From Adelaide we drove through Mt Remarkable NP to Port Augusta, the start of our trip into the Outback. The welcoming heat there was a bit too much for me. Around 6pm it was still 42 C in the shade and after another four hours it was only so slightly cooler: 36 C. We could hardly sleep...

The first goal was to drive to the opal capital of the world, Coober Pedy. About 80% of the opal gems are found here (Lonely Planet). We didn't think of spending our time there in seaching for opals and drove on very early the next morning to our main goal, Uluru. Fortunatlely the temperature dropped a little and it was only about 35-40 C. It wasn't a problem as long as we were in our car then we had luckily air conditioning. And fortunately it cooled down during the night so we could sleep.

Uluru, was also known as Ayers Rock, is really impressive. We were capptured in its magic and it was hard to tear away the gaze from this huge monolite. On our first day we drove around it, went to boards where some of the stories of the Anungu (the owners of the area) are explained and enjoyed a nice sun setting which turns the rock on fire...

First we thought of hiking around Uluru the very next morning but decided otherwise. We went to the Valley of the Winds in the Kata Tjuta (was also known as the Olgas). We made the right decision. It was absolutely stunning and impressive and will be unforgettable. 

On the next day we drove on to Kings Canyon. Here the temperatures were almost cool in comparison with what we experienced in Port Augusta. A short hike along a dry creek bed into the canyon was absolutely marvelous. To get a glimps of the canyon from above we hiked a short distance to the top of it and turned around after seeing it, manly because of the increasing heat and running out of time. It was really great.

On we drove to Alice Springs. There we rented a cabin on the campground because I had some difficulties to cope with the heat and we really wanted to sleep through for at least one night. It is amazing what a big difference it makes to have air conditioning...

Soon we turned our backs on Alice Springs. Here it was so obvious to see that Aborigines and White people not really live in the same city but next to each other. It really hurt to see such a great culture to crumble, to see people drunk and without hope for them. It didn't feel right to be here, we just don't fit in a place like that, we felt like intruder...

We weren't unhappy to leave the city and drive south again. After some driving we arrived in Coober Pedy again this time with the intention to find some opals, see the underground churches, the museum of opal mining and experience the underground campground...