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2 ½ hours flight over “nothing” & arrival in Alice
It was interesting! Starting out in Sydney and watching how houses, farms, trees and mountains on the ground slowly disappeared - no, not because of the height! It was simply because we were making our way into the outback - the so called red center!
The arrival in Alice did surprise though - it was green - the rain a few weeks before had made it into a little oasis in the middle of the dessert - and I even found some water! 
Alice Springs! It’s hot around here! Even though: it’s green. They had some rain around here recently - the Todd River had the highest water level in 5 years. (And in general it is only filled with water around 5 times per year). So the area around Alice is nice and green - grass is growing everywhere which is really not what I expected from the “dessert”.

Off into the real outback tomorrow morning and will be far from traffic, computers or phone coverage for the next 6 days - how exciting!

Kings Canyon
It is pretty hot around the red center - but hey, there is no complaining about that! Sydney had not had the best weather lately and I did need the sun as much as I needed the heat. Our first day took us to beautiful red kings canyon. Since we were all kind of fresh and did not know what lies ahead of us, our tour guide thought it’s a great idea to do a 3 1/2 hour hike. Cool! 3 1/2 hours is nothing! (That was my thinking before we started). And really, the hike was nice, not too difficult and heaps of photo opportunities! Here is the catch: it was 12pm ish when we started - I would guess the temperature would have been around 40 degree. By the time we were half way up the canyon, it was approximately 50 degree - and I tell you - even for a fit little person -that is too much! As our tour guide described it: there are 3 different temperatures in the red center: No 1: “HOT”, No 2: “BLODY HOT”, No 3: “F****** HOT”. (We had started our hike with number 2 but surely got to number 3 quickly!) 
Half way into the canyon we got a nice little surprise: a waterhole! I guess you can imagine how quick we got out of our stinky walking boots and hopped into the black water. It was pretty hot on the surface but surprisingly cool about 1 meter down. We could swim over to the other side and after a little 2-minute hike, we got to a beautiful little lookout! Yeah, it was the first time ever that I have been hiking in a bikini! – I think the way we were moving with bare feet on the hot rocks was not very sexy though – so it’s not too bad nobody could take a camera… 

THE Rock
Early mornings are pretty normal in the red center – so we got up at 4am on the second day of our tour. It was necessary since we wanted to be at Uluru (THE rock) for sunrise. It’s pretty good to get up that early though – it’s the only time during the day that you are actually refreshed after taking a shower and your cloth is not soaked from sweat after a 5 minute walk around the camp!
After watching an amazing sunrise, we got to do a little cultural walk in which our guide explained the history and meaning of different caves, drawings and sites around the rock. We then made our way all the way around the base of Uluru – it’s a 9.1 km walk – and again – it’s not a hard walk at all but by the time we got to 10am, the sun was burning down on us again and my theory of “there must be shade at least one side of the rock” did for some reason not work out.

Leaving the Red Centre
3 days later - after watching the sun set and rise, after hiking in 40degree heat, after all the new history/cultural knowledge, after seeing camels and wild horses and of course after taking heaps of pictures - we finally made our way into the REAL dessert. The place where there is really NOTHING not even big rocks. It was an interesting 2 days - long drives with not much to see - but still very interesting.
We did stop at a few cool places (I forgot the names - but you can’t miss them if you are travelling the same highway)! Places that have one supermarket, one gas station and 2 houses! We also stopped at a salt lake - with water in it - apparently that had not happened in the last 10 years! - It was HOT!

Cooper Pedy
This was our overnight stop in the middle of the dessert. Cooper Pedy is known for its opal findings - and in a way its quiet a rich little place. It is one of the most interesting places I’ve ever been to in my life. Since it is so hot there in summer - up to 52 degrees (and - yeah, hard to believe - cold in winter) the people of Cooper Pedy did dig the houses into the rocks - underground! So 80% of the people living in Cooper Pedy actually live under ground. That is a pretty smart idea! First of all - it is very cheap to build a house - you just need to rent a digger - a normal 3-bedroom house would cost you about $20.000. Second - if you have guests arriving + they need a room to stay in - you just need to dig another room - cheap & easy! The temperature underground is 25 degree all year around - so they save heaps of money on air conditioning too. AND if you are lucky enough to find some opal while you are digging your home - you’ll end up having more money than before you started “building” your home. For some reason there are not many people wanting to live in Cooper Pedy though - maybe it’s because the dentist stops by only once a month…

Flinders Ranges
Our next overnight stop was not really in civilization but at least there where trees - and a pool! I had not heard of the Flinders Ranges before going on this trip and must say I was very impressed. Right next to our camp there was a little hill - I climbed up just before sunset and could see 5 different mountain ranges (and 2 kangaroos) from up there - it was amazing! Beautiful sunset as well!
The next day we did an easy 2 1/2 hike up to one of the peaks in the ranges and had another good view around - it was warm again - but on top of the peak there was a strong, cool wind - very nice!

6 people & Train & pub = Parachilna

What a place ;-) Almost like Mahinapua down on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand. Yeah, 6 people live here permanently, they have 5 houses, 1 school (no kids or teachers though), 1 pub and accommodation (with pool) for lost travelers. The most exciting thing that happens in Parachilna is, that the coal train runs through “town” 2x per day - the first time (empty) to Port Augusta at 11pm ish and then again (filled with coal) back to Adelaide at 4am ish. Am not quiet sure if I remember that right - but I think it’s the longest train in the world. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get through Parachilna - so if you need to go to the loo and you are stuck on the wrong side of the train you’ve got a problem (and there are no trees on that side to hide behind either). We had a nice “night out” in Parachilna after having some emu burgers and kangaroo steak and before leaving the next day down to Adelaide where I flew out straight back to work the next morning.

I made it back to Sydney in one piece this morning! In a record breaking 45 minutes, I made it from my seat in the airplane, past the baggage claim to the train in rush hour to my desk at work. 45 minutes! And that’s in Sydney! so all together it took me 3 hours from my hostel in Adelaide to my work place in Sydney! If one thing works really well around here - it’s the public transport!

What’s next? Darwin?
Yes, I do WORK in between all my trips - pretty hard as well. But what is the point of being a travel agent if you don’t book your own little (or big) adventures every now and again? …and besides - it is so much easier to talk about stuff that I have actually done! So yeah, the next trip is booked! I’m off to Darwin on the 9th of March - am doing a 4-day trip around Kakadu National Park as well as Litchfield National Park before flying back to Sydney on the 14th of March in the morning. I cannot wait!!

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