Dead Red Heart of Australia - Uluru and Alice Springs

To get a sense of scale to the Dead Red Heart of Austalia - you must see it from the air.

The colours of this forbidding land from 20,000 ft are mind-blowing. As you cross the Outback it changes into various hues of red - sometimes it was russet red, sometimes it was light pink, other times it was deep mahogany. From up high it is slashed and streaked with yellow, white, black and brown. For the most part there is no sign of human life down there - just unrelenting land. It looks like the surface of Mars. Occasionally, you could see a road or a dried up riverbed snaking its way across the furnace landscape. But mostly it is a vast great emptiness.

It is that sense of emptiness and solitude that draws many to the Northern Territory and the famous area around Alice Springs. There is something of a frontier spirit, life is governed by the extremes of the climate and vast distances. There is a sense with its aboriginal culture, that you travel back thousands of years to the stone age. Large chunks of the territory are given over to the aboriginal people. Their culture predominates as they walk the streets of Alice Springs, hang out at the road stations like Erldunda or Luritja, or see visitors around the great icon of Australia - Ayers Rock/Uluru.

And it is this great monolith which is the star attraction. It stands like an island in the middle of the harsh outback. It lives up to its reputation and everyone who visits comes away awed its textures and changing colours and the sheer elemental presence of one of the worlds great wonders. But to get there is to experience the Outback - the heat, the flies, the yellow spinifex grass against the red soil, the vast blue skies and herds of wild camels.

All kept under the wary eyes of aboriginal tribesmen, watching their territory as they have done for thousands of years.

Quick Tips:

Getting out and exploring the Outback is a challenge. The sheer inhospitality of the terrain, while being part of the experience, must also be treated with respect. Uluru/Ayers Rock is over 400 miles from Alice Springs. Most people use Alice Springs as a base and/or take a tour to "the Rock" or base themselves in its shadow at the expensive resort of Yulara. To drive to Uluru from Alice in a day can be done but means eight hours of driving leaving minimal times at the monolith. Numerous tours are available most taking 2 to 5 days and covering the whole area. I thoroughly recommend this as it gives you a chance to really experience the Outback often sleeping under the stars around a campfire in a "swag bag"

I took a tour with WayOutBack who are based in Alice Springs. Their speciality is using Four-wheel drive vehicles which can travel in terrain not open to ordinary vehicles. For those who like adventure this is definitely the way to go. Distances are enormous and the heat is tremendous - reaching 36ºC in the early spring of September. It is stressed to all travellers in the Outback to drink at least 2 litres of water an hour and to constantly keep our bottles replenished. Also, one of the things they don't warn you about is the flies. They can sense moisture and go for the mouth and eyes and can make life uncomfortable. But there is no experience like it—hours and hours of terrain passing by made scarlet by oxidation and broken by the yellow clumps of spinifex grass. Goannas(lizards) dash across the road and the air shimmers with the heat by 10am.

Best Way To Get Around:

Alice Springs/Uluru is a long way from anywhere. Its the geographical centre of the harshest, hottest, remotest continent on earth. Darwin and "The Top End" are 1500 miles to the north, Adelaide and the vineyards of South Australia are another 1500 miles to the south and the metropolises of Sydney and Perth are over 3 hours respectively by plane.

Alice Springs is the hub for thousands of miles around. Its surrounded by the McDonnell ranges and its airport is south of "the Gap" about 14km from the centre. The airport is very small but very modern and copes with excessive tourist movement all day. As you leave arrivals people with signs with the names of hostels/hotels etc will be waiting for those just arriving. Just follow these people to your accommodation of choice and they will take you there via free minibus. If you have no accommodation then there is a booking service at the baggage collection carousel.

Buses are the other main way out of Alice. They head north to Darwin but the distances and travel times are immense. Darwin is 19 hours, Katherine 15 hours and to reach Queensland you must change at Tennant Creek and after that the drive takes two days in very tough terrain. The big arrival since 2004 has been the extension of "the Ghan" freight/passenger train up to Darwin. It arrives in Alice on Tuesdays and Fridays and takes 20 hours to get to Adelaide and in the other direction a further twenty to the "Top End" of the Northern Territory.

Due to its remoteness accommodation in Alice Springs is a little expensive. You are caught between the four star motels that cater for the tour parties or the backpacker resorts which are affordable but allowances in comfort have to be made. One of the most memorable is Toddy's Backpackers . Its accommodation is basic but its main use is a place to stow your luggage while taking one of the 3- to 5-day trips to Uluru and the Outback. And if you have spent any time sleeping under the stars in a "swag bag" the accommodation at Toddy's can seem like luxury.

Toddy's is situated in the southern part of Alice Springs along Gap Road. It is a ten minute walk from the Bus Terminal or Todd Mall and is on the road to the airport. It has Elkes Backpackers on one side and the Aboriginal Hospital on the other. It consists of a motel complex with swimming pool and Barbecue area surrounded by a number of chalets. These are divided into eight bed dorms, four bed dorms and "deluxe" double/singles with bath, fridge and TV. The dorms go from $14 a night and the doubles/single charge about $35 to 40 a night. The single rooms do not include a bathroom so you will have to use the shower block a few yards away.

But the primary aim of Toddy's is setting people up with tours of the natural wonders around Alice. The reception area is scattered with brochures of the delights of the Northern Territory (including tours of Darwin and Kakadu) and you can easily book up 3- to 5-day tours of Kings Canyon/Olgas/Uluru as Toddy's gives concessions with reputable tour companies such as "Sahara", "WayOutBack" or "Groovy Grape". Toddy's recommends that you take minimum luggage on these tours and provides secure space and books accommodation for when you return. People who have been on these tours bond around the nightly $10 barbecue and swap tales with those who are still to take part.

But the most memorable aspect of Toddys for me has to be the aboriginals. Next door is an aboriginal hospital where they come in from the reservations to be treated. Also, I think the resort gives them carte blanche to use their laundry creating a never-ending stream of aboriginal women passing through. You get to see them up close and they are memorable—black features with heavy brows and lips, cheap clothes and sometimes bright red hair. These are the true denizens of "the Alice" those who have been here for thousands of years and the town is infinitely richer for their presence.

They certainly added to my experience in Alice Springs. They gave Toddy's an exotic edge....

"Hey mate! Where's Meyers Hill?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Sorry can't help you... I'm a tourist here myself.."

He ambled off, "no worries..."

The above aboriginal stopped me in the street and asked for directions, but that is Alice Springs for you—the biggest city within thousands of miles. Its the focus, not just for tourists coming to see "the rock," but it also is a lifeline for ranchers/shearers, etc. A name synonymous with the harsh climate of "the Never Never," It is an oasis in the desert and has reached legendary status for its remoteness—a sort of Timbuktu of Australia.

Personally, I liked it. It vies with Sydney as my favourite destination Down Under. A lot of it has to do with atmosphere, as it is heavily influenced by aboriginal culture. The Northern Territory is 20% aboriginal anyway, and they almost have their own country up in Arnhelmland (the Northern Territory coast). But in Alice Springs, they wander the streets chattering in their own language,which is unlike anything I have ever heard before. But its the feel of the place which I enjoyed, the feel of hot air constantly on your face, the dusty Ute's driving up and down Larapinta drive, the didgeridoo music coming from the shops, and a sky so blue and vast it seems to dominate every waking moment.

Its a marvel that "Alice" is here at all. Of course for thousands of years it was the only waterhole in the vicinity called Tjanrejili by Aranda tribesmen. In the 1870s, the overland telephone cable from Melbourne to London was pushed through here, and it dawned on them that the place would have to be permanently occupied. The Old Telegraph Station is still there on the northern outskirts of town. Charles Todd set up shop here and got a river named after him and a billabong upriver gave the town its name. The "Alice" came from his wife. And slowly it has been linked with the rest of the world—railway (1929), wartime evacuation (1942), and tourist boom in the 1950s. It is this tourist boom which is the lifeblood of Alice as buses, Utes, and 4-wheel drives fan out from this small town to explore the strange centre of Australia and its geographic wonders.

The layout of Alice is easily mastered. It lies in the middle of the desert but is surrounded by mountains called the McDonnell range. The airport cannot fit in this bowl and is outside to the south. To get from the airport you have to pass through "Heavitree Gap" which is a sun-blasted pass surrounded by gumtrees. The town has one main road - Telegraph Terrace - but most of the action is one block to the east on Gap Road where most hotels/hostels/motels are situated. This leads to Todd Mall an open-air mall where most tourists gravitate too with enough souvenir shops, restaurants, banks and a couple of good bars/pubs. To the east is the Todd River, famous of course because it never has any water just yellow sand. Memorable for the Henley-on-Todd regatta in September where bottomless boats are run along the dry riverbed. Unfortunately I missed this event by a matter of days.

To pay for your tour you may have to use one of the banks in the Todd Mall to change up money. Its a short walk down the Gap Road. Gap Road is interesting for the sheer different amount of different tourists that stay here. The $400 a night motels are here next to backpacker hostels which do $5 a night barbecues. There are lots of nice cafes, souvenir shops and bookshops some with beautiful coffee-table books of the surrounding area. There's plenty of local history in "Alice" and you can loose yourself in the tales of explorers and pioneers in these tiny little shops. Also on Gap Road is "The Ghan" ticket agency where you can book seats to Adelaide/Darwin on a train that comes in twice a week. There are a couple of bars/pubs down the Gap Road. Bojangles is good for live bands, but we were told to avoid Melankas the backpacker bar as it had a reputation for trouble.

Todd Mall is at the end of Gap Road and is a small street paved over with terracotta tiles. Sail-shaped awnings have been set up to protect shoppers from the fierce sun but protection from the flies is harder. Some tourists were wearing "beekeepers" hats of muslin netting to keep off the buzzing pests. Its the moisture they want in this dry climate—that's why they go for the mouth and eyes. A shopping centre lies at the end of the mall and on a piece of green grass the aborigines of Alice Springs sit. There was no tension, they just sat there and watched the world go by..

I rather liked Alice Springs - it was different and interesting. The Todd Mall is a good place to pull up a seat, order a "coldie" and listen to that didgeridoo music played not so far away...

One of the most memorable things about my trip to Australia was being woken up by dingoes.

They howled with the dawn light! After a freezing cold night in the outback the howling sounded terrible. It was the way a wolf howls. You can imagine them out there in the bush, stretching with the new day and announcing their presence to the world. Our guide says they are harmless and just hang around the campsite. But it is a most unnerving sound when you are struggling to wake up after a hard night under the stars.

I wouldn't have missed my tour out of Alice Springs to Uluru, Kings Canyon, and The Olgas for the world. I truly got a sense of the vast scale and harshness of the Northern Territory. The Red Centre of the continent is what can only be described as historically rich and scenically spectacular, and harbours the kind of landscapes that you came to especially to Australia to see. It also is one of the harshest, most forbidding places on the planet. Summer temperatures regularly reach 45 degrees C and don't drop down to 30 degrees C at night. This is a place where water is scarce, the plant and animal life hardy, and the people as tough and unbending as the landscape around them. There is a sense of real wilderness out here, real hardship. Water is precious and as valuable as the opals that come from the red ground. Where mistakes in this wilderness can lead to death and the sight of another human being is as rare and as welcome as you can get.

Desert practicalities

Alice Springs is in the centre of the driest continent on earth.

Before setting off, we got a lecture on how to look after oneself in the desert. The first thing is water. It was drummed into us that we must drink 2 litres of water an hour. Dehydration is a real problem, especially in the 35 degree C baking heat. There was an incident the week before with a Japanese tourist not taking any water up with her when climbing Ayers Rock. She had to be brought down by helicopter. We were also told to wear strong sunblock and a hat. The sun is a real menace, and it goes some way to keeping the flies off. Also strong boots - there are snakes out there amongst the spinifex

Travel between Alice Springs and Ayers Rock

Let's get one thing straight: Ayers Rock/Uluru is over 400 miles from Alice Springs.

It's a long way. The prospect of flying in, seeing "the rock", and flying out again within a short space of time is an unrealistic one. It can be done. Emu Tours famously do a tour that gets you to "the Rock" and back to Alice in a day. This, of course, means 8 hours on the road and only an hour and a half at the monolith. Alternatively, you can fly direct from any major Australian city into Ayers Rock airport (which also has direct flights from Tokyo and Osaka). You can combine this with a stay at the Yulara resort (see below) for luxury in sight of "the rock" itself. But this is generally for tourists who are quite happy to pay for high prices.

The majority of tourists either use Alice as a base or join one of the 2- to 5-day tours, which stretch out into the outback taking in Kata Tijuca and Kings Canyon. It is possible to do this with a degree of luxury, but you must remember you are in the heart of the hardest, driest continent on earth. Relief in air-conditioning and protection from the flies isn't always an option. And what better way of getting close to the Australian outback than taking a camping trip. They are usually taken by knowledgeable guides who know all the history, botany, and legends of the aboriginal lands surrounding sacred Uluru, and the experience of sleeping in the desert under the stars is one which will stay with you for a long time.

Camping in the Outback

I picked WayOutBack tours (www.wayoutback.com.au). This had the reputation for small parties of tourists and the advantage of using 4-wheel-drive vehicles to get to places where other tourists can't. My tour was for 2 nights/3 days and cost A$388 (£200). We travelled hundreds of kilometres each day and slept at campsites. There were no frills and we were expected to pitch in, from doing the washing up to rustling spare wood from the roadside for the campfire each night. Our guide, Carolyn, was excellent, a fountain of knowledge about the local area. She would brook no nonsense - each one of us had a duty to perform, whether it was get the fire started, unpack the "swag bags," or put the "billycan" on the fire. Our "swag bags" were arranged around the fire, and we fitted sleeping bags inside these. Most useful, as the temperature plummeted to 0 degrees C at night.

The Yulara Resort

Of course, it doesn't have to be done as penny-pinching as a budget camping tour. Tour companies offer luxury accommodation at TheYulara resort, which stands in the shadow of the famous Ayers Rock. Uluru will hove into view as you drive along the Lassetter Highway, and this resort has won awards for its consideration for the environment. Not one of the ochre-coloured buildings is above gum tree height, and most of the hotels are disguised and spread over 30 acres. The cheapest beds are in the hostel for $50, and it rises to $1350 a night for Longitude 131,whose super-luxury tents are hidden amongst the dunes.

Buses do run from Alice Springs direct to the resort. And all accommodation should really be booked in advance via Ayers Rock Resort, which is based in Sydney (reservations@voyages.com.au). The central part of the resort is Shopping Square, a sort of terracotta area with sail awnings to keep off the sun. It's a good place for practicalities, such as digital camera batteries, camping utilities and a supermarket. The restaurants, however, are uniformly expensive. Although I can recommend Geckos, which had wood-fired pizzas for about $15.

Kings Creek Station Campground

I feel I have to mention this because to me this exemplified the Dead Red Heart of Australia. Kings Creek Station was our last camping stop before heading back to "Alice." It was a working station about 30 miles from Kings Canyon (Watarrka NP) and the nearest cheap accommodation. I have to say that, with the exception of the Pantanal in Brazil, this is the remotest place I have ever stayed in. First of all, it is a working camel station. There are so many wild camels in the area that they round them up using helicopters and shunt them off to the city to be sold overseas. Though some I suspect don't get that far, camel burgers are available at the restaurant.

You can experience the work firsthand with helicopter flights over the outback and quad-biking (www.kingscreekstation.com.au).You can hire their cabins for about $55 a night, which includes breakfast. We were using their campsite to "swag" down for the night, which was situated in a sandy clearing with views of the George Gill range. There was a table, barbecue, washbasin, and campfire. A little way off was an open-air shower that needed to be kept going with a wood burner. It was open to the elements - all I can say is, I hope there weren't any camels watching...

Adjectives to describe Ayers Rock?

Majestic? Monstrous? Magnificent? Awesome? Spiritual? Magical? Exhausting?

All of those, plus - flyblown, hot, desolate and forbidding.

To stand beneath Uluru/Ayers Rock is simply humbling. The whole experience is overwhelming. The sheer scale of the monolith dwarfs everything and it stands like an island above the desert around it. This scarlet monster lies at the heart of Australia. A place like nowhere else on earth, and the whole area gives off vibes that feel aeons old. To come here is to travel back to pre-history where giant megalithic rocks dominated the landscape, paintings two thousand years old are daubed on cave walls, the only grass is the dry brittle spinifex and animal life consists of hawks, dingoes and goannas.

Uluru is 400 miles from Alice Springs so seeing it becomes an expedition in itself. The practicalities of reaching the national park are covered in an earlier journal. A minimum of six hours driving time is necessary and a trip out to see the epic monolith is to experience the outback in all its hot scorching ferocity.The Outback and Uluru demand respect. For it is also the home of the aboriginal gods, a place as magical and spiritual to them as any cathedral is to us. In 1985 the national park was returned to the aborigines who are responsible for its upkeep. Before then the Anangu tribe decided the park wasn't being well looked after, their sacred places were not used in a way that their ancestors taught them. Nowadays they ask visitors to respect the rock (to climb or not to climb?) and visitors are watched over by Anangu rangers who I noticed went barefoot as they moved around the national park.

Admittence is $16 per person and before parking and taking a look at the monolith it might be an idea visit the Aboriginal Cultural Centre built in its shadow. This is a kind of ochre "wattle and daub" building showing the "dreamtime" gods and how they mattered to the lives of the tribes who roamed this area for thousands of years. I found the exhibt on the wildlife very interesting with over 74 kinds of reptiles including the "thorney devil" and frill-necked lizards thriving in the vicinity. And since the tourists arrived in the fifties there is a sizeable population of dingoes as well.

Getting up close to "the rock" is everyones main objective. One side is a mile across, its streaked red sides soar into the air contrasting with the icy blue sky. Its the redness which draws you in - as you get closer you realise that it isn't so much continually russet red but hundreds of little orange pustules/platelets covering the surface of the rock. Also you are aware of the desert around it - spinifex, gum trees and red earth march right up to its angular sides. And the silence? The rock seems to absorb sound. Everything around Ayers Rock is as quiet as the grave.

Our group was allowed to circumnavigate "the rock" on foot with an Anangu guide. We started on the eastern side of the rock at a number of caves. The Anangu tribe throughout history used certain caves for different stages of life. We were shown birthing caves and caves for the elders. Certain caves were warrior initiation caves. Uluru was part of life for the aboriginals from the cradle to the grave - or as I called it "a one-stop shop". Cave paintings that were 800 years old were shown to us and the forms of men and kangaroos could be made out. I was stunned by how much the sexes were segregated, but that was the way of life. The aboriginals who lived like this for thousands of years realised the rigid role of each sex was essential for survival.

. As we moved around the northern side the guide pointed out specific contours and indentations. Until the eighties the northern side housed a campsite where you could stay literally within touching distance of the rock. This all changed when the Anangu took the rock back and was also where Lindy Chamberlain claimed a dingo took her baby back in the early eighties. This was made into a film starring Meryl Streep called "A Cry in the Dark". The entire walk around Uluru is about 8 kilometres and for the most part we were on our own. This enabled us to get up close to the 350ft towering walls and take our time in the 35 degree heat. We also got to see the culverts where water pours off the rock during storms and hidden billabongs amongst the gum trees.

Thanks to our guide "the rock" then became a living thing, with a history as strong as any building. I came as close as I could to discovering the ancient heart of Australia....

I think I enjoyed the Olgas even more then Ayers Rock.

I felt I got closer to the desert here. I felt part of the Outback as we scrambled up slopes of scarlet scree, wandered through scrub and gum trees and gazed up at the biggest monolithic rocks I have ever seen. There is something primeval about The Olgas. They are standing like sentinels in the desert over 400 miles from the nearest city. The Olgas are just so powerful. Colossal orange mesas and domes looming out of the flat Outback. The Olgas was once a mesa ten times bigger then Ayers Rock, but over the millennia it has been broken down into 36 towering domes.

The Olgas is even further out into the desert then Ayers Rock. In fact it is another 50 miles to the west from Uluru. The combined ticket for $25 lets you into both sights as they are within the same national park. The best advice I can give you is to hit Kata Tijuca early. For those taking the trail walks there is a real chance of dehydration. In fact they shut the park to visitors when the park hits 35ºC  - and in summer it can reach 45ºC easily. There are two walks within the park. The first is Olga Gorge Walk, which is a simple one kilometre walk taking you in between two of the monoliths. More impressive is Valley of the Winds - a 7km loop trail that takes about two hours. No prizes for guessing which one we were encouraged to try?

Its when you step out of the four wheel drive then you get a scale of these monsters. Up close they are very impressive - intense red domes stretching hundreds of metres into the air and broken up by smooth high valleys. The same orange/red that makes Uluru so distinctive permeates here and there is never a cloud in the sky. The contrast between deep orange and bright sapphire makes the Olgas one of the most visually stunning things I have ever seen. And you are dwarfed by their size. Like Uluru, when you get up close you see they are made of little orange platelets covering the soaring walls. You get the impression the Olgas are more permanent, more in tune with nature. This was brought home to us by our Aussie guide, Carolyn, who took us along the trail describing the flora used by the aborigines. The aborigines used the plants for medicine and one prickly thorn was exceptionally good at getting rid of warts. Carolyn swore it worked as the properties of the thorn work on the wart for two weeks. None of us felt confident to try this.

The trail circumnavigates the first dome. You slowly move up a rocky trail - your body is diagonal to the ground as you tentatively put one foot in front of another. You have to angle your shoes to the slope and tread gingerly - the alternative is a nasty slide 40 feet to the bottom. At the end of the trail is the an oasis surrounded by three enormous domes which soared 550 feet above us. Each one was as bare as the moon and a striking orange that almost overpowers you. We were then to take the "Valley of the Winds" trail and found ourselves on a very lonely stretch where we were the only human beings. Carolyn led us up; past streams gurgling down the face of cliffs and the trail became backbreaking. My calves ached and I would stop once in a while to catch my breathe and take a swig of water. But the summit was worth the climb.

We had reached the Karangina lookout - a natural rock balustrade/dam between two enormous domes. On the other side another trail dropped steeply into a gorge overlooking a valley housing the rest of the domes. Mountainous domes, one after another rolled off into the distance. Sticking together the group (sans Carolyn) took the vertiginous trail down into "The Valley of the Winds". In parts it was quite difficult with much slipping and sliding. At the bottom of the gorge it opened out into the valley. The floor of the valley was peppered by gum trees and the 50-feet high Olgas stretched in a massive ring about the floor of the valley. I have never felt such a sense of space and emptiness as I did then. I was awestruck by the barren beauty of it all.

It took another 2 hours to return to our 4-wheel drive but I loved every minute I spent there. If you make the effort to reach them- the Olgas will make you smile at the memories for years to come

I am rather proud at completing the Kings Canyon hike.

I can now add this to my list of accomplishments. The view from the rim into the inky depths and across to the red rock landscape was heart-stopping. From its edge you could not just see the walls of the canyon but all around me was a fantasy land of strange russet red rock shapes and textures. The great horseshoe canyon has rusted over the millennia to reveal fantastically rich reds and orange. And from the rim you can see where the great canyon opened up out onto the plains, which from this height seem to stretch into infinity..

Kings Canyon is unmissable. Its a long way from "Alice," over 320 miles directly southwest. And makes up the northwest corner of the Alice/Erldunda/Uluru rectangle. If you come from Alice then its about eight hours driving over some very bumpy roads. When you get there, although the Canyon is free to hike, there isn't many facilities. The camel rounding station of Kings Creek is about twenty miles away (www.kingscreekstation.com.au) which has camping and cabins. But at the Canyon itself the amenities are basic providing water, toilets and a car park for visitors. The usual rules for hiking in the Outback apply - wear comfy shoes, stock up with water and avoid the heat of the day. Most visitors, like us, seemed to hit the Canyon at 8am in the morning.

And it is an arduous climb. By the time I had ascended to the rim of the Canyon I had lost my sense of humour completely and felt like I had run a marathon. The reason being is that to climb to the canyon rim you must climb a near vertical stair. From below it looked sheer and reminded me of "The Stair of Cirith Ungol" from "Return of the King. It was 300 feet of sheer cliff wall, with stairs carved into it somehow. Carolyn, our guide, takes this trip three times a week and bounded up like a Thompsons gazelle. Myself and the others were somewhat slower taking our time. After the first hundred steps my back began to ache—it was very hard going. But I gamely ploughed on concentrating on one step at a time and using my knees to propel me. I reached the top in a foul mood and turned around to watch the others come up and noticed the 300 foot drop behind me. Several Aussie pensioners bounded up, showing no sign of strain and putting me to absolute shame.

The climb was worth the view from the Canyon rim. All around me was a lunar scape of scarlet rock called mereenie sandstone. The bright red colour impregnated everything from the rock slabs we stood on to the walls of the Canyon. We could see across to the far side as the Canyon is a horseshoe with vertical water stains noticeable to the naked eye and the far wall was made up of a rich red hue of horizontal bedding planes. Our guide got nervous about anyone approaching the edge and we were advised that if we did want to see the bottom of the Canyon it was better to crawl to the rim on our stomachs and look from there. I tried this and although it alleviated our guides worries about one of her charges going over the edge - it didn't do much for my vertigo.

On the northern side of the Canyon was one of the strangest landscapes I have ever seen. Stretching into the distance was "The Lost City" - hundreds and hundreds of red shale domes stretching into the distance. It was a sight that stopped you in your tracks and reminded me of the pictures I had seen of "The Bungle Bungles" that newly discovered geographical oddity in Western Australia. The beehive rocks looked so weird and otherworldly (see photo) that they reminded me of the surface of another planet.

You have to be careful around the edge of Kings Canyon. A trail of little blue stars leads you around its edge but it is extremely uneven and on occasion precarious. The usual urban myth told of a Japanese tourist (aren't they always) who backed up too far and went over the edge. But everyone follows the trail to the apex and wooden stairs leading down to "The Garden of Eden". It was cautious going descending into the cool of the Canyon. No one is going to take risks on a staircase 100ft above an abyss. Eucalyptus and palms grew on the walls of the Canyon and began to block out the light and the floor of the Canyon was covered in cicadas and gum trees. At the back of the Canyon were the sheer walls of a red cliff. These were reflected in the still waters of a pool.

It was too cold to swim, but it was a nice place to sit back and watch the sun turn the waters gold as it caught the edges of the Canyon.

The dromedary camel stood in the middle of the red sand track and wouldn't let us pass. It was only 20 feet in front of us and the track was too narrow to drive around the grazing creature. The four-wheel-drive growled nearby until the camel, spooked, headed off into the bush in a lumbering comical gait. There it blended in with the red earth, gum trees and spinifex.

One of the highlights of the trip to Australia is the four wheel tour to Ayers Rock/The Olgas. This was spread over three days involving sleeping in the open for 2 nights and many, many hours travelling over bumpy desert roads. And of course the advantage of the four-wheel-drive is that you can get off the tarmack onto remote tracks. These petrol guzzling vehicles really do visit the inaccessible corners and you have a better chance of spotting wildlife from the bumpy trail. These are not for everyone, you spend a lot of time travelling. You get used to the bumping after a while. Your backside gets use to moving up and down of its own accord. But the rewards and sense of adventure you get are indescribable.

Our route was very impressive. Imagine the routes spreading out from Alice Springs as a giant rectangle hundreds of miles across. In the top right hand corner is "the Alice" itself, heading south on a tarmacked road is the roadhouse of Erldunda - which makes up the southeast corner of the rectangle. The real attraction of Ayers Rock/The Olgas is in the southwest corner along the Lassetter highway, and Kings Canyon is in the northwest. A shortcut of a hundred miles is possible to Kings Canyon/Watarrka on the sandy track of the Luritja road. And to get back to Alice is another 200 miles along a newly carved sand track of the Ernest Giles Road. This is pretty tough terrain and our driver, Carolyn, could often be spotted wrestling with the steering wheel as if she was battling with a ships wheel at sea. But all the time she kept us on track and on schedule whilst pointing out the natural wonders of this part of the Northern Territory.

Erldunda Roadhouse

The first stop on the first day was the Erldunda roadhouse smack in the middle of aboriginal territory. It is almost 200 miles south of Alice where the Stuart Highway turns west into the Lassetter Highway. It was a corrugated iron-roofed building, surrounded by sand and many road stops have captive animals to entrance the tourists. This one had a huge paper mache echidna and frilled lizard kept behind wire netting. But it was mainly a place for travellers to replenish water supplies, eat, and relieve themselves in the toilets helpfully labelled "blokes" and "sheilas." There are also beds for $50 a night.

But as you move around you realise that this seems to be a transit point for those arriving/leaving for the aboriginal lands. Behind the cafeteria was a gallery showcasing aboriginal art. About 20 pictures lined one wall showing the artist and what tribe they belonged too. I was stunned on the sheer amount of aboriginal tribes - almost like a continent made of many nations. For sale were authentic didgeridoos, boomerangs and paintings on canvas. I bought one for $20 which showed a "snake god" and the woman who served me took the time to explain to me the legend behind it.

Curtain Springs Roadhouse

Blink and you will drive past Curtain Springs. It stands on a slight buff cliff overlooking the immensity of the Outback east of Yulara. The flat terrain is broken by Mount Connor which is like a miniature Uluru in its own national park and is often mistaken by overeager tourists for the monolith itself. Curtain Springs lies on the Lassetter Highway about 80 miles east of Ayers Rock, the dirt track of the Luritja Highway stretches north from here. This track cuts 4 hours off the route from Uluru to Kings Canyon but can only be traversed by 4 wheel drive vehicles.

Overlooking the highway is a sandy buff which is a good photo opportunity for Mount Connor and about fifty miles to the northwest is Lake Amadeus. This is a massive salt lake in the middle of the territory covered by light salty crust. It made its name in Australian history as early pioneers trying to cross would lose their horses to the soft mud underneath once the crust cracked under their weight.

Hazards of a different kind were at the roadhouse. Most of it is built on stilts overlooking the buff allowing the building of a "drop toilet." The only other place that these exists is sub-Saharan Africa and you need a strong stomach. Instead of chemicals to destroy the waste they have maggots. And woe betide anyone who looks straight down into the "drop." Ten feet below was a pile of refuse literally blue with crawling things.

The Luritja Highway

Directly north from Curtain Springs is the remote Luritja Highway. This is simply a dirt track that bumps and rolls through the spinifex to the Ernest Giles road near Kings Canyon and can only be traversed by four-wheel-drive vehicles. The advantage of this is that while you can spot goannas and hawks from the tarmacked major highways from the dirt track you can get up really close to the big game of the Australian Outback - the red kangaroos, the emus and herds of feral camels.

I'll not deny the going is tough. First consideration is the hea—it was the Australian early spring but the temperature inside the four-wheel-drive reached 35ºC. You were constantly drinking water. Emus were the first animal we saw but they were far in the distance. The muscular shape of a red kangaroo was spotted bounding away through the bush but after an hour we turned a corner and there were a family of dromedary camels blocking the track.

They moved off but a few minutes later we encountered an even bigger herd of twenty individuals including very cute white furred baby. I was stunned by the size of the dominant male, he must have been 12 feet high at the shoulder and spent his time herding the females together. We followed them for 20 minutes until they reached a drinking hole where we went off track to get as close as possible. I couldn't believe the size they had grown to in the Outback. They were introduced by Afghan stevedores in the 19th century, as they found they were ideally suited to the harsh climate.

The Ernest Giles Highway

I let out a sigh of relief when we left the Luritja and clambered back onto the tarmack on the way to Kings Canyon. When we left it on day 3 we had another option. To get back to Alice we could either drive back the way we came via Curtain Springs and Erldunda or cut across country on a newly made track (it was so new they were still smoothing it) which cuts 4 hours off the journey and takes us 50 miles from Alice.

The Ernest Giles track starts 100 miles east of Kings Canyon. Ernest Giles was a 19th-century explorer who was famous for losing his horses due to dehydration. The first 50 miles of this track is smooth so our four-wheel-drive could get up a bit of speed. But soon that ended and we were back to bumpy sand track. At one point we saw dog tracks in the sand and discovered a mother and pup trotting down the track. With pointy ears and showing no fear we slowed the four wheel drive down beside them. Whether they were wild or belonged to a nearby aborigine tribe I don't know. But they pulled at my heartstrings, I hated the thought of them fending for themselves in the "never never"

We stopped for a rest on a dry riverbed. This river was bone dry, wide and covered in yellow sand. We enjoyed the solitude and sense of space - until the flies found us. We must have been the only moisture for miles around and they buzzed around my eyes and mouth. We also noticed the remains of a fire and used tinnies strewn around. Aborigines had obviously used the riverbed as a camp recently - our driver said for a people who go on so much about respecting the land, they don't always do it themselves...