Into the Outback 🐨🇦🇺🦘

After one night of primitive glamping near Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock), we skipped ahead to both Kings Canyon & Alice Springs.

The former was a 3 hour drive even deeper into the unforgiving outback (literally straight for hours on end) & our camp was also more sketchy. Besides no fans in our stuffy tents & more than a few creepy crawlers being spotted in the showers, we all tried to retire early.

Another 4:45am wake up call, and we were en route to the trail head to beat the heat by starting at sunrise. Our first test was a 500 step ascend up “heart attack hill”. It was surprisingly tame, as we summited in just under 19 mins. The rest of the morning was pure joy as we weaved around the stacked layers of red rocks circling the rim (very Zion-esque). As the heat crept up to 95 degrees, we eased back into the gorge below & to the safety of our mini bus.

After a quick lunch of wraps & fruit, we dug in for the long haul of 5 hours to the next sign of civilization. A whole lot of green shrubs, red clay & nothingness flanked both sides of our vehicle. A killer 90s playlist & frequent naps passed the time fairly quickly, but we were more than ecstatic to roll into Alice Springs just prior to dusk.

It was a sleepy little town & reportedly not the safest place to be out after dark. But our comfortable cabins with AC & regular showers were a sight for sore eyes, after 2 nights of very rustic sleeping conditions. Then a quick visit to the only local brewery & scarfing down oven baked pizzas, we couldn’t wait to jump in the lazy river pool to end the evening.

And in the blink of an eye, our outback adventure expired & we couldn’t have been more excited to fly to the bustling hub of Sydney for our next urban adventure.