hikari*: Alice Springs 3

After the bumpy drama ride to Kings Canyon, we were bright awake the following day for the famed Kings Canyon hike. I am used to bushwalking and kangaroo poo ever since coming to Melby, so I was in a casual mode when approaching this 'walk'.

Even with extreme tiptoe-ing, I still couldn't make it look like I was wearing the hat. And then I read: 6 km, 3.5 hours return.

I was slightly stunned, but if it was walking, I should be fine. After all, the burger-monstrosity from the night before had to go somewhere other than my tums.

And then from afar, I saw the 'walk'.

More like a staircase. A 'climb'.

The view going up the rockbeds was amazing. It was early in the morning, the morning dew was still in the air and the sunlight was lukewarm.

Throughout the whole trip our main conversation topic was "Do you think these stairs are man-made or natural?"

Along the way, you don't only have to go through staircases, but also narrow paths. .

. . . massive beds of flat rocks. . .and stop for a little nap . .

. . . crawl through low ceilings of rock. . .and stop for a little mermaid-time . . .

. . . and sometimes the arrow points to seemingly no paths! So send someone to run in front to look first and approach only once you get the ok! Smarter Ways of Treading Kings Canyon 101 Tip#1.

While someone checks the unforeseen for you, take some pictures yourself as the sunlight there is bombastic for your skin and hair. Smarter Ways of Treading Kings Canyon 101 Tip#2.

Then there are the seemingly bottomless pits for you to cross over - leg by leg (what else haha). Despite the suspense, it is actually "very narrow" - according to the Man :-(

The most amazing sight was the Eve's Garden. In the middle of sand, rocks and sun - lies a hidden oasis with water crystal clear and trees fresh green.

You can even see the reflection of the water on the rocks.

Once you make it to the other side of the canyon, you can overlook the flat terrains of rock you walked, limped, crawled past just now. The clear blue skies as background to the humongous red rocks - very impressive.

There are some really oddly shaped and placed rocks throughout the canyon. Like this one dubbed the 'Sacrificial Altar' by Prof. Tan. Why didn't I take a picture there? #1 It was dubbed the Sacrificial Altar #2 I had to climb gulp.

It makes one feel so small to be standing among all the great creations of nature over time. It feels as if all my problems and troubles are so minute and insignificant as compared to what made these.

We managed to complete the Kings Canyon Hike at just under 3 hours! So if I could do it in under 3 hours, you bet you can do it at around 4.5 :) Believe me, if not, my athletic gift.

After Kings Canyon, it was another long journey to the highlight of our trip! Uluru or Ayers Rock! No more off-road driving so it was smooth crusing all the way.

We did not forget to stop by this sign for a picture. . . before realising that it is everywhere!

After some laughing, some bickering - we finally saw it. Our red little panna cotta *tears up*

Along the way to Uluru, you are bound to come across some roadhouses. These are basically an area with a petrol station, a row of motel rooms, a caravan park, a cafe and. . . .nothing else?

To give you a better picture, this picture below literally describes the whole place! And if that picture is big enough to show, you can see on the topmost sign that this area is in fact more than 1 million acres.

After a 3 hours hike and more than 3 hours drive, we were more than ready to kick back and fill up then only relax.

We stayed in Yulara, which is the resort town near the base of Uluru. At the center of Yulara is a big round-a-bout and the various turnings out of this round-a-bout lead to different accomodations ranging from hotels to motels to caravan sites to camping grounds.

We went to Pioneer BBQ and Bar, where you can pick and BBQ your own meat. And we are talking about exotic meat like crocodile, emu, kangaroo and buffalo. Along with free flow salad and dessert :)