Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta, Uluru

The week after finals ended, Casey and I flew to Alice Springs (Central Australia) for a 3-day tour of Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta, and Uluru through Mulga's Adventures with 19 other adventurous globetrotters.

Alice Springs is certainly not a tourist destination in of itself. The town is small and depressing. Frankly, it's very dodgy and not a good place to be wandering around alone at night. Casey and I arrived the day before our tour, and amused ourselves by visiting some second hand stores and cuddling joeys at a baby kangaroo rescue center. At the center, we met this guy who saves baby 'roos from the pouches of their dead mothers found on the side of the road. As a surrogate mother, he cuddles, feeds, and swaps spit with the joeys ('roos usually stay hydrated by licking their mothers' tongues) until they are old enough to be released back into the wild.

Our tour was great. Who knew that going to the middle of nowhere to see some rocks could be so much fun? Our tour group camped in the bush both nights and slept in swags (an open top canvas bag with a pad) around a campfire, underneath the stars.

Here's a photo slideshow of the highlights. Go to my public gallery to read the captions (click on link in the lower left hand corner).


A few memorable moments:
While we were out in the bush looking for firewood in the dark, Casey sees a pile of dark, round pies.
Casey: Ooh, that looks like good firewood.
She picks one of them up.
Casey: Fuck, this is petrified shit.

Five minutes later --
Casey: Ooh, what's that shiny thing?
She pokes at it with the same hand that's tainted with feral camel dung.
Casey: Shit, it's a spider!

While playing hangman in the dirt by the campfire --
Me: (Instead of guessing letters) Pizza!
Casey: No.
Me: Chocolate!
Casey: No.
Me: Um... marshmallows?
Casey: It's not food.
Me: Ok. Australia?
Casey: No.
Me: Kangaroo!
Casey: Just guess a letter!
Me: Ok, fine. "Z."
Casey: You're bad at this.
(I redeemed myself by stumping Casey with "ketchup" when it was my turn.)