sign, right outside the start of the climb saying - 'Please Do Not Climb Uluru'!!!

I quietly asked Deano what he thought - he told me that he has never climbed it and likened it to entering a Japanese house. The hosts ask you to take off your shoes and you just storm in with your muddy trainers still on. Out of respect I didn't climb it but instead walked around Uluru. Half the group did the same, the other half climbed. The walk around takes about 2 hours (it's one big rock) and on the way you see great geological formations, Aboriginal cave paintings and waterholes.

After the walk, the others were all heading back to Alice Springs but my flight was out of Ayers Rock, so myself and a few others said our goodbyes to the group and were dropped off. I caught my flight out - way up to the other side of the country. It was my first time on the famous East Coast - the party coast. I landed up in the north east of Australia - in Cairns and I felt that I was just ready for a party........