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So, not the best night's sleep, camping in the Outback! Went to sleep very quickly, but then woke up at 2am and spent about 20 minutes debating whether I really did need a wee, or whether I could hang on until we got up at 4.30...... In the end, I decided I couldn't wait, so fumbled about in the dark finding the torch, then fumbled about getting dressed and making sure there were no scorpions or snakes in my boots before I put them on, and set off on an expedition to the toilet blocks. I was doing my best to be quiet, but there were two long zips on the tent and several metres of Velcro to undo on the insect screen before I could get out, by which time I thought half the campsite would be awake. As it happened, half the campsite seemed to be awake anyway and either heading the same way as me, or already on their way back. Apart from one of the French ladies, who had obviously decided to risk stepping on a scorpion, and was returning from a foray into the undergrowth behind the tents, and a teenage girl from a German school trip, who appeared to be spending the night in the wash block, and was sitting cross-legged on the work top next to the basins, texting on her mobile phone.
By the time I'd got back to the tent and unzipped and re-zipped everything again and got back into bed, I was wide awake. I lay there for ages, and just as I'd dozed off again, there was a loud and surprisingly tuneful male voice singing "Good morning, starshine...." outside the tents, with a flashing torchlight, and that was Bernie's 4.30 wake up call! After a hasty breakfast, (where I overheard a couple of French people complaining that the English never say 'bon apetit'!) we cleared up and set off at 5.15 for Katja Tjuta, otherwise known as The Olgas, to try and get there for the sunrise. Well, I have to say it was definitely worth the effort. Unlike the Uluru sunset experience, we were the only people there this time (apparently there is an official sunrise viewing spot elsewhere, which would have been crowded!) We walked for about 40 minutes up a hill and down into a valley between some of the enormous dome shaped rock formations which are the Olgas (32 of them altogether, spread over a large area). As the sun rose, it gradually lit up each of them in turn, from left to right, until they were all glowing orange in our little valley - beautiful.
We spent the next couple of hours trekking up, down and through the rocks, with a fair amount of scrambling, and lots of wonderful and unexpected views as we came through narrow gaps and round corners. We saw quite a few Kangaroos, and at one point, two of them came bounding out of the undergrowth and accross the path in front of us! Tony was very quick and managed to take a photo - a nice 'action shot'. We headed back to the camp for lunch, and then cleared our tents as we were moving to a different place, King's Creek Station - (camels and horses, not trains) - to camp that night.
We had quite a long drive, with a couple of scheduled stops, and one unscheduled one, when Bernie screeched to a halt as he'd spotted a couple of 'Thorny devil' lizards crossing the road. (See the photo at the start of the Alice Springs blog entry). He managed to catch one of them and brought it into the bus for us all to see. We'd seen them at the reptile centre, but it was lovely to see a wild one close up like that. He put it back where he'd got it from, and it started eating up ants straight away, as though it hadn't even noticed it'd been away. A bit later on some wild dingos also ran accross the road but had disappeared into the bushes before anyone could take a photo.
Kings Creek Station is a campground, with a swimming pool (yay!) but also a centre where they round up wild camels each year and train them, breed them and sell them on. They do the same with the wild horses, using helicopters to bring them in as the area is so vast. On our journeys we had seen cattle stations of 1.2 million acres, so it gives you an idea of the scale! We got to the camp in the afternoon, so there was a chance to go on a camel trek, quad biking or even a helicopter flight. I decided to go on a camel, as Alia, the Dutch girl also wanted to go, and as it was only for an hour there would be time for a swim later as well. Sorted. We had to wear helmets, (insurance requirements) and I was tempted to ask if anyone ever fell off, but didn't want to jinx it, so I kept quiet. I didn't realise you could jinx something just by thinking about it! We hadn't been gone more than 10 minutes when there was a bit of an 'incident'. Alia took her daysack with her, so she could keep her valuables with her, but my camel, which was behind hers, kept trying to undo the zips and nibbling the straps, so she took it off and had it on the saddle in front of her. Suddenly the daysack slid off, and landed under her camel's feet with a thud. Her camel reared up in the air, leaping around wildly with its legs flailing in all directions, and there was another loud thud as Alia hit the ground as well. Meanwhile my camel, which was tied to Alia's, was also rearing up and trying to jump into the nearest bush. I managed to stay on (large thighs do have their uses!) and after a few seconds it was all over, and both camels looked a bit embarrassed by their over-reaction! The poor girl who had been leading the camels had been kicked in the head, (but she said "it's fine, their feet are soft"!) and was spitting blood and sand out of her mouth where she'd bitten her tongue. Alia was fine, just a bit shaken, and covered in red sand, but was rather worried about the state of her camera and laptop. We trailed back to the office, but decided to head off again - taking an emergency radio with us this time, just in case, and leaving Alia's bag locked in the office! Second time out was a lot less eventful, and we got back just as the sun was starting to set. Phew!
We had a BBQ that night, and Tony enjoyed kangaroo meat (said it tasted just like beef) and camel sausages (said they just tasted like sausages)! We would have a lie in the next morning, as we didn't have to get up till 5am!!...
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