Alice Springs and beyond!

Ive sort of settled in Alice Springs for a while. I found a job at Global Gossip which is an internet cafe. I went in for my first day on friday and it seems pretty good. All the people are really nice, and i caught on pretty quickly. I didnt have to go in until monday (tomorrow) so i took full advantage of that i booked a 3 day tour to Uluru, kata Tjua and Kings Canyon.

Uluru and Kata Tjua are both in the same National park, which is owned by the Aboriginals. They're basically HUGE rocks in the middle of the desert, and you can do hikes, go on a story tour and watch the sunride/set. My tour did pretty much everything we possibly could in 3 days...

Day 1: Leave the hostel at 6am, drive 5.5 hours to Uluru and do the base walk. Uluru is one rock (albeit a very large one) and the walk is 9.4km. It was the middle of the afternoon when we got there, so it was pretty hot, but so amazing! Our guide told us stories about different formations, colours and coves in the rock. Some of the places are sacred, and if yorue caught taking pictures, its a 5000$ fine. yikes! anyways, it was really good, and not once did i think "ok.. im just walking in a big circle around a rock..." We then watched the sun set over the rock and ate dinner.

Day 2: Up at 5am to watch the sunrise over the rock, and then off the Kata Tjua for a 7.4km hike. Kata Tjua (or the Olgas) are 36 huge rock formations, and are a little more interesting to look at, but much more challenging to hike on. It took about 4 houts to do the "valley of the winds" walk, but it was so nice.

Day 3: Up at 530am, and off to Kings Canyon. This was by far the best hike. About 5.5km but the most difficult. the forst part is almost completly vertical, and 7 people in the last 5 years have died doing this hike! i walked very slowly. We walked for 4 hours along the top of the entire canyon and it was just incredible. Luckily we got there early (like730am) so it wasnt hot at all.. actually in some parts it was a little chilly!

we camped both nights under the stars, one night in a site, and the other in the middle of the desert. The stars are pretty amazing the the outback, its hard to want to sleep with them above you!