Red Rock walks - The Rock Tour, Uluru, center of Australia, Alice Springs Day 3 / 08.01.2019

Today we were already on our feet 20 minutes earlier than yesterday, as announced before, so around 4 o'clock, to be on time for the sunrise at Uluru. When we arrived at the same spot where we were yesterday, we saw only a faint light shimmering around the silhouette of the rock and we could still see the stars above it. Soon, however, this hesitant light changed into various shades of yellow and orange, and as we enjoyed our breakfast with this unique view, Ewel played suitable music.
When the sun started to rise behind Uluru, he played Circle of Life from The Lion King very loudly, which made me smile wide and made me happy. The grain field in the foreground shone beautifully in the warm colors and we watched amusingly as all the Koreans went to Ewel and wanted to take a picture with him - it almost reminded me of the meet & greet with Shawny.
We had become a really great group in the last few days and I was almost a little sad that this tour would be over today.
But not yet, because our next stop when the sun was at its highest point was very close to Uluru, from where we could see the individual structures in the rock - very different from further away.

Here we set off to walk around the whole rock - a flat hike of about 3 hours. At the beginning, we could see many people climbing Uluru, and I found it simply uncool how they violated the beliefs of the Aborigines.
The path led us past rocky caves, through forests, and past waterholes, and I started to try to recognize images in the patterns of the rock: a whale, a gummy bear, a poo, and a mouth. After I showed Henrik and Marie these images, they looked at me strangely and eventually stopped asking. These people without imagination made me shake my head. But I knew what I saw and I still liked them.
In between, we passed sections that were especially sacred and where photography was not allowed, which was very impressive. We also saw a few cave paintings, which were already quite faded, and in one part of the path, it was so green around us that I could hardly believe my eyes. I had imagined the desert here, but it wasn't like that.
However, it slowly became more boring to walk in a straight line all the time, and it also became warmer, so when we were almost at the end, we were very happy, and Ewel offered us refreshing, cold slices of oranges.

After that, we quickly went to the airport, because Leo and all the Koreans would take the next flight from the airport near Uluru - Leo back to Melbourne. After a somewhat emotional farewell and singing along loudly to MØ's Final Song on the bus, a few of us headed back to Alice Springs.
We each spread out on sometimes even 3 seats, listened to deafeningly loud music, and sang along - it was simply a great atmosphere despite the previous farewell.
In between, we stopped again at a resort in Yulara to eat the remaining wraps with at least one kilogram of cheese for lunch, and because there was a leftover fruit toast pack, I grabbed it - then I wouldn't have to go shopping in Alice Springs again. Marie also picked up a few things and Ewel wanted to prank us with a rubber snake at the end, but funny enough, it didn't work.

Here, the center of Australia was marked with a weird sculpture, which we also briefly looked at.

So we continued on the bus, I even slept for a few minutes, which surprised me a lot because the music was still so loud (because Ewel would also fall asleep otherwise). When we arrived at the mega cool Alice Springs 'sign' (it was more of a rock), we took a few more pictures there, and when we were finally in Alice Springs and drove over the dried-up river, Ewel told me that annual boat races were held here. And I just looked at him in disbelief, because there was no water - and then he said, yes, that's right, the boats have holes on the sides and the teams just run, and this is the only river in the whole world where a boat race had to be canceled because there was water. A little funny story at the end of 3 perfect days in the Outback (I think my favorite place here in Australia), but it wasn't really the end yet, because we would all meet again tonight in the Rock Bar for dinner.

At 7:30 p.m., we were all freshly showered in the bar sitting around a big table, and it was so funny to see everyone clean and with combed hair and neat clothes. Everyone had a beer in front of them and I ordered kangaroo fillet to erase my bad memory of the kangaroo tail that Henrik and I had been thinking about for the past few days and had given us chills down our spine.
While we were waiting for our food, a list was passed around for today's playlist at the bar, which I thought was so cool, and we all added a few funny songs: including Moskau, 99 Luftballons, Geh mal Bier holn, and Walk like a Camel.

Michel, the quiet Swiss guy, kept inviting us for a glass of beer and at Moskau, everyone got a vodka shot because that was tradition according to Henrik. The evening was simply great, and when the food arrived, I tried kangaroo for the first time and everyone was excited and it tasted simply delicious.
Many funny stories were exchanged while a cricket match was playing on a small TV and we all puzzled over the rules and wondered why so many people were watching and playing this.
Eventually, we said goodbye, but I wasn't too sad, because Marie and I would spend the day together tomorrow, and I would probably see Henrik and Bee again in Adelaide - the two of them would take the bus there tomorrow and arrive the next day (I secretly laughed at them (less) because instead, I only had a 2-hour flight ahead of me).

The way to the hostel wasn't long, and now I was really looking forward to my bed - because I had the coolest room at Alice's Secret, a girl's caravan with 3 beds and beautifully painted pink walls. Plus, I had it all to myself today, which was in need again after 2 and a half months, so I fell asleep with a satisfied smile on my face.

Song of the day: Walk like a Camel by StoryBots, because it's just such a bad song that it's good again. And it goes well with the Outback. And we all loved it.