Finally my big tour with Adventure Tours started to see the probaby most iconic symbol of Australia- Uluru or as the white people called it Ayers Rock. We had another early start with Evil our tour guide (we could not guess why she was named like this by her colleagues and also don't know her real name, but this time nomen non et omen.). The fist stop was a Camel farm where I rode for the first time on one of those amazing creatures. It was very bumpy wiggling from one side to the other especially after it was forced into a slow trot. Now I fully understand why they are called ships of the desert, must get seasick on them all the same. 
Just imagine that the first explorers rode months on them, makes me shiver and my bumb hurt. The Camels arrived in Australia in order to be able to cross the desert of the centre that was impossible to do on horses or other transport means by then. Later one, when motorization started the Camel owner where supposed to kill their animals but instead they released them in the outback. The Camels adapted quite well and became wild. It is estimated that there are over 2 millions of them. In the afternoon we arrived in Kata Tjuta in the Pitjantjajara language this means means 'many heads'), the whites also call it "the Olgas". It is an impressive rock formation of different smoothed red rocks. The red colour is actually oxidation, that has formed over millions of year by the exposure to water and heat. We hiked through this amazing scenery and it got quite understandable for me why this is a sacred place for the Aboriginal people. Only the Trail of Winds that we took is open to the public, the rest of this mountain ranges is closed and can only be entered by the traditional owners of the land.
Just imagine that the first explorers rode months on them, makes me shiver and my bumb hurt. The Camels arrived in Australia in order to be able to cross the desert of the centre that was impossible to do on horses or other transport means by then. Later one, when motorization started the Camel owner where supposed to kill their animals but instead they released them in the outback. The Camels adapted quite well and became wild. It is estimated that there are over 2 millions of them. In the afternoon we arrived in Kata Tjuta in the Pitjantjajara language this means means 'many heads'), the whites also call it "the Olgas". It is an impressive rock formation of different smoothed red rocks. The red colour is actually oxidation, that has formed over millions of year by the exposure to water and heat. We hiked through this amazing scenery and it got quite understandable for me why this is a sacred place for the Aboriginal people. Only the Trail of Winds that we took is open to the public, the rest of this mountain ranges is closed and can only be entered by the traditional owners of the land. After this afternoon hike that left us all quite exhausted because of the dry heat, we took the bus to see the sunset over Uluru. I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed when we arrived at the sunset viewing point, not because of the rock which really is as spectacular as you could imagine it, but because I somehow thought (or better said, wished) that it was only us being able to enjoy this natural spectacle, but of course there were a lot of tour buses and other tourists wanting to see the same as us. 
Anyhow we found a spot a bit further up where not too many people gathered and enjoyed the changing colours of Uluru. It started out light red and got darker when the sun slowly w
ent down and drew scar like shadows on the smooth rock. When the sun was about to vanish it grew paler until nearly all the colour seemed to be drained from it. Pretty awesome or beauuuutiful as the Australians would say. Unfortunately my pictures never capture completely the real beauty of the places, but to give you an idea I post it anyway.
Anyhow we found a spot a bit further up where not too many people gathered and enjoyed the changing colours of Uluru. It started out light red and got darker when the sun slowly w
ent down and drew scar like shadows on the smooth rock. When the sun was about to vanish it grew paler until nearly all the colour seemed to be drained from it. Pretty awesome or beauuuutiful as the Australians would say. Unfortunately my pictures never capture completely the real beauty of the places, but to give you an idea I post it anyway.After seing the sunset over the Rock we went to the campside. We could choose between sleeping in a set tent or in a Swag (kind of Australian sleeping bag) outside. I chose the latter option as the night was so clear and the stars twinkled in the sky. I have to say it was really an amazing experience sleeping with the stars above you out in the open, listening to the sounds of nature and watching the sky. Here far away from civilization and cities, the stars seem to shine much brighter and also much closer. I really slept well, although around the early morning ours it got quite fresh, nevermind, as we had to get up at 4.15 anyway to go and see the sunrise over Uluru.
That was also a pretty spectacular show, although I found that the Rock wasn't as pretty from this side as from the distance and the spot we've seen the sunset from. After the sun was all up we started with the 8km base walk around Uluru. Fortunately the climb was closed due to wind so even those tempted to climb up couldn't do it. I find it quite sad that the walk is still open, altough the rock is a holy place to the Aboriginals, and there are signs everywhere asking the tourists not to climb, but I have been told that once the walk was closed a big decrease in tourist numbers into the Park was noticed and therefore less money was made, so it got reopened. Already 35 people have died, falling off, having hear attacks and so on, as the rock is really steep and there are still those who think that they can climb it in flip flops. Anyway, we just walked around it and there are also several spots where taking pictures is forbidden as it is a sacred spot. There are different stories about the creation of Uluru, but it would take to long to write them down here, I will tell them personally to you when I come back if I remember them all. There are different levels of stories for the Aboriginal people that are about creation, their laws, lessons to the younger and so on. Most of the stories are to holy to be told to white people, so the stories we are able to read or hear are those that are told to the children.
In the afternoon we drove to the Camp side at Kings Canyon where we made a fire out of our collected firewood and cooked over it. After dinner we played cards and talked. Our group is really nice and heterogenous with different ages from 20 to over 60 (Canadien couple) and different nationalities. Once again I slept under the stars.
The next morning we started early to hike through Kings Canyon to make use of the freshness of the early morning hours, the heat will be hitting us soon. Kings Canyon (part of the Watarrka National park) is very impressive Gorge with walls that are over 300 meters high. 
We climbed up to the first lookout and then followed the trail through the different rock formations until we reached the "Garden of Eden". This is a very ancient garden with tropical plants that must come as close as possible to the biblical garden of eden taking into consideration that all this beauty grows within the shelter of rocks in the middle of a desert. Quite impressive.
We climbed up to the first lookout and then followed the trail through the different rock formations until we reached the "Garden of Eden". This is a very ancient garden with tropical plants that must come as close as possible to the biblical garden of eden taking into consideration that all this beauty grows within the shelter of rocks in the middle of a desert. Quite impressive.We finished around 11 with our hike, just in time as the sun already hit very hard, and drove back to Alice Springs.
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