Our journey into the outback began when we got picked up in this massive off-road looking bus. We set off into the outback riding on normal asphalt roads as well as driving on rocky dirt roads. It was pretty hard to take a nap because we were being bounced around inside the truck. The very first place we stopped, we were at a watering hole so we could go for a swim, and that is where we saw our first Wild Rock Wallaby.
I think we were all shocked to actually see water in such amounts in the outback! We went to and swam in two watering holes and the water was absolutley freezing! Our first night in the outback, we were introduced to a few new things. First we got to sleep in swags which are canvas like sacks with a thin foam matress inside of them. All of our nights were spent sleeping under a planetarium of stars and somewhat visible foreign galaxies.
Our first meal in the outback was one that we very much enjoyed. Thats right we had Kangaroo! Our awesome guide Katie made Kangaroo Bolognese (meat sauce) and it was incredible!! We were all surprised as to how good it tasted!
Most of our days involved us waking up at 5 in the morning and packing up camp to go on a hike in order to beat the heat. I think the high during the day was about 42 degrees celcius which converts to about 112 degrees farenheight!! The most beautiful hikes we did were the Kings Canyon Hike and the base walk around Uluru (Ayers Rock).
Kings canyon was mostly large sandstone rocks that have become joined together and have become larger over time. The views down in the canyon were unreal. You could literally (as Nick likes to say) see the sheer rock faces and they looked perfectly flat and smooth! Uluru was incredible! I have never seen a single rock so big before in my life!! While walking around, Katie showed us these caves that had cave paintings in them from about 1000 years ago. The cave paintings tell stories about an event, an animal, or a hunt. The aboriginal people have stories as to how different land masses were formed. So they have many creation stories that are passed down to the children so they can learn about the land.
If you could summarize the outback in one sentence it would look something like this: “The outback was beyond hot, but it was worth every sweaty footstep”
-Trace M.