Red Centre

After a couple of very restful days in the quirky desert town of Alice Springs (this pic is sunset seen from the top of ANZAC Hill)...

 

...we joined up with a new conglomeration of group tour participants and headed past some of Australia's (tens of thousands of) wild camels...

...out to the country's iconic "Red Centre." Our first stop was King's Canyon, and a beautiful afternoon hike there.

Then, it was on to one of Australia's top tourist draws: the stunning Uluru (the Aboriginal name), or Ayer's Rock (as the white settlers called it). It rises more than 1,000 feet above the surrounding desert and is a mile and a half wide by more than 2 miles long. And bright red. Pretty amazing.

We had a couple of days in the area, and got to walk around most of its base, though since the Aboriginals who are guardians of this land ask that tourists don't climb the rock, we didn't.

There were so many beautiful spots on the ground, there was still plenty to keep us busy.

And then there was the requisite seeing it at sunset...

...and then at sunrise...and then at sunset again.

We also ventured over to Kata Tjuta...

...and did the beautiful hike over there through the Valley of the Winds. This picture looks off into the surrounding rocks, which encompass sacred sites for Aboriginal men and are not open to tourists.

In a place where the natural world is so overwhelmingly, commandingly gorgeous, it seemed only right to sleep each night outside, under the stars, and around a fire in swags. SO COZY.