The end of the trip :(. We had a nice sleep in, and then after a shower, went to a full buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We returned to our room to make sure everything was in our bags, and checked out at 10.00. We caught a shuttle bus to the airport at 10.30. The plane was delayed 20 minutes so we sat down and passed the time before boarding. It was warm outside as we walked to the plane. Our last bit of warmth until summer hits Melbourne.

After taxi-ing out to the runway the pilot got on the system and said we had to go back – there was a problem with the toilets not flushing, and for a 2.5 hour flight that just wouldn’t be comfortable at all. Before turning around we had to wait and watch an USAF C-130 land, which is something you don’t see every day! We didn’t know what would happen now – when would we be able to leave? Luckily the engineers were able to fix it quickly, and within 10 minutes we were taxi-ing back out and this time took off. I watched “Pacific Rim – The Uprising” on my phone for the flight back.

Once we had our bags we caught an Uber home, and were back just after 5.00. Our first real Australian holiday, and what a holiday it was!

We woke up before 6.00 again. We heard a car or two leave, and it was just too cold to stay in bed so we got up. We boiled the kettle which got a bit of heat in the back, and gave us something warm to put our hands on! But we left a bit after 7. The sun started to rise just as we were leaving, so it was light but still a dangerous time for being on the road. We got through to the Mount Conner lookout we had stopped at on the way up, just as the sun was hitting the dangerous point – right in our eyes. So we pulled over at the rest area and took some photos, and then made breakfast. We decided to eat inside today, so I packed the bed up and put the table in its place. It was all stuff we had to do at some point in the day so we figured we may as well get it done now.

We left about an hour later and the sun was just above the window so a perfect place for driving. We made it to Erldunda by 10.30ish and saw a massive army convoy stopped there. We used the toilet and then headed up the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs. About 100km up the road it was time for our next stop – a camel farm. Kaoru had never riden a camel before, and it had been 25 years for me, so we thought it would be fun. A 30 minute ride was $45 so we thought that would be better than just a $9 stroll around the paddock. Unfortunately they weren’t doing the longer trips so we had to make do with the paddock. Our guide (who walked us around) was an English backpacker doing rural work to extend his visa. He was relatively new there, and the camel we were riding wasn’t showing him any respect. So getting him to stand took a while, and getting him to sit afterwards was several minutes! I did the first lap, and then Kaoru had a lap. It was a nice break for the day, and then we got back on the road.

We stopped at a rest area for some lunch – we had lots of cheese and nibbles left so snacked out on that for a while. Kaoru also did a final load of dishes. We offered our remaining eggs to somebody who pulled in to the rest area but they were allergic so didn’t take them. We had everything organised, and then it was back on the road.

We finally arrived back in Alice Springs, and went straight to our hotel. It wasn’t quite 2.00 but we were able to check in anyway. We were at the Mercure, which was much nicer than the Ibis we stayed at last week. We had planned to spoil ourselves on this, our last night. So we unloaded everything from the car and took it to our room, which was massive!

We had heard about the botanical gardens, and decided to go there for afternoon tea – there is a cafe that is supposed to be quite good. And the gardens were just behind our hotel, but we still needed to drive as the entrance was round the other side. This was the strangest botanical gardens we had been to though. There was no grass, very few colourful flowers….all desert natives. Which is what you need in this area, I guess! We ordered cake and a hot drink and sat down to enjoy relaxing and not driving for a while.

It was nearly 3.00 and we thought we’d better hit the road, so drove to the servo first, to do a final fill-up, and then to Britz to return our van. They gave it the once-over, and while we were there we asked to be shown the 4 berth vehicle. It would have been more convenient to be able to leave the bed set up, but still have a table inside. It was amazing the difference – a part of us wished we had taken it, and will certainly consider it next time we do a holiday like this.

We caught a taxi back to our hotel, and then I got on to work. Some Inflatable World issues that needed addressing. That took me from 4 until 11, with a bit of a break for dinner. Kaoru packed the bags and got everything organised for our trip home, and we also had a shower which was great to get nice and clean again! It was a later night than we had had for a while, so we were both quite tired.

I didn’t sleep too well last night. I think it was a combination of going to bed on a full stomach, and knowing we had to be up early again in the morning. I turned the heater on about 5.45 to start warming the van up, and 6.00 we got up, dressed, boiled some water for green tea in our thermos, put on warm clothes and were on our way.

This morning we drove to the Olgas for sunrise. It was an extra 30 minute drive, but since we arrived at Ayers Rock so early the previous morning, we didn’t need to leave a lot earlier. We got to the sunrise viewing area and walked up the dune – this time a bit more prepared with heat packs in our pockets and warm tea in our thermos’s. It was light when we got there but the sun still hadn’t risen so we got to see some amazing colours of Ayers Rock in the distance, as well as the Olgas. The sun rose next to Ayers Rock which made for some great photos.

We got back to the car around 7.30 – it was 2 degrees. We then completed the drive to the Valley of the Winds car park, which was our first walk for the day. We were the first car to get there (there was a small bus there already though) so we must have been early! We made breakfast (smoked salmon sandwiches) and got water ready for the walk. The whole time we could hear people arrive and by the time we left there were a few bus loads and at least a dozen cars! We then made our way down the walk.

It was aptly named. The wind was strong and cold at this time of the morning. I ended up taking my hat off and using the one in my jacket which was a godsend as there was an area where the wind just chilled you to the bone. It was a beautiful area though and we were presented with amazing views of the Olgas. Once through the really windy areas, and out in the sun, it started to warm up; by the time we completed the walk we had taken a couple of layers off and had them in the back pack. We completed it in just under 3 hours, which was quite good given the estimate was 4-5 hours. There was some tricky terrain, and we were starting to feel it from all the walking we had done.

Back at the car we drove to the sunset lookout nearby which was the only toilet in the Olgas. After relieving ourselves we were both pretty tired so had a sleep for 30 minutes or so, before making lunch and taking our time to enjoy that in this beautiful area. After lunch we drove to the gorge and did that walk – it was a 60 minute walk, and was going to be our last for the trip. So we took in the last of the Olgas and enjoyed the sun, although as we got further in and out of the sun it actually got quite cold and luckily we had brought an extra layer to put on – we could have done with more.

At the end of the gorge there was amazing greenery for such a harsh area. We took a few last photos to remember the trip, and made our way back to the carpark. Then one more stop off at the sunset viewing area to make use of the facilities, I got changed in to shorts as it was quite warm, and we were on the road out of the park.

There was a rest area about 50km along the road that I pulled in to. We saw that it was a 24 hour free camping area, but we wanted to get further away than that so we didn’t stay. However there was a dune there which you could drive up in a 4×4. As we only had a 2 wheel drive van we walked up, and had memories of the Simpson Desert with the red sand. But at the top there was a fantastic view of Ayers Rock – albeit from quite a distance. This was certainly a spot you could enjoy a free camp and see a sunset behind, and sunrise on, Ayers Rock. But we completed the drive to Curtin Springs, seeing Mount Conner not long before arriving.

We drove through the free campground and found a place to camp for the night, and then went for a walk around the place to see what was there. A quaint little shop, simple accommodation and restaurant, all of which we didn’t need. Back at the van we pulled out cheese and salami and crackers and enjoyed them for a while (with a beer and Baileys), and then started getting the car a bit organised for its return. We had a bit of a sleep in the back, and then woke about 5.30 and decided to cook dinner (an AMAZING steak that we had bought in Alice Springs, and had been keeping for tonight) with some coleslaw bought yesterday at Ayers Rock. We watched the sun set on Mount Conner and enjoyed the last rays of sun, but it started to cool down quickly so once dishes were done we were in the van with the curtains closed, and doing our diaries.

We were both pretty tired, and had some great memories of the trip, so were in bed by 8.30. We could hear people arriving long after we were in the van – people driving through, and even coaches stopping in! It would have been great to have been a bit more prepared and had a campfire to stay warm outside but we didn’t have a shovel with us, and since it was so crowded we didn’t have immediate neighbours like we had at Kings Creek, so didn’t feel comfortable just going over to a camp and joining them.

The alarm went off at 6.00, but we were both already awake. We turned the heater on to take the chill off the room and laid in bed a little bit longer, but then we got up, packed up the extension lead and drove to Ayers Rock sunrise viewing area. We thought we would get there and then make breakfast while waiting for the sun to come up. When we arrived though, the location had a different plan for us – it’s a 5 minute walk from the car park to the top of the dune where you can see Ayers Rock. So we grabbed some food, rugged up, and up we went. I don’t think it would be possible to wear enough layers to stay warm. I had a shirt, long sleeve, jumper and good double-lining jacket, and my snowboarding gloves, and was still cold!

The platform had a lot of people there, but we found a spot and took a couple of photos. We waited for about 30 minutes and saw the sun start to come up. We then considered what we had on for the day and made a move, driving to the Mala carpark for the climb. We could see on the way that it was quite windy and we hoped that it would be open. Once we got there though, it had the sign up that it was closed due to strong winds at the top.

We came up with a plan B for the day, and then made breakfast in the back of the car. Just as we were finishing, at 8.00, the ranger arrived and took down the closed sign – so it much have just been there from the previous day and it doesn’t open until 8.00. So we were good to go! We went to the toilet, picked what clothes we wanted to wear and off we went. There would have been maybe 20-30 people in front of us.

We started the climb to the chain full of energy and excitement, although stopped to look back a couple of times and had a slight case of vertigo. Eventually we made it to the chain, and proceeded up it. It was quite steep, and again, we stopped to look down a few times, and started to think about the fact we had to go back down afterwards. But we were going for it! We needed a break to catch our breath several times. We passed some people, and others passed us as we were stopped. About 2/3 of the way up a young-ish (late teenager?) was coming back down – he had already been to the top! We couldn’t see where it was going to end for most of the climb, but eventually we got to the end of the chain, where there was a big level area. We looked back down at what we had just achieved and were quite proud of ourselves. We took some photos and had a rest to catch our breath back and recharge.

We then decided to continue on to the top. So we went up the last segment of chain and were walking up the face of Ayers Rock unassisted. It was still quite steep and scary, and the wind was starting to gust. After about 50m or so we had a chat and decided we didn’t need to go the rest of the way – we already had a long decent ahead of us and a busy afternoon, so didn’t want to be rushed and in bad conditions. So we turned around and started the trek down.

That 50m was quite scary. The rock wasn’t slippery but it was still steep, and a wrong step could easily be fatal. It didn’t take us long to get to the top of the chain, and we made our way back down. Going down was much harder on the feet. The chain was really low so very hard to use as an aid. Sometimes we would go without using it, but then a slight mis-step and I wanted to hold on for that peace of mind. There were lots of people coming up – I reckon at least 50% were Japanese. It’s currently the Japanese Obon holiday and it seems Ayers Rock is a popular tourist destination for them. We were both quite disgusted when we saw a family with 2 kids under 5 doing the climb. But there are no rules – do at your own risk.

We didn’t need as many rests on the way down, but it was good to stop and let people coming up go past – if for no other reason than to rest the ankles and knees. It seemed like it was never going to end but then the end of the chain appeared in front of us, and we had to do the last bit without any support. Finally we were back on the bottom. It was about 9.30 so we had spent a good 90 minutes on the activity. It was great to be back on level ground. We had a hot drink and some cookies, and rested for a while, reflecting on what we had just done. By 10.00 we saw the ranger go over and close the climb due to the strong winds. So it was open for all of 2 hours, and we were lucky enough to have been there at the right time of the day so we could have done it, while still being off before it got too dangerous. We could feel the wind picking up over the time since we got to the bottom and thought they’d be close to closing it.

Our next activity was the gorge walk. It was a 10 minute drive, and we knew not a long walk so just took a little bit of water and some snacks, and made our way. This was an easy walk, in to a gorge in the rock, and we were surprised to see there was water at the end of it. It would have been the only water we had seen near the rock, so was obviously a popular place in the past before it became such a tourist destination, for animals and aboriginals alike.

Once completed we thought we need to do the cultural centre so went to the car park there and walked in. We saw lots of paintings with Dreamtime stories on them. We then decided to take the opportunity for lunch, so bought a BLT and a burger at the cafe. We ate it in the sun to try to stay warm, and then went back to the car, and to the camp ground. We were quite tired so took the opportunity for a 30 minute power nap. We then woke up, got dressed in “nicer” clothes, and made our way to the campground carpark to await our pickup.

We only had to wait 10 minutes or so before the bus arrived. We were the only people getting on, which was great. We had a chat to our pilot on the way to the airport, and after weighing ourselves and a quick toilet stop, hopped in our Cessna 172 for a scenic flight. I was in the front co-pilot seat and Kaoru had the back seat to herself, so she could take photos from both sides of the aircraft. We took off and started with a flight over Ayers Rock. We could only do two faces as the other two are sacred and photos are not allowed of them. But we could see the area where people do the climb (obviously nobody was on it). Then it was just a short trek to the Olgas and we did a couple of passes over them. We could see the Valley Of The Winds which is one of the walks we had planned for tomorrow.

We flew over Lake Amadeaus, which is the second largest inland lake in Australia. While Lake Eyre was special because it is below sea level, Lake Amadeaus had it’s own pecularity in that it was a salt lake in the middle of the desert, but had a number of islands in it. It was quite strange to see the white, with patches of green dotted through it. We looked for camels but they usually only trek through the lake at night, so we could only see their tracks from previous trek’s.

It was then about 20 minutes flying time to Kings Canyon. The pilot gave us the option of flying high in smooth air, or flying low and seeing if we could spot any camels (at the risk of turbulence). Kaoru was happy with the low flying so we did that – not that I like turbulence at all but it sounded like a bit of fun. We made our way over to the canyon, eyes locked to the ground, but no luck. So we started to climb back up as we approached the ranges. They looked amazing from the air. We could see areas we had seen on our drive, and they were just as awe inspiring from 3000′ above.

We did 2 low level passes over the canyon, and could see people walking out where we had been a couple of days earlier. We could see the Garden Of Eden with the water, and the palm trees we had spotted during our hike. Which was better? Well, if it was stinking hot, the flight would have been better than doing that long walk. Given the conditions we had (not too hot, not too cold), getting right up there and doing it was an awesome experience, and the flight over afterwards was the cherry on top.

After the canyon we trek’d out to the end of the mountain – this was a part our pilot loved doing but couldn’t do with all passengers. He descended as we got to the cliff face, so we were only about 100′ above the ground before it dropped right off below us, and we could really see the drop off. We then descended that last 100′ and flew level with the cliff face to take it in. The air was much rougher here, and we had a few big bumps that had me squeezing my legs a bit harder! But as we made our way round the face and headed back towards Ayers Rock we were back in smooth air.

We still had no luck with spotting camels on the flight back. Eventually we arrived at the airport and came in for a perfect landing, and taxi’d back to our parking spot – watching a Jetstar flight wait for us before taking off to Sydney. Our flight lasted about 2 hours, and was our treat for the trip – definitely worth it! Once the plane was tied down we were taken back to the campground, but asked to be dropped off at the supermarket at the resort instead as we wanted to buy some food. We got some pasta for dinner, and also decided to spoil ourselves with an ice cream each. We then walked to the bus stop and waited for the next shuttle bus – which took about 10 minutes to arrive.

Once back at the campground I had a couple of beers and relaxed until 5.30. We then got our warm clothes organised and made our way to the bus stop, and awaited the bus to take us to the Field Of Light Star Pass which we had purchased. We had decided if we were going to do the Field Of Light, we should make it our premium evening and do the viewing with Champagne and Canapes. Our bus drove us down to the drop off point and we watched the sun set over Ayers Rock while sipping champagne and eating a range of nibbles – Mum’s on a Sunday are still more enoyable though!

As the sun set, we could see the lights in the field start to come on. What we hadn’t realised beforehand is that Ayers Rock is just the location of them – not a feature in them. So once we could no longer see the rock, we could see the lights in the field. We walked down the dune and in to the field of light, taking a number of photos along the way. They changed colour as we walked around, but that was pretty much it. We made it back in time for the first but – 7.45 (the second one was 8.00), and were dropped off back at the campground. We went to our van and Kaoru made pasta for dinner while I set the small table up outside with the heater on it to keep us warm. After dinner Kaoru did the dishes and it had been a long day, so we didn’t even write out diaries up – we went straight to bed around 9.30.

We woke up about 6 and turned the heater on in the van to take the chill off the room. We got up about 6.30, and cooked breakfast on the BBQ in the communal area to save me setting the smoke alarm off again. It was a great BBQ and cooked everything really quickly! We packed up and were on the road just after 7.30.

Not long out of Kings Creek Station we saw a dingo cross the road. A bit further up we saw an emu crossing – just slowly meandering his way across. I was expecting him to move a bit quicker. I wasn’t using the cruise control at this point as I knew there could be animals that haven’t gone to bed yet, so wanted to be extra alert.

We stopped about 90 minutes in for a leg stretch and saw a dingo in the “free camp site” we stopped at. He was just looking at us from about 50 metres away. Eventually he went on his merry way, as did we.

Then we could see Mount Conner off in the distance. Kaoru thought it was Ayers Rock at first – a mistake many people make. We stopped at the lookout to take a few photos, and make use of the long drop. I then saw a dune across the road and climbed up that to have a look and was presented with a salt lake on the other side – which had an island in the middle. I called Kaoru up to have a look with me.

We got back on the road and were making great time. Not much farther up the road we had our first glimpse of Ayers Rock. And not much further up we could see the Olgas. So we were starting to get excited. There was a lot of traffic on the road coming from Ayers Rock. We arrived about 10.30ish.

We drove to the campground, checked in, and then found our camp site – we decided it would be good to do now as we didn’t know what time we would be getting back to camp, and didn’t want to have to try to find it then. We had a bit of time until the 1.00 bush food presentation that Kaoru wanted to attend (and was the driving force behind us leaving Kings Creek so early), so we went to the supermarket area to look around, and bought some marinated steak for dinner – we decided against going to one of the restaurants. We drove round to the car park nearest to where the food presentation was, and made toasted sandwiches in the back of the van, and I had a 15 minute rest which was needed. It was then time to go in.

The demonstration was fantastic. An aboriginal man showed us a number of bush foods and where they are found, and then a lady made some shortbread with wattle seeds – and we got to try some that had been prepared earlier! Then it was off to the Rock, where we did the 10km base walk. It’s supposed to be 3-4 hours – we completed it in about 2.75. We decided that whilst Ayers Rock may be impressive, the base walk was not as good as Kings Canyon – mainly because the view was pretty much the same the whole way round. There were different contours to the rock, but basically that was it. But at least we could tick it off as done.

We had completed it by 4.45, so thought it would be good to drive to the Olgas for sunset. I looked at the fuel tank and estimated range left, and we decided it was a bit risky, so had to go back to the campground to fill up first. We then decided we would give it a miss. We had done lots of driving and didn’t need to add another 120km round trip on just for a sunset. So we went to the campground and had some cheese and biscuits and a beer. We walked up to a lookout for sunset but we were too far away from the rock to see anything too fantastic so went back to camp and cooked dinner.

It was cooling down quickly. We bought the heater outside to keep us warm while we ate, but once finished we got dishes done and then went inside with the heater on, and had a cup of tea and biscuits, while writing our diary. We were easily ready for bed by 8.00, but I had been given an alert about my phone being out of space for photos so I had to make sure everything was uploaded to Dropbox so I could delete it all. Luckily Ayers Rock campground has internet coverage! So I got that all done, and we went to bed.

I slept well for most of the night. But come about 5.00 I started having weird dreams and didn’t really sleep well. At 6.00ish we were both awake and chatted for a bit; we could hear our neighbours were waking up (also in a campervan), but it was looking cold outside. We turned our electric heater on (we had paid for a powered site so wanted to get our moneys worth!) and got up a bit after 7. It was warm inside, but outside was fresh. It took a while to get started – not sure why, other than unfamiliar set up. But eventually my mushrooms were cooking, and then some bacon and eggs. The frypan wasn’t non-stick so I cooked with butter, but still made quite a mess of it. It still tasted great though!

After breakfast we had green tea, and Kaoru did the dishes. We decided not to bother taking the bed apart – we could eat outside tonight. So prepared our lunch, and left the campground a bit before 9.00. It was about a 10 minute drive back to Kings Canyon, and we started our walk just after 9.00. No idea what was in store, but we had heard several people say that Kings Canyon was more of a highlight than Ayers Rock. So we had plenty of water (I had a bit over 2 litres and Kaoru had about 1.5 litres), some mini mars bars, tiny teddy’s, and lunch, and off we went.

We were doing the full circuit walk which was supposed to be ~5km and 2-3 hours. It was a moderate grade walk so we knew it would be a bit of a challenge. It started with about 500 steps up. Our hearts were going, and luckily there were a few level areas to catch your breath on the way. We could see a large tour bus group starting below us when we were at about the 200 step mark. So we wanted to stay ahead of them for the rest of the walk!

It was beautiful as we meandered around the canyon. We kept being presented with the most amazing views. Every corner presented us with another unique view, and the cameras were going off constantly. There were a couple of “600 metre return” walks off the main walk which we did as well – we weren’t in any rush. One of these was to “The Garden Of Eden”, which was this beautiful little watering hole. We decided that was a good place to stop and have lunch – even though it was only 11.00. So we had cruskets and tuna, with cheese and vegies, while enjoying the serenity – only spoilt by the fact other noisy people where there.

Our walk continued for quite some time, and eventually we were presented with “view of the day”. This was absolutely amazing – we were looking back on a face we were standig on an hour or so earlier, which looked great then, but we didn’t know just how great. The fallen sandstone presented some amazing colours from the thousands / millions of years.

We continued around the South Ridge, which wasn’t as impressive as the North Ridge. And eventually we were back at the car. It had been just over 3 hours, including the stop we had taken. We had another crusket to complete our lunch, and casually got back in the car.

Our next stop was Kathleen Springs. We had seen it on the map back at Kings Canyon and it looked like a short walk that we could do. As we were approaching (it was only 15 minutes from Kings Canyon) I was starting to feel tired; so we decided to have a siesta before doing the walk. Unfortunately there was no shade at the car park, so we pulled over where we could (at least it was pretty empty) and jumped in the back, closed the curtains, and laid down. I was awake for a while, and then not long after going to sleep my watch beeped to say I had been inactive for too long. It had been about 30 minutes in total, so I considered that a powernap, and we got up to do the walk.

It wasn’t as impressive as the Kings Canyon walk, but it was nice walking through the gulley to the spring. It was about a 20 minute walk, but in the hot (27 degree) sun. I wouldn’t have wanted to be doing it any later in the year when it’s warmer. At the end we sat at the watering hole and took in the beauty before walking back to the vehicle. It was a much quieter place than Kings Canyon – as we got back to our car there was one other car in the carpark, of people just starting the hike.

We completed the next 15 minutes of driving, to Kings Creek Station, where we had already booked our accomodation. We got to our site, and because we were both quite warm (although had cooled down a bit with the air conditioning) we had a shower and really freshened up. According to the forecase from when we were back in Melbourne, this was going to be the last warm day of the trip. I had a beer and set up the outdoor table and chairs, to see just what we were given from Britz. It wasn’t too bad.

After Kaoru’s shower we had some cheese, salami, smoked salmon and biscuits. And I went and filled the car up so we didn’t have to worry about it tomorrow. We passed the time until 5.45, and then made our way up to a lookout point that was recommended to us at reception, for watching the sunset. It wasn’t as nice as last nights, but this time the actual sun set was beautiful, rather than the colours it was presenting on the mountains (although the colours were still quite special). There was a Japanese couple there who were on a large tour, so we had a chat to them on the way back – lots in Japanese (so more with Kaoru) but some in English, and me practicing my Japanese when I had something to say.

Back at camp Kaoru cooked pasta and meat sauce, and we had a couple of drinks. We set the heater up outside so it probably wasn’t doing much, but it was starting to cool down so we needed something while we wrote our diaries. Then it was off to visit our neighbours. They had a camp fire going, and also had Victorian plates on their car, so we said Hello and were invited to join them. They were probably about 5-10 years older than us – Mark and Alison – and lived in Bendigo. They were doing a 4 week trip – pretty much what our original plan was, although a few different places to visit on the way which I hadn’t considered. We sat up and enjoyed the warmth and company for a drink or two, but then thought we should hit the hay as we had an early start tomorrow. We went to bed about 10.00.

Another alarm morning. Holidays just don’t feel like holidays when the alarm has to go off, but given I don’t have an alarm on normal days, I guess it’s fair enough :). 6.20 Kaoru got up to have a shower and wash her hair, and then I had a shower. We ate some breakfast in the room and got ourselves organised, and then called a taxi about 7.15 to take us to the Britz depot up the road. That was something new – I had to remmeber to pay the guy after the trip!

We filled out the paper work and were taken to our “home for the next few days”, for a briefing. Nothing complicated – a Hi-Ace with high roof, 2 batteries, fridge, stove, etc. We went through everything, unpacked our suitcase so we could leave it with them (god knows there’s no space to store it!) and were on our way by 8.30. I dropped Kaoru off at the Coles to do some shopping, and then went back to the hotel to put the remaining things in the car, and check out. I went back to the Coles and familiarised myself with a few more features of the vehicle. Once Kaoru had finished shopping we put things in the fridge and were on our way out of Alice Springs by 9.45.

Our first stop was the “Old Gahn” engine on the side of the road. We took a few photos, and then drove another couple of kilometres to the famous “Welcome to Alice Springs” sign for some more photos. As we left another couple arrived and asked if we could take some photos of them, so we did, and then they took some of us, so that was good rather than having photos of just one or the other of us. We then started cruising.

Our plan was to drive and just stop whenever we saw something we wanted to take a photo of. We weren’t in any real rush, although we knew we had nearly 500km to drive for the day. The scenery was beautiful – it was constantly changing, and we kept seeing what *must* have been Ayers Rock :). We got to Erldanda(??) about 12.15 and filled up on petrol (at $1.99/litre). We had only used about 1/3 of a tank but this was going to be the cheapest petrol for a while. We also bought lunch (pies) and ate looking at the Emu’s.

Back on the road, we continued on to stop at (??? Springs???) to look at the aboriginal art museum. But it was a ghost “town” – either closed or out of business. There was a roadhouse there, with some basic accommodation (with a beautiful view of the mountain range) but nobody in site. So we pushed on.

I saw somebody in the middle of the road, who didn’t move as we got closer. “Here we go”, I thought, as I locked the doors (thank god for central locking). An aboriginal was waving me down. I stopped (in the middle of the road next to him) and wound down my window a crack. He pointed at the kids on the side of the road, said something which I didn’t really understand, and then went on to say something about needing money for petrol. I said “Sorry, don’t have any cash” and drove off, before anybody could come up behind or to the side of the vehicle. It’s such a foreign concept to not stop and help somebody in trouble.

We got to the turn off to Kings Canyon off the Lasseter Highway, and could see more people in the middle of the road. “Here we go again”, I thought, but as we got closer we noticed they were Asian. So we stopped at the corner to look around and take some photos. The guys were taking a photo of themselves in the middle of the highway with an Australian Flag on their backs. We had a chuckle together and got some more drinks from the back, and off we went again.

Another 150 or so KM and we made it to Kings Canyon. We went in and were more than ready for some exercise. We did the “Kings Creek Walk”, which was a “2km 1 hr round trip” walk along the river bed. It was amazing walking through the canyon, and hard to imagine it being full of water. We weren’t able to walk the last 50m to the lookout as it had been damaged in a rock fall some time ago. So we had some water and lollies, and walked back to the car.

It was only another 10km to the Kings Canyon Resort and Campground, where we were already booked in for the night. We “checked in” and got to our campsite. I got power to the vehicle and a beer from the fridge, Kaoru grabbed some sweets, and we walked out to the Sunset Viewing Platform. We were there just before 6.00, and stayed for about half an hour (sunset was 6.22). We then went back to the van.

Kaoru washed the dishes (not happy with how they were) and I got a few things set up. We had a table so we had a full spread of cheese and meat’s and dips and biscuits. It was cooling down outside but quite warm inside so we had vehicle open, but were also wary of any insects – we didn’t want them in the vehicle for the night! For dinner we had Japanese Curry and Rice, with Potato Salad and a green salad. After dinner Kaoru did dishes and I worked out how to set up the bed.

I had a CC and Dry and Kaoru had another Baileys, while we wrote up diaries. It had been a long and enjoyable day – we were glad we had managed to get the good walk in! So were were in bed not long after 9.30.

An alarm to start a holiday is always crap. It went off about 6.20. After a shower I checked emails, did a few quick things on Xero, and booked an Uber at 7.10. We were at the airport by 8 and checking in. There was a long line to get through security, and we both had to do an explosives test, but we were sipping champagne (not in the lounge unfortunately) before 8.30.

The plane took off on time at 9.30 (a few delays on the runway though as only one was open). I watched “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” on the flight, stopping a few times to look out the window. Kaoru and I had the 3 seats to ourselves so we could stretch out a bit, and use the aisle and window seat. We had a great view of Lake Eyre and remembered what it was like flying below sea level over it several years ago. Eventually we reached Alice Springs.

After getting our bags we decided to catch a shuttle bus instead of a taxi in to town. It was $33. We later found out a taxi would have been ~$38, so we had saved a bit, but had to wait for the shuttle to be full, so swings and roundabouts. However we had a great driver who used to be a tour guide, and talked the whole way in to town! I had a chat to him when he dropped us off and he said not all drivers give that extra service so we were very lucky.

We were able to check in to our room when we got there about 1.00, which was good as check-in was supposed to be 2.00. And we were also 30 minutes behind so my stomache was at 1.30. So after dropping off our bags we decided to walk in to town and get some lunch. It was only about a 15 minute walk from the Ibis in to the “CBD” – we passed a couple of places but none looked like what we were after. Kaoru had been told about KFC from Mio a while ago but still hadn’t had it, so since we saw one we went with that.

After lunch we went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service museum. It was a bit pricy ($17) but when you know it’s going towards a good cause you don’t mind. After a briefing and getting to see on a screen a live update of all the RFDS planes in the air, we saw a hologram movie history of the RFDS. You know it’s a good service but never appreciate just what it does. It was amazing to learn that they serviced 280,000 people/year! Afterwards we were able to go in the museum, and inside a Pilatus plane (the newest in their fleet) all decked out inside the building. I bought a new Barma hat as my old one really was past its life and leaves markes on my head when I wear it. I’m sure I could get it cheaper, but again, the profit is going to a good cause. Kaoru bought a shot glass, and then we had a coffee (and chai latte) at the cafe.

We walked through town, looking for the old school, but couldn’t find it. But ended up in the market street, and then made our way to Anzac Hill. It was good to get some exercise, and gave us a beautiful view of Alice Springs, as well as the East and West Macdonald Ranges. We then walked back in to town and stopped for a drink at the local pub. I was starting to feel pretty knackered and knew it would be an early night tonight with such a long day ahead of us.

Then it was off to Woolworths to buy a couple of things for breakfast tomorrow, and then Coles liquorland to get beer and Baileys. It was just after 6.00 local time, but in the interests of an early night we went to dinner. We chose the Steakhouse as it looked pretty good. I had the Drovers Dinner which was soup, mixed meat platter (Crocodile / Kangaroo / Buffalo Sausage and Camel), Steak and Pavlova. Kaoru had the mixed meat platter and wallaby salad (entree) size. We couldn’t finish all of the food – partly because I was tired, but also the steak was pretty fatty – I was hoping for a really lean cut. The meat platter was great though – tastes that we don’t usually get.

We walked back to the hotel and it was really starting to cool down. Luckily we had brought some warm clothes with us, but I was still in shorts and just a t shirt and jumper, so my chest was cold. It was after 8 by the time we got back. I had a shower to warm up, and we did a bit of organising things, and then I went to bed.