Part 1: Alice Springs

My last night in AliceSprings... I am tired beyond belief and preparing for the second part of my trip, I fly to Darwin tomorrow. I am writing this blog from my friend Emma's house which may be the last time I have an internet connection until I get back in Adelaide. I just got home tonight (Saturday) from my two day trip around central Australia. I started off being picked up at the airport and spending the afternoon in the mall here in Alice Springs. That was the last time I wrote. The next day, yesterday, I woke up at about 4:30 to make it to the hostel where the trip was meeting by 5 am...that's right, 5 am, yes, I was tired as. We all got on the bus and slowly introduced ourselves to each other. We then headed off to King's Canyon. It rarely ever rains in Alice Springs, after all, it is the middle of the desert. I rained the day I arrived on the airplane. All of the roads were soaked and we weren't even sure if we would be allowed into King's Canyon originally because if it was flooded too much we wouldn't make it through, but we did make it in and the hike was beautiful and because of the rain we got to see a waterfall. The ground was littered with puddles and we had to try and find ways around most of them. After King's Canyon, all 20 of us got into the bus and we drove to Yulara (I might have spelled that wrong, but it is the campsite) and from the bus we got to see Ayers Rock, or Uluru as the aborigines call it. We watched the sun set over the camp ground and then we barbecued dinner and we all sat around the campfire and told riddles and played some mind games. A bunch of us swagged it that night, in otherwords we slept in a swag. A swag is a canvas sleeping back type thing with a mattress on the bottom that you put your sleeping bag on and it keeps you warm. We woke up at 5:30 for breakfast and to pack a bit of the camp up before we went to watch the sunrise and freeze at the base of Ayers Rock. Wow is that a big mountain, a single stone and always changing colors depending on how the sun is hitting it. It is a sacred sight to the Aboriginals of the area and so they encourage people not to climb on it, it is also very dangerous to do since it is a steep slope. After Ayers Rock we went to the Olgas and we went on a short hike and then we went back to the campsite for lunch and to pack everything up before we headed home on a long, yet fun bus ride where me and three friends played hangman, pictionary and mind bogglers and napped a bit as well. We got back tonight and had dinner as a group at the hostel and then Emma and her mother came to pick me up and now I am here falling asleep in front of the computer. I am going to finish this quickly so I can go to bed. Basically central Australia is beautiful. The dirt is red. The sky is mostly blue. I was very nervous about the trip, but within the first 15 minutes I met all sorts of people and we became very good friends. I especially got close to 3 English which was an interesting experience. In short, I had a great time and I am very excited about Darwin tomorrow and now I am off to bed. Hope everyone is having a good day. I'm out!