Day 21: Tuesday, July 7th
Steps taken: 17,305
At 5 am I reluctantly woke up, brushed my teeth, finished packing, and headed towards the lobby. We hit the road, and for the next two hours while everyone else (except for Kodak who was driving of course) slept. I was thinking in the darkness. I was thinking about my uncle who I was told didn't have long. I also thought up a few cool short story ideas. I have written one short story about Antarctica, but came up with another idea that I'd like to sculpt. What are those ideas? You'll just have to wait until they are published to find out. The first one I've already submitted to a few writing contests, so hopefully more people will get to read that soon.
Once light broke over the horizon, we stopped at for breakfast at a gas station/Uldonda Roadhouse rest stop. There was an emu pen at the stop so I checked out the emus before joining the others inside. I got a toasted bacon and egg sandwich, but also bought my lunch for the day. I did some stretching while waiting for everyone else to finish eating, and then we were on the road towards our main activity for the day.
We arrived at Watarrka National Park around 11. We got out what we needed for a hike, and lunch, and then made our way to 'Heart Attack Hill' to start the hike. While I joked about faking a heart attack on the ascent up the rocks and stairs, it was not easy. Even with my hiking poles I was getting winded pretty quickly. By the time I reached the top of the hill it took a few minutes to catch my breath. My t-shirt was wet in the back from perspiration. I should have worn my underarmour shirt, but oh well. It could have been worse. I kept telling myself that hiking in Romania was tougher even though my hikes the last two days didn't prepare me for that hill. The rest of this hike wasn't bad. The views of the canyons and surrounding areas was worth the climb up. The park reminded the few people who had been there of the Grand Canyon, and of the American southwest. Kodak showed us a poisonous mint plant, and discussed how the canyons were formed, what causes the red and various colors, and the concept of chokapa. This is when aborigine would do something wrong, and be punished in extreme ways.
We made our way to the Garden of Eden for lunch. I had a corned beef, cheese, and pickle sandwich along with some barbecue chicken rice crackers. I goaded Catherine to dip one of her strawberries in hummus. She did with disgusting results. To be fair I tried one myself. I love hummus and like strawberries, but not everything pairs well with hummus. Just like there's a few foods that don't pair well with bacon.
After lunch, we continued the trail back. There was an area where we could either walk through a door on a very little bridge or jump across. Even though I hate hates I threw my hiking poles across, and then myself. It wasn't that bad of a jump. Of course while we were there we were told to steer clear of the cliff edges. If my father was there he would have probably stood one foot on the edge, one foot off, and jumped and danced. He would have called everyone else cowards. My dad was 'fun' like that when it came to heights, but he worked on rooftops, and high places all his life. Anyway, the rest of the walk was good. Kodak ran ahead of us for the last twenty minute stretch to get the bus, fuel up, and pick us up. We were waiting for a few minutes.
From there we made our way to Uluru, and our campsite. Our first stop on the way to camp was to gather firewood. We stopped at a field that had plenty of fallen and dead trees. It was messy work, but I liked it. My hands were black by the time we were done gathering, breaking up, and loading the wood. We washed up, and moved on.
Also on the way, we stopped at a location that was Uluru from a distance...or so we thought. It was called Mount Connor otherwise known as Fooluru since it resembles Uluru/Ayers Rock greatly. We then stopped at a rest stop/bar/liquor store. I wanted to buy a pack of hard cider, but it was more expensive than what I currently had, and didn't want to pay $8 for a single bottle. Even though this is a YOLO tour I can live without drinking.
We got to the campsite around 8pm, set up, and made dinner. I was exhausted by this point and wanted to go straight to bed, but my hunger won out. I cooked the corn while others made the salad, and cooked the chicken sausages, veggie sausages, halumi cheese, and kangaroo steak pieces. After dinner I helped put some wood on the fire, and roasted some marshmallows. Due to my immense strength, when I opened the bag, five fell on the ground so I immediately threw them in the fire pit. They merged together, blackened, and bubbled like a tar pit or the Blob at the end of a horror movie.
I unrolled my swag, put on my ski cap, and crawled into my sleeping bag. Next stop, the heart (not quite true geographical center) of Australia!
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