Three days, two nights, camping under the stars. What more can a gal ask for? I was going to go camp with 20 other strangers and live on a bus with them for three days straight. Easyy. (I’ve already camped with 40+ strangers, and that was for 23 days [TCTW]). On Tuesday morning, I woke up due to all the other girls in the room waking up. I had my alarm set for 5:30, but everyone else had a different plan: 5am. So I got up and joined the party. I checked out and waited for the tour guide to come pick me up. A few minutes after 6, a guy comes strolling in with a gait that brought all the ladies to his yard… swag. He announces his affiliation and I, for some reason, raised my hand as if I was in class and told him I was signed up for his tour. I hopped onto the bus and we set off.

Camel Matt, what a “man.” My initial take on him was that he was a decent looking bloke and then when he jumped into his seat, I got an even better look. I was seated right behind the passenger seat, diagonally from the driver. Camel is probably the first guy that I have seen that resembles the international expectation of an “aussie man”. The funny thing is, is that he’s not actually Australian, but English. Oh well, he suits the part nicely. A guy with soft blue eyes and a lip ring tightly fitted in the middle of the bottom lip; an upper body painted with tattoos on his caramel coloured skin… not too shabby.

oh heyy

The first day on tour was a hectic one. We drove for what seemed like hours, and arrived at the culture centre of Uluru. We stopped there, had lunch, and educated ourselves on the Aboriginal culture. There was a sorry book in the centre which was quite the interesting read. It also made me realise how bad some people’s english is… and I thought mine was bad. The sorry book is a book composed of letters, written by people from all over the world that has visited Uluru. The letter’s contents would be a person, begging for forgiveness of their wrong doing- taking sand/rocks from Uluru, and asking the staff to put the sand/rock back in it’s rightful place. It is said that by taking sand/rock from it’s spiritual setting, you are doomed for bad luck. Some of the letters were far out, but it almost made me want to test it… but we all know messing with the spirits is just putting your life at risk, (as shown by Paranormal Activity). After the culture centre, we did the base walk around Uluru. Unfortunately, because it hasn’t rained in months, there were no waterfalls, just the black residue remains. As I was walking with my newly made friend Anna, I kept thinking that I could walk inside the rock. I thought there might be an opening and I could go frolic around. To my dismay, there were no entry ways. The only way to “go inside” the rock was to climb it. You are allowed to climb the rock, but it is heavily advised for you to not. It’s not only dangerous, but it’s also extremely disrespectful to the Aborigines that live there. I love a good dangerous challenge, but after listening to the background of Uluru and the culture ties, it made my desire vanish. After finishing the walk an hour later, the group went to go see the sunset behind the rock. Sunset was scheduled at 7:14 and we got there around 6. Let the wasting of time commence. Camel set a challenge for us (free pint of beer after tour) to take the most creative picture with the rock . So we all attempted, whilst drinking beer. I gave my camera to another friend- Janne and she took a panorama picture of me doing a cartwheel in front of the rock. It was awesome. I would show you this shot, but someone back in Adelaide has this prized possession. Well, to cut the long story short, the sunset was hardly there. It was light for one minute and then it was dark. It was magnificently beautiful…

posingg

After a yummy dinner cooked by Camel, we piled onto the bus and Camel exclaims over the microphone, “you guys look like you want to paahhty”. Then he turns off the lights, uncovers a DISCO BALL and starts whipping his headlight around his head. Oh our bus just transformed from a tour bus to a disco ball. The first thing that went through my head wasn’t “oh this is sweet!”, it was more of a “good thing no one here is epileptic (?)” Anyways, it was a ball. The first song he played was- Barbie Girl, then the classic YMCA, and after that? Well, it just went downhill from there. We arrived at the campsite and shortly after, I got chased by what seemed like a million flies at the time, but was probably just 5 gnarly ones.

Wednesday morning we were awoken by Camel, calmly telling us to awaken. I am not even sure how I woke up by the softness of his tone but I did. We went back to Uluru and watched the “sunrise.” There wasn’t one. Oh well. We gathered around to take a group photo and as we were getting situated in our spots and perfecting our smiles, Camel gets his camera at the ready and says “Say ‘Shit Sunrise!’”

Afterwards we headed to Kata Tjuta and put our legs to exercise. I love to hike/climb mountains, but I’m clumsy. My sense of balance is my kryptonite when it comes to mountains, canyons, gorges, anything that can possibly send me tumbling to the ground.

Sidenote: I am known as “Ms. Clumsy” on the trip. Fantastic.

Kata-Tjuta is so pretty. The walk itself was fantastic as well. During the walk, I had my eyes glued to the ground in case I tripped over a little rock, because that would be highly likely. Though, the times that I did manage to look up, the view took my breath away. I felt like I was a tiny ant scavenging around in the midst of the towering mountain. The walk was slippery in the sense that the rocks were crumbly and sand was everywhere. Not the stablest of walks I’d say. Whilst walking, a young couple from Brighton- Simon and Sarah accompanied me. We talked about religion, books, politics, and other miscellaneous things. If there is one thing that I truly love, it is talking about books in the means of getting to know someone. During that time, I was reading “Marching Powder” which Sarah had recently finished. We were just gushing over how spectacular the book was and how captivated we were when we read it. As we were walking and talking, we reached a steep hill composed of just crumbly rocks. I admit, I lost my footing here and there. When we were huffing and puffing up the hill, we saw a cute little family coming down. The father was first and then the mother was behind him, with their baby strapped to the mother’s chest. Um… alright. Simon, Sarah, and I passed them and just shook our heads. We made it to the top and waited for the rest of the group to come hither.

Kata-Tjuta

Germans, Scandinavians, English, French, Taiwanese, Canadians, and Americans. Can you guess who’s from where?

That night at camp, we made a bonfire and told stories around the fire whilst eating chili con carne, created by Camel. The next morning when we awoke, I reached over to my side to get the sack of the sleeping bag… only to find it to be M.I.A. I then started to have a panic attack because the sleeping bag was not mine (Mike’s) and I needed to find the bag. I searched all over the sleeping area and still did not find it. Then I wandered over to the bonfire area, to find the sack laying in the ashes. I thought it would be fine since it wasn’t in the fire. It “looked” fine. I picked it up, and as the bag seared my hand, I flipped the sack over as if I was playing hot potato and found burnt holes and melted wax all over the other half of the bag. Brilliant. I trudged over to the van and just looked at the burnt bag in sadness. All I could think about was Mike and what he would think. Stupid, stupid, stupid Abby. I should’ve known better. I mean, this wasn’t the first time I’ve been camping. Bah. Matt, my canadian friend, who’s also known as princess, told me that I could just bash my eyelashes at Mike and turn on my girly-ness and then he would forgive. Nah, I don’t do that. I was going to buy Mike a new sleeping bag sack when I got back into town. Oh my luck.

Camel cooked our dinner by use of nature.

Thursday. Save the best for last! Kings Canyon was the destination and Camel was beyond excited. Before we left for the canyon, he was “prepping” us for the walk. The first bit of the hike was a straight, steep hill. The hill’s name is called Heart Attack Hill. Wonderful. After we all made it up the hill, I turned to Camel and said, “you over exaggerated that climb.” Anyways, we gathered around and he gave us our daily lesson. He asked the group if anyone had been to the Grand canyon and then proceeded to ask us which canyon was bigger. Many said the Grand Canyon, and then he gave a cackle and shot all of us down. Americans, we have been lied to! OK not really, we’re just not very keen on asking specific questions. The Grand Canyon in actuality is not a canyon, but a gorge. So technically, Kings Canyon is the largest. I can only laugh. Kings Canyon is truly beautiful though. I had heaps of energy that day and was practically walking in front of the pack the whole way. Camel actually said to me, “You know, it is the tour guide’s job to be in front.” I just looked back at him, and I think I probably sent him some sass. We walked along the track and visited the Garden of Eden and then reached Camel’s favourite look out.

That is him on the right hand side, laying and looking down the canyon. It was a spectacular view. 

Kings Canyon

eeeeeee

Alas the trip was coming to an end and we were headed back for Alice Springs. After Camel dropped everyone at their hostel’s, we had a solid two hours to shower, get pretty, relax, and at 7 we had a reservation at the Rock Bar for some dinner. Janne and I were staying at the same hostel, and conveniently in the same room as well! So we got ready and walked over together. She is one of my favourite danish gals on the trip. At first glance, she is a petite, blonde hair, blue eyed gal with painted pink toenails that hiked mountains in gladiator shoes. But after talking to her, she is jaw-dropping amazing. She was in the army, served as a medic, and then switched to being a linguistic officer. Fluent in Arabic, Danish, and English, she is the epitome of cool. I am her “little sister” and she is my “big sister”. Ah, I love her! We arrived at the rock bar, and everyone else started to trickle on in. We were a big family by this point, chowing down some cold lasagna and drinking our preferred beers and ciders. This night was too much fun. Camel got drunk and bought all of us shots. He spent over $100 alone on the shots. Woah buddy. I asked him if he has ever spent money on his group like this before and before I could even finish my sentence, he said a stern “no.” We are just that special I guess. Midnight came really quickly and the bar was closing. So Camel shouts in excitement “CASINO!!” … there’s a casino in Alice Springs? I definitely did not see that one coming. To me, Alice Springs seems like a half-abandoned town, that is comprised of backpackers and drunken, civilized aborigines. Before we reached the entrance of the casino, Camel turns to me in the Taxi and goes, “Abs, I need you to do me a favour.” That favour was to hold hands with him as we walked into the building. No denying there. After we walked in, I questioned his favour and he just responds, “I just like holding girl’s hands”. Alright.

Sidenote: When I first met Camel, I thought he was 25-27 years old, but as he got to talking, I composed a quick timeline and figured out that he couldn’t possibly be in that age range. Later on at the Rock Bar I found out that he is actually 31. meeep. I thought he was relatively old, but everyone around me was like, “nah, that’s not old.” Well, he is 11 years older than me… so. Also, fun fact, he has a tramp stamp.

At the end of the day, I came to the conclusion: it’s amazing how much money people spend to travel to the middle of nowhere, to see a giant rock. Geologists would be in heaven, but still. Fun Fact: Uluru has an iceberg effect. The top that everyone sees is just the tip of what is underneath the ground. wooooaaaaahhhh.

Janne aka Big sis

Kira, mein Deutsch freund.

Princess Matt! haha, canadian friend ey.

Sarah and Simon!

Matilde. mon ami français

Nicoline! One of the Danish girls.

Natascha and Anna. Danish, American, Swede.

Veronika! mein anderen Deutsch freund.

And lastly we have Camel.

Remember how I said I don’t like participating in tours, because I like to wander without any rules attached? Well, it’s impossible to wander around in the outback alone because there is no surer way to die than to do that. This tour was possibly the best tour I have ever participated in. I don’t think I have ever been apart of a group who clicked and bonded so quickly. I loved it. The people I met are absolutely fantastic and now I can say I have friends from all over the world. Literally. Travelling alone opens you up to this exact moment. Most people would question why I would prefer to travel alone, and some may even critique me, but all I have to say is… well nothing. It’s the way I choose to travel, and it is the best way, from experience. My philosophy in travelling is summed up by Mark Twain:

“There ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”

preach it brotherr.

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – Maya Angelou

*** thank you to my friends on this tour for providing the scenic pictures. R.I.P. memory card, I miss you so so much.