Sunburnt country..

Well the adventure continues. I finally landed in what is dubbed, Red Center - the place everyone goes to view the, big, red, rock called Ayers Rock (or its PC name, Uluru). I started off in the dinky, dusky, unappealing town of Alice Springs. When I arrived, I couldn't believe that I had booked into this city for 3-nites. Was I nuts! - what on earth was I supposed to do here for 3-nites/3-days. After the first evening, I walked from my hostel, a quaint, unusual set of buildings, about 10-min. walk to the center - which they call Todd's Mall on the Todd River. Of course, the wide bridge, which covers the wide river bed, doesn't hold any river in it, so its a bit of a conundrum.
Fortunately, the weather was warm, so it had one redeeming quality upon arrival. At the hostel, there was a small TV room, which I ended up for the evening. Again, b/c of the size of the hostel, it was more easier to met and chat with the local hostilities. The first evening, I was introduced to a few guys that just arrived and were solicitors for the WWF (no, not that WWF, but the World Wildlife Fund and Docs w/o Borders) Companies hire on these people to collect funds for their charities and this group of 6 (4 guys/2 gals) was settled into Alice for 2 weeks. We became fast friends and somehow, with the evenings, watching videos and chatting away in the kitchen, my time passed by quicker than I thought. I think it was just plain nice to connect with a few, select, individuals and get to know them more than just superficially. By the 3rd day there, I was sort of attached to them and it was, well, a bit hard to leave. Alas, I had to continue on my trek, so thanks (Jimmy, Alex, Mark & Paolo) for keeping me thoroughly entertained with your British/Ozzie humour.
On the 26th, my hired car and I drove to Kings Canyon (a smaller version of our Canyon). It was about a 500 km, trek through the outback of Oz. I started out, fairly late (12pm) and thought I would have plenty of time before sunset to arrive. The stop at the Camel farm and ride, delayed me further. I was told by scores of pp not to travel by nite, b/c of the kangaroos and the vastness of nothing in between. B/C of the lack of good signs and landmarks, (think Montana) at one pt, I overshot my exit by 100 km (which meant 200km return). Now you have to understand there is about 1 exit for every 100km, so the probability of this goof was not great. (Though singing along w/ the Ipod, could have contributed) So, I found myself, chasing the sun, (literally) and blazing a trail. When I caught sight of a kangaroo, waving to me on the side of the road, I quickly slowed down to a crawl and somehow, made it through the dark desert to my comfortable room.
The next day it was a speed sightseeing mission. I saw the Canyon, drove another 3 hrs to the Olgas and arrived in time to witness the famous sunset over Ayers Rock. Like the Grand Canyon, it’s huge and it’s definitely impressive. I can now add Ayers Rock, to my ‘been there, done that’ list. Next on the menu, Steve Irwin country & Brisbane, Queensland.