Part 1: Uluru - in the middle of nowhere ...

We are back in Alice Springs and I don't even know where to start telling you about our tour. This is what happens when I'm 3 days behind, there was usually no network - (which was actually nice 😊)

So, to make it short: I don't think traveling in tour groups is for me! Get in the car, get out of the car - I'm never allowed to stop where I want (to take photos ☺️) and there are always complainers and naysayers. But this tour here in the Outback definitely wouldn't have happened on my own and it was great that we did it this way. Although it's nice to be back to the three of us now.

But now to the tour:

We start at 6 o'clock as announced - we are driving in a 4wd vehicle with 11 others (Germans, Austrians, Norwegians and Americans) the very long way to Ayers Rock. Along the way, I kept thinking about how much effort it is to see such a rock. What can I say, the moment when this rock suddenly appears is simply indescribable and all doubts disappear.

It is an incredible vastness - we drive for hours and there is nothing to see except for red earth, dead trees, yellow grass, light green living trees, and the blue sky, a fantastic play of colors! And then... suddenly this rock appears out of nowhere and has something mystical about it, standing there in the middle... a rock in the middle of nowhere! Unbelievable!!! And at the foot of the rock, everything is green! A real oasis that we then explore! We see rock paintings and they explain the drawings to us - suddenly the typical aboriginal pictures somehow look more beautiful when you understand what they mean. They all tell a story in a way!

We get to paint a picture on a canvas ourselves to tell our story, which admittedly sounds a bit touristic, but it's actually fun! Mika enjoys it too!

Then we go to the 'Ayers Rock - sunset viewing point'.

Crowds of people are lined up along a road - most of them sit on the roofs of their cars and wait for the sunset! Since it is a very long road and everyone is practically in the front row, the many people don't bother each other. There are many tripods, some people drink champagne, and there is an exciting atmosphere - almost like on New Year's Eve! ☺️

And then the sun sets and the already so red rock actually starts to glow! It becomes even redder and it is an incredible play of colors!

It's hard to describe, maybe you can see it in the photos, it is truly fascinating!

When the sun has set, it suddenly gets cold and we drive off to set up our camp.

For dinner, we have kangaroo Bolognese with noodles - very delicious!!

Then we can decide whether we want to sleep in a tent or under the open sky in a swag. It's a kind of super sleeping bag - waterproof made of canvas - where you put your actual sleeping bag in. Allegedly, it's warmer to sleep like this than in a tent only with a sleeping bag.

We choose this option... despite the temperatures!

Just a reminder, we are in winter! It's 1 degree Celsius!! 😳

Campfire, a starry sky that couldn't be more beautiful, the howling of dingoes... it's truly fantastic!

And so we go to sleep happily next to each other...

... After just one hour, I wake up because it's sooo cold! Especially my face feels frozen!

And suddenly I get a little scared and try to google whether you can freeze to death in your sleep, because I know that Mika has a very heavy sleep and always kicks freely during the night! Google says: you can!

From that moment on, I can't sleep anymore, I keep checking on the kids but Mika actually does everything right intuitively and almost completely disappears in this swag - everything is really fine!!

We are woken up at 6 o'clock with an incredibly beautiful song that brings tears to my eyes! The song is sooo beautiful, nature - unbelievable... and my kids wake up happily and not at all 'frozen'!

'Follow the sun' by Xavier Rudd

By the way, the starry sky is indescribable - we see stars to the horizon, which really makes us feel like we're under a dome!! Incredibly beautiful!!