Australia

Haven't written anything for a while as I haven't been staying anywhere with good internet access. Had an amzing week long trip down to Alice Springs and Uluru. The first half of the trip was a 3 day dour from Darwin to Alice Springs. Left Darwin at 5.30am, this seemed early at the time but later realised that on these tours that 5.30 was actually considered a bit of a lie in. On the first day we drove south to Katherine Gorge where we spent the afternoon canoeing and swimming in the gorge. Apparently there are freshwater crocodiles in there but we didn't see any and they are meant to be relativly harmless anyway.

Everynight on the tours we had campfores and slept outside in swags, which are kind of like bivies but have a fixed matress attached. They were actually quite comfortable and it was really nice sleeping outside as the sky was so clear you could see thousands of stars.

On the second day we had another 5.30 start as there was a long drive to do. In the morning we stopped at Mataranka Hot Springs for a swim. Still didn't manage to see any crocodiles but did see a few wallabies in the woods. Next we went to a place called Daly Springs. It used to be a relatively big town and had Australias first international airport, but now its a ghost town where only 5 people live and they all work at the pub. Had a few more stop offs on the way to our next camp at Tennents Creak.

On the next day our main stop was at the Devils Marbles, a strange rock formation of huge granite boulders. Had a nice walk around there. It would have been a great place for climbing if I had had rock shoes instead of sandles. Arrived in Alice Springs in the evening and went for a night out with the guides and everyone else on the tour. So it was a really good few days and was a good introduction to Australia as the guides knew a lot about everything.

The next day I had spare in between tours so just spent the day around Alice Springs. Went out to a big wildlife park which was really good, so I should now know everything about desert plants and animals.

After that it was back to the early morning starts for a 4 day trip around the uluru area. In the morning we drove to Kata Tjuta,a group of mountains near Uluru. On the way stopped off to have a camel ride. Was good fun but not the most comfortable forms of transport and it did make me feel quite guilty for having camel for dinner the day before. Had a walk along one of the gorges at Kata Tjuta then went to Uluru to watch the sunset. Unfortunatly it was a bit cloudy so not as impressive as you see in all the pictures but still good.

The next day we had a 4.30am start to get to Uluru just as it was starting to get light so that we could do a walk around the base of it at sunrise. This was amazing, watching the rock change colour as the sun came up over the horizon. Well worth getting up for. In the sfternoon we drove to kings Canyon where we camped at quite a remote place. Slept outside again and in the night there were dingos walking around where we were sleeping. They are harmless but take anything you leave lying around.

It was another 4.30am start for a sunrise walk at Kings Canyon. I'd never heard of it before but if anything it was even more spectacular than Uluru. A really nice walk made even better by the sunrise. The last day of the trip was mainly just driving back to Alice Springs, but part of this was 4 wheel driving along a dried up river bed so it was still good fun. In the evening I got the Greyhound bus back up to Darwin. Despite being a 20 hour journey with a lot of stops as the bus was also doing a post run, it actually wasn't too bad. Haven't written about anything in much detail as there was too much to say, but this was one of the best weeks of my trip so far.

My overnight flights from Hong Kong to Darwin via Singapore were fine, except for getting stopped going through customs after admitting to having been to rural areas in the last month. But this actually turned out to be a good thing as they cleaned my hiking boots and tent for me.

Arriving in Darwin was another culture shock. After the big change in life from China to Hong Kong I wasn't expecting things to be too different when I got to Australia,, but I was wrong. I was expecting Darwin to be a small city but walking around the town centre when I arrived on Saturday morning I was shocked by how empty everywhere was and how quiet it was. In China and Hong Kong its difficult to walk down the pavement as theres so many people there and there are always people trying to stop you to sell stuff. Here you can just walk down the street and cross the road without fearing for your life. In China even if you use a pedestrian crossing the chance of a car actually stopping is still low. And in China I've just got used to having to ignore all the people that come up to you in the street but here people are actually just genuinely being friendly and want to chat.

After a night of no sleep and arriving in Darwin at about 5am, I didn't really do much the first day I was there. Just had a look round the town and tried to come up with some plans on where I wanted to go in Australia. Ended up booking on a tour to Alice Springs and Uluru for a week. In the evening, went for a walk around and ended up going for a drink on the harbour. This turned out to be a good introduction to how different Australian wildlife is. Were sat watching some huge fish and squid swimming around the harbour and then some dolphins just swam past as well. So it was a good first day here and looking forward to seeing more of the country