the rock tour...

if you look closely you can see people climbing, and the japanese lady.

on the way back to alice springs i was baffled and splattered by what most be the most difficult ketchup (or tomato sauce as it's said here) packet ever to be created. the picture shows the two small receptacles with a small crack on the opposite side that is to be opened by bending the the ends squishing the small compartments. as you can see by the photo, you really should aim the crack toward, whatever form of sustenance you plan on complementing with the condiment, in this case the infamous aussie meat pie. the ketchup came out with such force that it saturated my hat, shirt, pants and small asian eyes.

the rock tour was something that carrie and i had both heard a tremendous amount about living in the northern territory. uluru or ayers rock is a huge rock amist the blank desert, it's a good 4 to 5 kilometers around the base, and about 2 to 3 kilometers tall. the rock is spectacular especially at sunrise and sunset as it changes color from a gray to a rust red. the rock used to be an ancient religious aboriginal place as holes and areas in the rock were used for certain practices. there is also a climb that is done to the top (with handrails only on the bottom half), that was also used to signify that a young boy became a man. we were told on tour that a boy about ten years of age would be dropped off miles away from the village and would be expected to survive on his own for two years, with only a few visits from some of the village elders as guidance. if this journey were successful they would then climb uluru. because the rock was used for such a significant purpose the aboriginal people ask tourists not to climb the rock, but tourism and capitalism being what it is, it is still optional to climb (and many still do it). although i chose not to climb the rock, many were, but were impeded by a japanese lady who was backing down the rock slower than a barry white love song, and half way down decided that it was too hard and stopped and sat. funny as the scene was, every year people decide to climb the rock and fall harder and faster than an overweight mary poppins.

kings canyon was a huge canyon that we spent a good 4 to 5 hours hiking around it had great views and scenary from very desert areas to very lush areas like the garden of eden. kings canyon also lacks the gravitational pull that the earth provides, which allows you to jump several kilometers and of course, makes you a serious candidate for toyota's television campaign, as you can see by carrie's picture. kata tjuta was a series of very large round red rocks that we also spent a day hiking around. they seemed extremely imposing and impressive amongst the flat landscape.

at night we cooked using a campfire or large camp stove. our meals were pretty simple but decent. on our last night we ate kangaroo tail, which you can see by the pic is absolutely delicious. the lusciousness of the tendons which i got a mouthful of, can only be compared to the brother and sister trading turkish delight that the ice queen of narnia possessed. we also slept in swags (a heavy bag for your sleeping bag) and sleeping bags, i also learned it's not smart to go to sleep in shorts and a t-shirt, because the box wine you drank the night before doesn't keep you warm when it's less than 20 degrees around 3 or 4 in the morning.