Week 4- Northern Territory

Friday 26th-

Finished the day with the Mala cave walk around the start of Uluru which was very interesting to learn how the Aboriginals used it as shade and coverage and too teach the young life and survival skills.

We also had a beautiful red sunset over the rock. We then headed to sleep before our big walk tomorrow.

Saturday 27th-

Today we woke up at 5am to make sure we were ready for the Uluru walk at sunrise. We prepared for the walk in the carpark as the sun came out and then began the walk at the Mala cave like yesterday but skipping through the stops.

We ended up doing the walk at the perfect time and direction and skipped the main part of the sun especially in the long section of no shade, which we did closer to the start. It was absolutely incredible to see Uluru close up and appreciate its natural beauty. There are so many layers and colours. We were also surprised by the amount of vegetation surrounding it. We also saw in a big cave at the top of Uluru where there was grass growing within it.

The information around Uluru about the Aboriginals stories were also really interesting and added so much to the experience. The waterhole in Uluru was incredible too and a very peaceful point, unfortunately we had two very chatty woman that kind of ruined that for us. You could also see lots of markings in the caves that would have been made by The First People many years ago.

After the walk which we finished within 3 hours we headed back to the resort for some food shopping and pool time. We also got chatting to a few people around the pool and heard about their experience driving around Australia.

We then drove back out to Uluru to watch the sunset. We were a little disappointed as it was quite cloudy and Uluru didn't glow red like it did the previous night.

We then headed to sleep for another walk tomorrow.

Sunday 28th-

Next to Uluru is another big rock called Kata Tjuta. Neither Judith nor I had heard of this before and were interested to know what the walk and structure would be like. The hike is called The Valley of the Winds and let's just say the name doesn't lie.

This is where our trip took an interesting turn and today will be a day we will never forget!

Firstly, at the very start of this walk after the first look out unfortunately something got in Judith's eye and she was in a lot of pain. We ended up turning around and heading back to the van whilst bumping into some Friends who helped Judith wash it out and introduced us to some doctors who also washed her eye out and advised she seek medical treatment. Unfortunately being a Sunday the medical hut was closed, so she decided to take a nap instead to give her eye a rest from all the washing out. Unfortunately it didn't get any better so we ended up going to the nurse on call and she had a look and found nothing in the eye and gave Judith some eye ointment saying it would be much better in 24 hours time. I then did the drive from Uluru to half-way between Kings Canyon to see whether or not Judith would be able to do the walk tomorrow.

We stopped the van at a rest stop at the side of the road and were starting to fall asleep at 8:30pm.

Secoundly just as were dosing off Judith hears voices, I sit up and see flashlights and people are shouting and clapping. We start to panic a little and a family ends up coming to the back of our van and say they need help as they have just been in an accident. Unfortunately they hit an animal driving from Kings Canyon in the dusk and there engine has stopped. They had only just managed to get to the rest stop. We try to call emergency services but unfortunatley the area we are in has no service and can't even do emergency calls. We offer to drive one of them into signal to get help from emergency services.  The oldest of the daughter decides to get in and we end up driving 2 hours in darkness to the closest signal and petrol station which unfortunately leads to the third problem of my van running out of fuel and being stuck at the petrol station all night.

Then no emergency service or roadside are able to help so we end up falling asleep around 2/3am and wake at 7am to fill the tank. We then ask everyone we can to help us get the family to safety. At around 8-9am the woman gets a call from her parents who managed to stop a tourist bus on its way to Kings Canyon and get in it to access signal. They then make there way to Uluru using the bus and we drive the daughter to Uluru to meet her family.

We then decide not to head to Kings Canyon and instead drive to Alice Springs for a night at the gym. We then wake up in Alice Springs and head to an art musuem which was really cool and interesting before heading to the gym again and then driving back to the fuel stop we spent the night at the other evening to then drive to

Kings Canyon the following day.

Wednesday-

We have a very lazy morning recovering from the last few days and then finish the drive to Kings Canyon. We then check in at the resort enjoy a shower, cook dinner and hop in the pool. We then have another early night prior to our walk tomorrow.

Thursday-

We wake up nice and early at 5:30am to do the Kings Canyon Rim Walk which is to be completed prior to 9am due to the heat. The walk starts with a large number of rocky stairs ascending to the top of the Canyon. And the  you proceed to go straight along the top of the Canyon seeing the views, domes and waterhole. Before descending to the carpark. It was around 6kms and took us 2 hours. It was a beautiful walk and definitely one of our favourites from the trip!

We then did an 8 hour drive back to Coober Pedy where Judith went to the Gym and I enjoyed the pool.

2,443 kms travelled this week! Wow! That's 7, 540kms in total for my trip so far!