...and up again at 5:00am - urghh.

Only another 1500km to go on the trip. We'll be taking in Uluru (Ayres rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park on this part of our trip.

There are 21 of us on this trip including Adam, our guide, Alex, a trainee and five of the original 'Cloud 9' clan.

Our first stop was a camel farm where those that wanted to got a chance for a brief ride around the paddock. "Did I?", you ask, "Nah", I had enough of riding camels in India (it's worth looking at the piccies if you haven't seen them).

We passed over the Fink river, the 'oldest river in the world' to still be flowing, at 350 million years (although it was dry when we drove over it). We collected (poisonous) Mulba wood for a camp fire that night, although obviously our coach captain didn't tell us till afterwards...

King's Canyon is in Watarrka National Park. There are 3 biosperes here with over 600 plants species including 'relic species' - plants that have grown for millions of years unchanged and are left over from the periods when dinosaurs crashed through the lands. The whole area used to be a rainforest and before that, an inland sea and some of the plants that grow around the area still reflect this heritage. The tour group went for a walk around and down into the canyon, which is a real canyon, unlike the Grand Canyon in the States, which is a gorge. We also swam in the 'garden of Eden', the second of our trip. This one shows a few signs of wear since the time of it's original owners, but the freezing cold waters were a welcome relief after the quite amazingly hot sun.

Our campsite was rather ferral (rough and ready). Despite this, we made the best of what was on offer and the impromptu jam session was certainly lubricated with plenty of VB. For many of us it was the first introduction to some authentic bushman food cooked out on an open fire (take a look at my damper recipe if you want to recreate the 'outback bread that we had. I like the idea of adding the garlic or fruit to the dough, although I guess you could add pretty much whatever you liked).

To tomorrow