23/7/12

It was an early start today as I was off on a three day tour of Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon - yahoo!
I met Mel our tour guide and the rest of the tour group who numbered 20 in total and were a mix of ages and nationalities.

Our tour bus

We stopped at a Roadhouse on the way and for anyone who has wondered whatever happened to the giant echidna from Expo 88 - it now has a home here in Central Oz.

The echidna from Expo' 88...those were the days

It was then further driving to Uluru with a brief stop at Mt Connor or "Fooluru" as some like to call it...

Mt Connor or "Fooluru"

Salt Lake

Oh! And we learned early that this was going to be a very hands on sorta tour when we had to collect our own firewood along the way..

Collecting and bundling up the firewood...go team!

We made it to Yulara for lunch then it was on to Uluru for the afternoon.

My first view of the rock....

It was a weird feeling to actually see and be at one of the most iconic symbols of Australia.

I rock

We had a brief tour around the base of the rock then were given the option of doing a 9km walk around the base or climbing it.
I was in two minds as to what to do. I had spoken to a few people who had climbed and they said it was fantastic but I also had concerns about not wanting to be disrespectful to the area and the local people.
When we got there the climb was actually closed due to high winds and I was relieved as I thought that had made my mind up for me.
However as soon as we finished our brief tour and were told we had free time to explore, the climb opened again so for better or worse I saw that as a sign to climb.
Apparently more than 30 people have died trying to climb it (by falling off or having a heart attack) and I can understand why!
The climb is not for the faint hearted.

The first part of the climb...eek

So I took a deep breath and began my trek, got about 100 metres up and already my shoes (which have no grip at the best of times) were already starting to slip on the smooth surface.
With the wind starting to pick up it was at this stage where I started to have second thoughts about climbing.
I didn't want to become another statistic and didn't want my friends and family to have the embarrassment of having to tell others how I died...
But I met a girl who was also having second throughts and we powered each other up to the top where the views were pretty special.

Halfway up

Made it!

It was then off to the sunset viewing areas where Mel set up champagne and nibblies for us to enjoy.

Two of the best fed little boys in Sweden...I kid you not

It was pretty cool to see the rock turning different colours as the sun set.

After that, and the tour group feeling a bit merry from the champers, we drove back to our camp at Yulara singing along to "Waltzing Matilda", "Home Among The Gum Trees" and a song with the chous "Come to Australia...you might accidently get killed!" haha
That night we unrolled our swags out and slept under the stars - magnificent.