Trek to the Center.

Yes, 4:20 am comes early in Australia too. Being busy with school and me being a fabulous procrastinator left only a 4:20 am bus as my mode of transportation to Alice Springs to meet up with Marcey. Another catch... I have a day to kill in Melbourne and a day to kill in Adalaide and 3 nights of "sleeping" on the dreaded bus. I told you about my new Jewish friend. And my day morning in adelaide, the city of churches, was spent trying to find a church to attend! With no such luck, I wandered and did the sight seeing thing. Free chocolate samples at the chocolate factory, walked through the botanic gardens, and cruised up and down the river on Popeye II. Back to the bus station nice and early. Waiting and watching for my bus through the giant glass windows. I see a greyhound finally pull up, but it's going to Darwin, not Alice... so I sit and wait more. I watch all the people get on and then the bus drives away... now it's past 6 and I go to the Premier Bus counter to ask them if they know where my Alice bus is. then told me it just left! apparently Alice springs is on the way to Darwin! AH! The same type of panic hit as when I was lost in California b/c I got on the wrong bus. I tell you, me and busses do not get along. But through my tears, the Premier guys decided to help me and they gave me a supper reduced rate on their bus to get me to Fort Augusta to catch up with my bus before it left it's supper break there at 11pm. Whew, so I boarded the bus and finally calmed down. Only to me. Only to me. Once on my proper bus at Fort Augusta, my seet was occupied by a sleeping woman... so the only other place to sit (that wasn't being slept on) was beside this abo guy. well, the entire bus was full of abos. it was actually very intimidating. But, my new abo friend Theo, let me sit with him. He's an opal minner in Coober Peedy. Neat. We hit 2 kangaroos on the highway. serves them right for punching my eye!

I arrived in Alice later than Marcey and she even let me have a shower before we rushed to the flying doctors. The best part of the Flying Doctors was the coffee and cheesecake was ate in the cafe at the end. lol. Oh yes, and one tip, when posing with the dummies in the stretcher for a picture... do not attempt to hold their hand with a concerned look on your face... their arm will fall off.

So we're up early an on our way with a tour bus heading to Kings Canyon. as the sun started to rise we stopped for camel rides. It's a pretty bumpy ride. but I was wedged between two humps... so I didn't fall off. We walked around Kings Canyon and wathced the sun set over a dried up salk lake. We ate camel for supper (how ironic) and slept under the stars in swags. another early morning to watch the sun rise over the red sand dunes. Wlked around the base or Uluru (Ayers Rock) and then walked through the Olgas. yes, my knee was not happy. we watched the sun set opposite of Uluru so we could see the "colour changes" on the rock. It was pretty neat. and it's at this time that ayers Rock looks briliantly red. We ate kangaroo for supper. Slept in swags under the stars and I fell asleep after seeing 7 shooting stars.

Last day of our tour we watched the sun rise beside Ayers Rock. Our "coach captin" (not bus driver) took us on a mini tour around Uluru and told us some of the spiritual stories along the way. pretty nifty. We stopped at Jim's Place on the way back to Alice and Marcey played the piano there. And a dingo jumped onto the keys as she was playing and started howling! lol. I took pictures when I wasn't laughing... so we don't ahve a lot of pictures because it was too funny! And then the tour was over and we were happy to shower. I met Mulga, the tour owner guy and he let me try on his fuzzy pink hat. I actually saw him again today in Adalaide! Small world.

Now it's back to albury (via night bus that I will not miss) and them camping again on Monday! After that it's back to Sydney for my final weekend in the Souther Hemisphere. Then I will see you all Tuesday at the airport!!

love me!