SHIT HAPPENS - Australia (part 2)

Astrid Bruyndonckx
Sep 4, 2018
5 min read

Welcome to the second part of my SHIT HAPPENS series. In this series, I'm sharing with you everything I've done at the other side of the world. If you haven't checked out my previous post of the first 12 days, go check it out! It may be easier to follow (& so much fun!). Anyway, please enjoy this series as much as I enjoyed the journey!

Stay for day 13

A big building with toilets for all the surrounding camps

DAY 13

Flying time! Today we leave Cairns to go wild in the middle of nowhere, Yulara! Yulara is known for its big rock 'Ayers Rock'. So the next 3 days we're gonna camp and hike in this area. Pretty exited but also low key scared.

As soon as we landed, we went to the hotel where our friends/family were staying, to finally meet them! Been looking forward to this so badly! We had breakfast together in their hotel and then went to the store to do some cookie shopping for our 3 day camping trip.

At 1PM, the tour-guide picked us up with a huuuugeeee 4X4 bus aka truck. The one we were about to travel around with for the next few days.

Our first stop was the base camp where we were going to stay for the night. We got some instructions and went off, back on the road. On our way to Ayers Rock.

This rock is holy territory for the indigenous people. The indigenous people are the original people of the region. Over there, we had a tour with an indigenous woman as guide. That's very rare, cause these people normally don't really want any contact with 'normal' people. The woman told us some indigenous child stories. Through the stories, they learn the young children everything about their culture. It was very special because after the stories, the rock isn't just a rock anymore. After the guided tour, we had a short walk and went to the lookout point to see the spectacle of the sunset. When the sun goes down, Ayers Rock becomes darker and darker red, until the sun is gone and the rock is completely black.

We went back to the camp, had food and got ready for bed, or better what you can call a bed. You could choose between sleeping in a tent or sleeping in a swag around the fire. A swag is something that looks like a crossing between a body bag and a box of sardines and you put your sleeping bag in it to keep warm. Cause you should know, as soon as the sun goes down, it gets super cold. At night the temperature was almost zero. We didn't bring any warm jackets or pants or something, so I wore 2 pants, 2 sweaters, a T-shirt, a rain jacket and a beanie. To go to sleep, I just took off my shoes, put them in my swag (otherwise the animals can hide in there or take them) and went sleeping.

Stay for day 14

Toilet with an amazing view

DAY 14

It's sooooo early, it's freakin' 5:20AM. Last night, I didn't sleep well at all. I got sick and went like 4 times to the toilet. But the toilet was a freaking 10min walk in the dark. The first time I went, my father joined us to the toilet but we didn't wait for him and I didn't hear him coming back. Apparently, he got lost for like 45 min. He saw every street, went in other camps, stood to strangers' sleeping bags thinking it was us. LOL soooo typical. But I don't have to say too much cause when I went with my mom, we also got lost but only for about 20 min. When we finally got back to the camp I had to go to the toilet again. Fml.

Anyway, that morning was the first time in my life I was ready sooo unbelievable quick. I just had to put on my shoes and I was ready to rumble!

Our first stop was watching the sunsrise by Ayers Rock. It was pretty! After that, we drove to Katja-Tjuta. There we hiked. After the hike we had lunch somewhere in another camp and we continued our journey to the camp close by Kings Canyon. It was quite a long drive over dirt roads before we got to the camp we were going to stay that night. This camp was beautiful, a super nice outback douche and toilet with a view! We had to cook ourselves. The food was delicious, the only thing, there was kangaroo bolognaise. Bah didn't eat that! But the others thought it was delicious!

That night I slept again in a swag. At this camp were dingo's. They said they come and lie around the fire with you at night but I was so tired I didn't even notice them. Although I saw one when I went to the toilet.

Stay for day 15

Oops, forgot to take a picture...

DAY 15

Today is the day of the big rim-walk. So first we had to walk up hundreds of stairs before we could really walk. Pretty exhausting! Along the walk, we had beautiful views over the canyon! As soon as we got back, we drove to a camp nearby to barbie. And we hit the road to a camel farm ... or at least that was the plan. Four kilometers before the service station we ran out of fuel. We were in the middle of nowhere standing at the side of the road without any internet connection or mobile connection waiting till the guide came back with fuel. Luckily, Australian people are so damn nice, they gave him a ride! Not only that, almost every car that passed by, stopped and came to ask if they could help! After an hour he was back with the fuel. We put it in and ... of course it didn't work! There was so much air in the tank that the engine did not start. Great! There we were standing at the side of the road, seeing the sun go down feeling it getting colder... Until a bus stopped who took everyone except our tour guide and the men to the service station. We ate something while waiting for the replacement bus to come. After a wait of about 5 hours, we could finally get on the road again, on our way to the end-point: Alice Springs.

We got to the hotel and took a shower hahahaha, that was sooooooo welcome! Didn't shower for freakin' 3 days and wore exactly the same clothes for 3 days. But had a GREAT time! Slept under the stars, even saw planets: Mars, Venus & Saturnus. Saw the Milky Way and had really the best time! I don't know if I would do it again, but it was really worth it.

Stay for day 16