Central Australia Rocks

Photos
After the Rogaine it was time to chill out, and head to Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta with Dunk, Grace, and Dunk's parents. We were travelling in peak season, amongst a menagerie of Grey Nomads driving Pradas and Landcruisers towing boxy living devices. This generally means comfortable camping in expensive caravan parks for the occupants of each vehicle. We spent a night in Alice, before heading out to Yulara, the Ayers Rock campsite.

Hooray! The rock!

Despite sticking to the mainstream tourist route, the sights are fantastic:

• The scariest moment was overtaking a 4 carriage road train
• Mt Conner pretends to be Ayers Rock, but Grace forewarned us (it's still cool looking, though)
• Roadhouses provide some of the world's most expensive ice cream
• Ayers rock looks much better at sunset or sunrise
• The nights are way cold
• Walking around the rock wasn't as good as expected, as various sacred sites prevented us from getting too close to the rock
• But it's still pretty cool
• Kata Tjuta offers a way better walk than the rock
• Zebra Finches look really cool in the wild
• But Rainbow Bee-eaters look much funkier
• Reptiles don't seem to come out in winter
• You need a permission slip to drink at the pub

After the others continued on to Kings Canyon, I returned to Alice to go a 3 day walk along the Larapinta Trail (why isn't it a track). After the walk, I spent half a day at the Desert Park, which I found fascinating as you could see heaps of fascinating birds in aviaries build over the spinifex. You can also see some of those types of birds in the wild at the park (they hang around because the place is watered). Someone recommended the film to me, especially the ending. The film wasn't all that special, until you get to the very end. Quite unique. See it.