Australia - Uluru

Today is day three in Uluru and we're just about to leave for Cairns for the final bit of our holiday, before flying back to the UK (arriving Monday morning). Seems like we've been away for ages as we've seen and done so many different things. Looks like not a lot has changed in the UK with the financial crisis still being a crisis, and I see now the government has decided to print more money to try and make things better; sounds dangerous to me.

We went on a kind of safari tour for our first two days in Uluru, camping out in the desert overnight which was excellent; we did have a big tent and a bed so no particular hardship other than remembering to check for spiders and snakes in shoes, under toilet seats etc. The stars at night were amazing; saw the southern cross and all that. Heard one dingo howling during the night but no snuffling at the tent flaps which was lucky.

On day one we visited the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and had a walk round there. This lies several kilometres away from Uluru but is just as impressive and you can walk round more of it. Temperatures have been around the mid thirties in the hottest part of the day so drinking water has had to be pretty constant.The scenery with the red sandstone, and desert flora and fauna has been fantastic to see - got lots of photo's to bore people with, usually with either Lucy or I in but not both.

In the evening we watched the sunset at Uluru which was pretty cheesy but good to see - wide variety of colours as the sun went down on the Rock. Then we were up early again to watch the sunrise as we walked around the base of Uluru. It was lovely to do this at dawn when it was a lot cooler, and our guide dropped us off at a point where there were no other tourists so we didn't really see anyone for the first hour and a half; meant it was a lot better for taking it all in. One slightly worrying point was around sunrise when a lot of dogs started barking and howling nearby, might have been dingo's or wild dogs, or just aboriginal camp dogs. Luckily they didn't get any closer so I didn't have to fend any savage beasts off with a water bottle.

Saw quite a few people climbing up Uluru, even though there are lots of signs asking you not to and the Aborigini's find it very disrespectful. A shame really but some people obviously don't have any manners to. We certainly didn't want to, far too hot a climb for one thing. Visited the Aborigini cultural centre and read lots of their stories which was interesting. All in all an organised safari is a good thing to do round these parts.

Anyway running out of time so more updates when we get to Cairns.