Blog 2

Well after week 1 held a police report, an insurance claim and driving 450km’s without a spare caravan tyre we are hoping week 2 will run a little smoother. At this stage we have literally done almost 1/5 of our total driving over the whole 4 months so we are looking forward to slowing down now and settling into holiday life.

We were up early day 6 to start the long drive to Uluru from Coober Pedy. Never get sick of sunrises and sunsets out here. Day 7 was a chilly morning (‘feels like 0.7 degrees, temp 2.3 degrees’) Chris got up and went for a run. As far as I’m concerned that’s as good as an excuse as any not to exercise! So far we have been surprised that we havn’t run into many families travelling, a heap of grey nomads (and just quietly we may fit into that category too). We rode bikes around Uluru and it was a flat ride of 10.6km. It was a great way to see the beauty of the rock. 

Then we headed out to the Olgas and walked through Walpa Gorge. Then back to the sunset view carpark at Uluru to get prime position for sunset with a bottle of wine, cheese and bickies. First time my fitbit has seen 15000+ steps and 100+ minutes of exercise in awhile! If you thinking ‘is it worth seeing a big red rock in the middle of nowhere?’ The answer is yes. I don’t think you can really appreciate it until you are there to experience it, getting up close and personal riding around it and seeing it glow and turn amazing colours at sunset.

Night 8 we stayed in a pretty epic freecamp in between Uluru and Kings Canyon. You have to check out the drone footage in the slideshow below. As I said in the first blog, Im still learning the ins and outs of the drone and I almost ( ok technically you might call it a crash) crashed the drone into a bush. It does live to see another day though. We left the van and drove to Kings Canyon to do the 6km rim walk. It wasn’t the easiest of walks (1000 steps up a cliff face to begin) and the kids were absolute troopers with no complaints the whole 6km. My butt on the other hand! It was all worth it, awesome view from the top.

We got back to the freecamp and appreciated how freeking epic it really was. We walked up to the top of the cliff for sunset (because we needed to do a bit more walking). But it was easier to deal with with a rose’ in hand. In the slideshow you do see Harry with an axe (yep I just closed my eyes) getting the fire prepared.

Night 9 & 10 we were lucky enough to score a site at Ormiston Gorge Campground as we got there later than we thought. The option here were a 5 minute gorge walk, a half hour walk to the lookout or a 3-4 hour 7km walk. The kids didn’t think twice about it, onwards and upwards for the 7km! Successful gorgeous walk BUT Harry learnt the hard way the shorts NOT to wear on long walks for chafing issues!

Day 11: 7 degree visit to the Ochre Pits. The aboriginals used this rock for medicine as well as decoration to paint themselves with when its mixed with animal fat. We headed back through Alice and had success with the purchase of bikes and tracks for the top of the Rhinorack either side of the paddle board. Take 2 with the kids bikes!!!

Night 12 we stayed in a little freecamp off the road near Barrow Creek. It even had concrete slabs because its an old WWII landing area (yes this is a luxury atm, not that I’m not loving everything covered in red dust).

Well I hope this has kept you all entertained week 2 into 17 weeks. As I have been reminded by many of you, the pressure is on to keep it up so hold me to that! Slideshow and images below… CHECK THEM OUT! Next blog, Daly waters, Mataranka, Litchfield, Darwin and Katherine Gorge.