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Day 5

We were up at 4:30 for the Uluru sunrise, again hoping for it to change colour. It didn’t, generally disappointing but some people say it is really good and I suppose I would have been annoyed if it had been good and I had missed it.

Myself, Anna, Camilla and Beate did the walk around the base. I decided not to climb it as the Anagu people who own it don’t really like people climbing it. Also I had come to see Uluru and you don’t really get that good a view of it when you are standing on top of it.

It was really impressive - rust coloured and also mottled and flaky like rust, and it loomed above. It made less of an impact than seeing it further away, though, although it was interesting to see it close up as it is different all around. The sky was clear so it was getting warmer, but not too hot, which was good.

After lunch we drove off to kings canyon, our campsite being along a bumpy and winding dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Cooked food in metal pots on a fire, which was cool. Slept at night in swags by the fire - it is quite cold at night so slept in sleeping bags.

Day 6

Kings Canyon walk, spectacular. Getting a bit hotter but only up to 31 degrees as we did the walk in the morning. Spent all the time driving to alice springs where we got pissed in the evening.

I am now in Alice Springs, staying in the Melanka hostel, which is a bit of a dive an reminds me a bit of Van Mildert college in Durham. I have now got my oz experience pass from cairns to sydney changed to one from alice to cairns, although I will not be leaving until saturday, giving me another 3 days in alice springs. I think there is quite a lot to do around here, and it seems like a nice place although it is a bit dodgy at night.

This kind of leaves me around a week in the cairns area before I have to leave for sydney - I won’t have a chance to do much on the east coast, but it seems like a bit of a cliche anyway.