From the north of Queensland to the center of Australia

On 02.02. I left the north of Queensland and flew by plane from Cairns to Adelaide and from there to Alice Springs. Alice Springs is located in the Northern Territory and belongs to the so-called Red Center. Upon arrival, I immediately saw familiar faces and met new people. At night, I stayed in a converted pink caravan with two other women. The next morning, we picked up the rental car and headed to Uluru and Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Our first stop was Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. It was very impressive to see this huge red rock in the currently not so barren landscape. As it had rained a lot in the area in the days before, we were actually able to experience the surroundings as green. Uluru was at the top of my list and now I was actually there. Since it is a sacred rock of the Aboriginal people, photos should not be taken in some places out of respect. After a 10km walk around Uluru, we checked into our accommodation. Yulara (the place where we stayed) was relatively expensive, as there is not much choice available, a supermarket, two restaurants, a gas station. We went there again for sunset. The colors of the red rock in the evening sun were truly spectacular. The next day, we visited the second rock formation in the national park, Kata Tjuṯa or also called Olgas. The hiking trail around the rocks was a bit more exciting, you had to climb a bit and the path was uneven. However, since we still had to go back to Alice Springs and wanted to make a detour at Kings Canyon, we unfortunately could not walk the entire way. After a three-hour drive, we arrived at Kings Canyon at 40 degrees Celsius in the shade. Also very impressive. After that, we started our journey back to Alice Springs, but Google Maps directed us with our rental car through a so-called gravel road - uneven rocky roads with many potholes. Very adventurous, luckily we had an SUV, but unfortunately no 4WD, which means we could only travel the 150km on this road at about 20-60km/h, so our trip took a long time. Unfortunately, the fuel level also decreased and there was no gas station in sight. But I was positive and knew that we would make it to our destination with our tank. Highlights of the trip were definitely the wild horses, Aboriginal people racing in their "junk cars" who didn't care about potholes, and the adventurous journey as a whole. On Sunday morning, we took the Greyhound bus to Coober Pedy, the opal city in southern Australia. A place reminiscent of a lunar landscape, where you can occasionally find small opals. A slightly different place and very hot at this time of year, but it was worth making a stop there as well.

After that, we took the bus to Adelaide. However, before departure, a tire had to be changed. To be continued...